The Epic Adventure Around England Day 5 Manchester to Keswick

Today we were very keen to get out of Manchester so we were up and ready and out the door by 8 o'clock. Rachel suggested that we go and visit a friend of hers along the way. It turns out the our little detour became a mammoth adventure into Blackpool. The other girls didn't believe me when I told them it was called 'Pleasure Beach,' after driving around aimlessly we finally got on the right track or should I say in the right town. We weren't even meant to be in Blackpool but in this tiny town out of Blackpool. So we met Rach's friend Will who was lovely and brought us coffee and croissants for breakfast. He coped amazingly well having 4 strange girls turning up on his doorstep. After we left Will we headed up to the Lake District unbeknown to us the road we were taking had heaps of roadworks ahead. Our first impressions of the Lake District were of road works, not great. So by the time we reached Bowness by Windemere, a beautiful little tourist town on the edge of Lake Windemere we were ready for the loo and food in that order. Of course as we soon found out, the Lake District is pretty much a non-stop rain magnet. While we were waiting for the girls Rachel started chatting up a local fireman who gave rides to children. Of course we had to have a ride in the fire truck with fireman Pete who took a big shining to Rachel and passed on his number. After our very exciting firetruck ride we looked for lunch and had an amazing meal upstairs at a pub overlooking the lake. It began to rain properly so we headed for the car and onto Keswick. Keswick was a very cool town. Small and touristy but very cool. We stayed at this basic hostel but we had one end of the whole place to ourselves and we took advantage of it. Sharing the hostel was one other group, having a chat to them they were cycling from coast to coast across the UK, a very brave move in my book. We decided to make a big night of it and headed out into Keswick after we had frocked up. On the way we passed the local fire station and had a chat to the boys. We tried a few bars, one was lovely and then headed for the only nightclub in town. Which was extremely dodgy. After stumbling back to the hostel I was very glad for my bed.

The Epic Adventure Around England Day 4 Birmingham to Manchester

Day 4 started bright and very early in order to get out of Birmingham before the traffic hit. We headed straight towards Ashbourne on the very edge of the Peak District after managing to find a car park we headed into a tea house for some much deserved breakfast (elevenses for some of us). After a bit of shopping in Dorothy Perkins in Ashbourne we headed up through the peak district. Along amazingly small windy roads to a beautiful spot called Dovedale where we walked along the river and across some stepping stones a very relaxing and very English thing to do.

On our way again we headed up through the peak district to the insane town of Castleton. This place is absolutely insane. The pictures don't do it justice and only going there could explain it is so small and windy and all built of stone. Our destination was a cavern called the 'Devil's Arse.' There are heaps of caves and tunnels all around the area and there are a few you can do tours through. After saying no to the tour that took you in a boat down a very small tunnel in the pitch black we decided the 'devils arse' was for us. The cave was amazing and a bit spooky, their used to be an actual township inside the front of the cave it is that big. Then it became a rope factory, we saw how they hand made the rope which was pretty cool. Probably the best bit was our guide a rough and ready English man who was a bit nutty. He told us heaps of stories about the legends of the caves about the Queens visit and how it got its name the devils arse. They call it that because when it rains really heavily the bottom of the cave floods when the water recedes it is like a huge bath when you take the plug out. Apparently it makes a gurgling noise that you can hear in the town itself and so it is called the devils arse. I love it.

Adventures in the cave over and we finally found a loo. Fiona was practically running to make it. We found some lunch in another tiny town on the edge of the Peak district called Chapel-en-le-frith (something like that) and we bolted to make it to Lyme Park.

Lyme Park was a huge moment for me. It is where they filmed the Lake scene in Pride and Prejudice. Fiona and I were nearly losing it. There were tears in my eyes. We were too late to look through the house. But a lovely young man (elderly gent) told us girls all about the architecture and stuff which was very cool. We could walk around the back and into the deer park to see the outside of the house though which was absolutely fabulous.

After the emotional Mr Darcy experience we were off headed towards Manchester for the night. Not going to say much about Manchester none of us really liked it and we didn't do much there. The funniest thing that happened was that at the pub I asked the barman for a 10 inch steak instead of a 10 ounce steak and I went bright red, he told all the barmen and we had to leave as soon as we had finished eating.