A Lake Cruise on Windermere

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Breakfast was served in the cafe at Heidi's Grasmere Lodge from 8:00-9:00 am. I was there at 8:00 and was asked what type of coffee I wanted -- a latte, flat white, cappuccino, Americano, or mocha. This felt really fancy; a coffee made by the cafe for breakfast! It felt "free," even though I was clearly paying for it. 🤣 Look at how cute the cafe is inside.

I took my time getting ready and caught the 10:00 am bus to a town called Ambleside. Below you can see Grasmere at the top and Ambleside south on the main road from Grasmere, on the shore of Lake Windermere. The bus took about 20 minutes.

I actually had been through Grasmere and Ambleside in 2010. My aunt, some family friends, and I had gone on a bus tour through the UK after I finished my internship. Our stop in Grasmere was for probably an hour and we only drove through Ambleside, where we peeked at the Bridge House (below) from the bus windows.

According to the National Trust website, "the Braithwaite family were very influential and originally built Bridge House to access their lands on the other side of Stock Beck and store apples from their nearby orchards. Bridge House has remarkably survived throughout the centuries as Ambleside has changed and developed around it. Its survival could be down to its many practical uses over the years which include being a counting house for the mills of Rattle Ghyll, a tea-room, weaving shop, cobbler's, chair maker's and, at one time, home to a family of eight."

I stopped into the Armitt Museum & Library, which houses Beatrix Potter's collection of fungi watercolors. I should say that Beatrix Potter (the author of Peter Rabbit) is also very much associated with the Lake District. She had a farmhouse there, somewhat near to Ambleside.

I enjoyed looking at the fungi watercolors. I didn't take any photos, but here's an example.

Imagine spending your later life writing nursery stories and studying nature in the Lake District and painting watercolors of fungi.

Next, I walked down to the shore of Windermere, which took about 20 minutes from the Ambleside town centre. I showed up with five minutes to spare for the 12:00 sailing on the lake. This was my plan for the rest of the day -- a 3 hour round trip boat ride on Windermere.

 

People on other boats were waving at us. It was cute!

All of these photos look the same, but that's okay!

I hate selfies!

It was a beautiful day. I felt like maybe I should've been hiking instead, but it was a good boat day. You'd hate to be on a boat trying to take in views in the rain.

Walked back into Ambleside and caught the bus back to Grasmere. (It arrived on time!) I walked around Grasmere a bit. I just wanted to be sure I saw every inch of it. I think I stopped into some shops and a convenience store (to get bandaids -- I had a blister on one of my toes).

It was basically time for dinner, so I headed over to Cafe Grand which is on the outskirts of Grasmere. It was a nice restaurant! I guess I didn't take any photos, but I found this Instastory and saved it. I think I had a chicken caesar salad. I didn't make a note of it, so it must've been fine but nothing to write about. But I guess I did just write about it.

After dinner, I walked around the cemetery of St Oswald's Church. The temperature was perfect and it was golden hour.

This is the Wordsworth gravesite. From this view I took a moment and got a little emotional. It was just so lovely and I felt grateful to be there. And what a wonderful resting place.

I liked this quote because I like solitude.

Just another photo of something picturesque in Grasmere.

It was a nice, relaxing day on Windermere!