This weekend, my study abroad program arranged a trip to the Lake District, in the north-west part of England. This is the area Wordsworth loved to call home because of its dramatic glacier-cut valleys and numerous murmuring streams. It’s truly one of the most beautiful places in England.
Though the rest of the London students left on a bus at 10:30 Friday morning, I had class until 1 and barely caught a 1:30 train north. An hour and a half into my journey, I was already past the busses as my train are up the distance at 120 mph. I was traveling without a reserved seat, meaning that I was limited to those seats not reserved by another traveler. Unfortunately, there were no such seats on the train, so I was condemned to standing. Eventually, I found a window in a corridor near the head of a carriage and made my own window seat with my pack.
Miles and miles (kilometers and kilometers doesn’t roll off the tongue so nicely) of English countryside flew past.
I arrived at Penrith at 4:30, surprised to find the ruins of an old castle across the street from the train station.
I waited a few minutes for a bus from the activities center to take me and a few other students to our accommodations, an hour and a half away. I got settled into my “pod” – not much more than a wooden tent – and went for a 4.5 mile run through the Borrowdale Valley. I took a few photos where I could.
The students arriving on the busses from London were stuck in traffic and didn’t arrive until after 10:00. This delayed dinner considerably, but we were eventually fed.
Saturday was filled with outdoor activities. I was especially adept at “laser skeets” – shooting skeets with modified shotguns that emit an infrared beam instead of a shell.
Laser skeets don’t really compare to real skeets, and it’s much less difficult. My team won all the competitions in archery as well.
Sunday morning was filled with a hike where I took plenty of pictures of the scenery.
I’m now on my way back to London, tired from the weekend’s adventures.
