DAY WITH A BUS

You are probably thinking the title of this blog is in error.  It should be A DAY ON THE BUS.  That's what I would like it to have read but the truth is we spent more time waiting for the damn bus than on it.  We were on our way to Keswick for the day.  We hopped right on our bus here at Bowness and went to Windermere to catch the 555 to Keswick. Yippee a day in the lake crountry.  Well... we waited, and we waited a bit longer. and a bit longer.  Finally, you know what happens after breakfast and you've had a few cups of coffee.  We were all rather desperate to find a toilet.  Big problem, many choices - wait (could result in disaster down the line), run to the toilet and run the risk of missig the bus for Keswick, or just go and catch another bus going someplace else. We decided to avoid any accidents (panty liners were not made for these accidents, only Depends can be relied upon and we had failed to purchase any for this trip.  We are saving that expenditure for our next trip here in 10 years.)  Again, way too much info.  After we finally found a toilet and used the facilities I am happy to report that the 555 to Keswick had not yet arrived.  Weren't we lucky.  So we waited, waited, waited... 

( I do want you to know that we didn't just stand around and wait, we asked mulitple bus drivers, by standers, and anyone who would listen to us, if the 555 would ever come.  Each assured us "it's on it's way, traffic is bad".  Finally, we made the big decision to take the bus to Ambleside which had just pulled in.  Buzzard's luck.  No sooner were we on the bus than the 555 to Keswick arrived.  You should have seen us jump off that 599 bus and rush to the 555.  No one would ever have believe we were almost ready for Depends.  

You may have wondered ,why did it matter where we went and why had we felt it necessary to get to Keswick.  It was the pencil Museum.  Our castle mates had told us about it.

 Here we are starting out our day. Don't we look happy and relaxed.

At the bus station in Bowness.

Much later.  Waiting for the 555 in Windermere.

At last we made it Keswick and had a great little lunch becase we were starved.  Waiting for buses will do that to you.

Finally, we found the Pencil Museum.  It was surprisingly very interesting.  Pencils were used during WWII to get maps to POW's and others behind enemy lines.  They were specially made pencils with a hollow interior and maps made out of silk or other materials that wouldn't make noise were inserted into the pencils and a small compass was hidden in the top where the eraser is located.  They had to look and feel exactly like a standard pencil.  Graphite was extremely dear and because of this it was sought after and stolen.  Consequently the term "Black Market" came into being.  Theives who handled the stolen goods found themselves with black hands from handling the material.  Just a few of the interesting tidbits we picked up at the museum.  We were also given a free pencil. Well, not exactly free we had to pay € 3.50 admittance fee. You don't have to be one of the beautiful ladies from Iona to get that low cost you just have to be a concession , translated, senior citizen.  

The rest of the day we just  moseyed around and enjoyed the little town of Keswick.

Went to the bus stop early so we could catch 555 bus going to Windermere.  Surely we would not have the same problem again.Well...

Here's Ginger thiking that if she read the bus schedule again and again maybe, just maybe, the 3:13 bus would arrive by at least 4:15.  

The bus did arrived and we got off in Windermere and found a little restaurant, ate some dinner and walked home.  It was a lot of steps!!!!!!

I decided to sit down by the Lake for awhile and watch the sunset and the swans.  

And so ends another night in the Lake  District.