UK - The Lake District

The next destination was chosen to view some more of England's natural beauty.  Lake District National Park, in northwest England, has mountains, valleys, fells (hills), and lakes galore.

I picked Keswick as my home base while exploring The Lake District.  I arrived in town just prior to sunset, as usual, so I was happy that I got to take a look around town before it got dark.

 

 View of Main Street and The Moot Hall.  Formerly an assembly hall and now a tourist information center and art gallery.

UK: Blackpool

Leaving Wales for northern England, I knew I had a long drive ahead of me.  I decided last-minute that I wanted to break up the drive by stopping somewhere along the way for some sight-seeing.  Leave it to me to choose a place that isn't really along the way, unless you count adding an extra 40 miles to your drive as being "along the way."  It seemed like a good idea, though in reality it was a big waste of time.  But hey, this classy vacation of mine needed a touch of tackiness added to it.

Blackpool is like no place else on earth because it is like so many places on earth mixed together.  At times, I could have guessed I was really in Santa Cruz, Paris, Atlantic City, a State Fair, Santa Monica, Eastern Europe, Chuck E Cheese, or Washington DC.  (You'll see why soon.)

UK - Northern Wales & Snowdonia

I loved my time in England thus far, but was very much looking forward leaving it behind for a little while to experience Wales.  The main attraction was a visit to Snowdonia National Park.  Instead of getting lodging inside the park itself, I chose to pick a Bed & Breakfast in the harbor town of Caernarfon. 

I arrived late in the day, but there was still enough daylight to explore.  After spending hours in the car, it was nice to walk around the city.  Plus, it was only short jaunt from the B&B to the old part of town.

The street my B&B was on.  Bay windows as far as the eye can see.

Pretty church at the end of the street.

Hole in the Wall Street, because there's a gaping hole in the town wall.

UK - Cheshire, not the cat

On this two-week trip, I had all of the major destinations planned out, but there were still plenty of things that I did on the fly too.  One of those was stopping in the town of Chester, which is located in Cheshire.  (Chester + shire = Cheshire.)  After leaving Stratford-upon-Avon, I decided I wanted to find a nice place to stop for lunch along the drive over to northern Wales.  After doing a little bit of last-minute research online and in my guidebooks, Chester came out on top.

For not knowing anything about the city when I started my trip, I was very pleasantly surprised by Chester.  For starters, it was much bigger and busier than I thought it would be, and that was actually a good thing.  I didn't feel like I was just visiting another tourist town.  This seemed to be a place that real people lived in, worked in, and attended school in.

UK - The Cotswolds & Stratford-upon-Avon

During my trip, I knew I wanted to visit a quaint English village.  What I had in mind, was something like where Kate Winslet's character lived in the movie The Holiday.  I narrowed in on The Cotswolds.  For those not familiar, The Cotswolds is a region in mid/southwestern England with hills and small country villages.