Hooray for Easter! Jen and I were up at 6am (an ungodly hour for a public holiday) to catch the train 200kms south to the Lake District in England's northwest. After a week of nothing but sunshine I was so sure it was going to piss with rain all weekend, but for now it was dry.

Jen said she likes Virgins ;)

After two hours worth of some pretty impressive scenery in places, we arrived in Oxenholme (where every house appeared to be the same shape and colour hehe).

At Oxenholme we jumped straight onto another train for a 20-minute ride to Windermere. We hired a couple of bikes here for the following three days, and with our luggage started heading down towards Bowness on the lake to catch a ferry. The lake is about a good mile or so out of Windermere, and I quickly got sick of walking it considering I had a perfectly good bike with me; it was just the large bag on my back that would make it awkward to ride, but I gave it a go anyway and probably shouldn't have hehe. My bag stuck out a bit to the side while hanging off my shoulder and I managed to smack three people with it as I rode past them, including a garbage collector who yelled and screamed and pointed at me until well after I'd gone past hahaha!

We eventually made it to Windermere Lake (which is England's largest incidentally) without me getting beaten up by rubbish men, and jumped straight on to the ferry for a cruise up the lake past some hotels and mansions.

The local fish 'n' chip shop owner ;)

After 30 minutes on the ferry and another ten minutes on the bike (during which I managed not to hit anybody), we finally arrived in Ambleside which is where we were staying for the next three nights.

Ambleside has a population of around 2,500, and is a great little town to wander around (and to set up camp for the cycling we had planned).

10 points if you hit 'em.

After dumping our luggage we went for a quick ride around town to get our bearings and see what was around. This is some monument designed by a bunch of school kids back in 2000 and has a time capsule buried beneath it.

This was my weapon of choice for the weekend. It wasn't too bad for a hire bike although this was only the second time it had been used apparently (and I sure broke it in good ;) Ahhh, so good to be back on a bike!

We headed northwest of Ambleside on the first day, and I wasted no time getting straight into it and screwing the bike (and get it out of my system before I buy my own). Mountain Biker Barbie on the other hand took it rather casually hehe.

Looking back over Ambleside.

And back over Windermere Lake.

Over the course of the weekend we passed through many little towns, and this little garden was in one of them hehe - very cool.

Hahaha classic! I want this on my plaque.

There is some absolutely spectaculer scenary around the Lake District, and these shots don't really do it any justice. On the right is overlooking Grasmere Lake - bloody beautiful!

The path down to the lake from the cycle track is off limits to bikes, but I can't read and went down anyway.

We hung around here for a while to rest the legs (well, to rest Jen's legs) and enjoy the sun while it was out.

From Grasmere Lake the track led us round to Rydal Water, and I couldn't resist the temptation to go hooning through the lake hehe.

We only did an eight-mile (13km) track today but it was enough to convince me the area is stunning (and great for mountain biking).

Hahaha!