Literally literary

As far as I can tell, Carlisle is nothing but one way streets in the direction no one wants to go and strange parking rules. Well, it also has a cool cathedral, but who doesn't?! Their cathedral originally dates back to the Normans, built in 1122. I mean, seriously? Then in the 13th century they did a little DIY refurbishment which increased its size and kind of made it not line up properly. It survived the reformation, but during the civil war Oliver Cromwell and his mates decided it would be a good idea to tear down half of the Norman part, leaving the cathedral an unusual shape and quite a bit smaller. But, it is still pretty magnificent, quite a beautiful place and a very interesting history, once we found someone who could explain why the aisle didn't line up properly.
Near Carlisle, is the Birdoswald Roman Fort (that's 'bird-oswald' as opposed to 'birdos-wald' like I was saying), where the longest complete section of Hadrian's Wall is. Back in the day, when Rome was 'in charge' of the UK, Hadrian decided that they weren't going to bother with the north of the island anymore, so he built an enormous wall to keep those rebellious Scots on their own side. This was about 122 so although the wall now is quite easily breached, when it was actually useful, it was 16-20 feet high and 10 feet wide, which was probably excessive at the time, but what else was there to do other than build walls.

From there we headed into the lake district. On the way, we stopped in Cockermouth to visit the birthplace of William Wordsworth. That was nice, but in Cockermouth the disaster management nerd in me came out as I surveyed a city center trying to pick up the pieces after a devastating flood last fall. About half of the businesses are back open, and the smell of sawdust and fresh paint is hanging in the air. The water level is marked on buildings at an impressive height and at the time was not stagnant, but moving at 25 mph down the high street.

We headed deeper into the lake district and stopped a few times to enjoy the view. In Grasmere we continued to follow Wordsworth to Dove cottage where he lived for eight years of 'plain living but high thinking' writing some of the greatest literary works ever. And who wouldn't be inspired there? Well, clearly I haven't thought of anything amazing, but if I lived there in seclusion and only two wagons went by a week, maybe I'd come up with something. We had a great dinner in Windemere's oldest and most charming pub and then contemplated at the lakeside for a while.

In the morning, we got on the shortest ferry I've ever ridden across Windemere lake to move onto children's literature at Beatrix Potter's house. It was raining, but that didn't really detract from the charm of this house and our interest in her character. She came to the lake district much like in that movie, and ended up buying 4000 acres which she put in a trust and saved forever. You rock! In her gallery in Hawkshead we saw some of her original drawings for her books which was really cool.