The Lake District or Up the Kirkstone Pass (Part 4)

Before I left the Lakes District I went to visit the place I'd stayed last time - a youth hostel on top of a hill with fields of wildflowers stretching below and down to Windermere. Here it is:

Also a quick and illicit park at a hotel to stop and photograph Grasmere...After which I found a dog lying behind my car, blocking my escape while his crony barked to alert the owner to my presence. Made a hasty escape via a (illegal) left-hand turn and set off for Northumberland.

I chose the route up the Kirkstone Pass because I'd once seen a photograph of the view and thought it'd be lovely to drive. It was, but it certainly made me glad that a) I was driving a small car, b) I was not towing a trailer and c) I met very few cars on the way up a stretch that I would later find was called The Struggle (not an exaggeration).

Anyway, I pretended like I knew what gears are about and made safely it to the summit. From the top of the pass, it's all (incredibly steep and narrow) downhill and a gorgeous view towards Ullswater:

You can see by the sky that it's clearly an appropriate day for beach activity (the Brits taking every opportunity of it Not Raining to get outside), and many a family was out in force. This guy, however, was the only swimmer.

Nut.

With surprising ease (given that I had the barest of information on my maps) I found my way to Place To Stay #2: Wydon Farm in Haltwhistle, where I was housed in a converted barn and told to make myself at home on the farm. Much chasing of chickens and startling of cows ensued.
Couldn't use the flash here (poor kitty) but it had beautiful eyes - one blue, one green.
This is quite a bleak photograph. Like Wuthering Heights, for cows.

Here, also, is a lovely paint called Tokyo, who enjoyed the grass I fed him from the other side of the fence more than he did my company.

Here is a VERY guilty looking sheeplet who has ducked under the fence.

Another sheep, looking insecure about his painted behind.

Here are some cows, their sentries standing guard as I sat on the fence and watched them.

Here are some cows advancing, shortly after which I got down off the fence and left them alone.

Here is a grassy field, which for some reason I found oddly photogenic.

And here is Wydon Farmhouse, in a variety of composition shots: