Introduction to the Lake District

I have mountains of photos to sort through from our very beautiful trip to the Lake District. In the meantime, here's a brief introduction to the area. 

The Lake District has a lot of unique vocabulary. I think the words are quite poetic sounding, but we were a bit lost when we first started reading the area signs, maps and hike descriptions. Here's my brief tutorial.

tarn: small mountain lake

force: waterfall

fell: hill

ghyll: ravine (we didn't get a picture of a ghyll)

beck: stream

Words not unique to Lake District

crag: a sharp, some people say steep, rock outcrop

dale or dell: mountain valley 

stile: a way of getting over a fence or stone wall between fields

Kissing gate: a gate in between two fields where the gate can move to touch each side

Even after a year of adjusting to much smaller English roads, we were a bit shocked by how small the roads are through the Lake District. I'm so glad my first introduction to driving in England wasn't there. That road pictured above is a two-way road. If another car comes, you have to reverse back to a pull-out (which are shockingly and car-paint-job-threateningly small). 

There's a ferry across Lake Windermere, the largest lake in England, at Windermere the village. It's a nice and scenic break from driving the small and windy roads around the lake. 

Just like my hometown of Seattle, wild blackberries grow everywhere. Anya was happy to be in charge of gathering them for us.