June 18

We had breakfast at the B&B and then walked around the corner to the bus station to catch the 555 bus to Lancaster. It's not far, 34.5 miles but took a while, over two hours, because it wound its way through the countryside. But it was really interesting seeing how the terrain changed as we left the Lake District;  the 3000 foot mountains became low hills. The houses also charged. In Ambleside and Keswick houses had stone walls that didn't show any mortar. This changed to stone walls that showed mortar and then some with brick or stucco. Today's bus ride was a bargain at  £8.30 each in comparison to the  £7.70 each that we paid for the six mile ride to the Helvellyn trailhead when were in Keswick. The main reason for taking the bus to Lancaster was the problems that they are having with the train service. No trains have been going to Windermere.  I had booked a train from Lancaster to Manchester Airport at 15:25 so we had time to look around Lancaster. We got to the train station early and asked a question of a station employee. When he saw our tickets he told us to get on the train that was about to leave because our train was unlikely to be running; he told us not to worry about the incorrect ticket. We were grateful because we got to Manchester Airport earlier than expected.