the tenth day - independence day

Mann…its been 10 days already…only 29 to go. You wouldn’t have even noticed it was the 4th of July here. The only time I was even reminded of it was when I saw an American flag on display at the market in Keswick. But anyways, I woke up at 9am and proceeded to return my bike. I got really good sleep last night, and the hostel was really nice – there was only 3 other people in my room this time. After that I went to pick up some money from the bank and get some snacking food from the grocery store in Windermere. Then I had a roll of bread and another English cup of noodles for breakfast before making my way directly across the street to the Lakes Hotel, which is where my mini-couch tour of the lake district would be departing from at 10am. The tour was great overall. The guide knew everything and he even brought his dog along. We saw pretty much every lake there was, went up and down narrow mountain passes, and saw some great views. For lunch we stopped in the market town of Keswick where I found a nice little sandwich place where I got a chicken and bacon sandwich along with some chicken vegetable soup, and that made me very full. We then went down to nearby Derwent Water (which is a lake in case you don’t know – all of their lakes are called either meres or waters ex. Windermere, Derwent Water). Our guide told us that if we were ever asked how many lakes there are in the lake district on a game show, then the answer is 1 – bassenthwaite lake (it’s the only one actually called a lake). Moving on, we then preceded up Honister Pass on our way to the slate mine, except that our bus didn’t quite make it up the pass. Some type of shaft or something broke, but luckily we were already within walking distance of the mine. After walking through the mine and museum, we had a new bus waiting for us to continue our tour. From there we went back through Keswick on our way to the Castlerigg stone circle (which is very similar to Stonehenge and older as well). The circle was really cool, and very much resembles Stonehenge, but the stones were a bit smaller. We then left from there and made our way to Grasmere which was the home of William Wordsworth, the poet, and we saw his cottage (Dove Cottage), as well as the small town at the edge of the lake. Eventually we made our way back to Windermere (1 hour and 45 minutes late), so this messed up my schedule a bit. I had to go get my big backpack from the hostel, and I made my way to the train station to catch my train to Manchester where I am staying the night. So I caught the first train no problem, and made my way to Oxenholme, but when I got there I noticed my connecting train was a half hour late which really messed up my schedule. At one point I was worried that I might be spending the night in a train station since the trains stop running rather early on Saturday nights. Luckily, once I got to Preston I found a train that was headed to Manchester – a little later than I would have liked, but no worries. Kevin you will be happy to know that I have been reading your copy of Angels and Demons on train rides and such, and I have made it past page 40 which is where I stopped during the school year – so there is hope that I may actually finish it this time. Once I got off the train at Manchester I made the walk to the Hatters Hostel, and I am tired so I am just about to go to sleep soooo Goodnight! Sorry - no pics again today – this internet here is horrible so im lucky to be able to even post this