Couldn’t resist posing with the Fab Four

We broke up the journey from the Lake District to Wales with a two-day stop in Liverpool. Not that I was ever dying to see Liverpool, but I did have a bit of curiosity. In my mind the name conjures up gritty old industrial England, coarse football enthusiasts, and a layer of dusty magic from a bygone era of musical greatness.

The spectacular interior of the massive and surprisingly modern Liverpool Cathedral

The Cathedral mixed Neo-Gothic splendor with modern art, like this neon sculpture by the daring English artist Tracey Emin

I wasn’t totally off the mark; I found all three of those things on broad display here in Liverpool. And yet the place was so much more lively and dynamic than that.

The days as an industrial powerhouse have left behind plenty of grand architecture — some in need of repair and lots more turned to new uses. There is a lot of slightly gritty urban beauty to it all.

But the streets were absolutely teeming with life. Admittedly, we arrived on a Saturday, so our first evening probably saw the week’s biggest crowds. But the city center was truly alive — block after block of Liverpudlians out and partying in every direction. It’s hard to imagine seeing so many people out and about at the center of a comparable American city. If you were in Milwaukee or Cleveland or Baltimore, you might find a busy few blocks someplace, but I doubt you’d ever find a city center remotely as full of life as this one.

As far as the coarse football enthusiasts go, my expectations weren’t that far off. This is not a fashionable London crowd. You hear a lot of tough to understand northern industrial accents, not so much the Oxford and Cambridge kind. The place is certainly not overrun by tourists. You just find a lot of ordinary Scousers out enjoying the scene. (Liverpudlians are also called Scousers after a seafood stew called scouse, long favored by local sailors.) And a lot more football jerseys than designer clothes.

And yes, music remains a big part of the excitement because something truly special happened here in the 1960s. An incredible music scene developed in Liverpool, one driven by post-war working class youth, a unique local identity, and the inspiration of American Rock & Roll. A new generation of musical talent packed the clubs along Mathew Street, and eventually took the whole world by storm. Paul, John, George, and Ringo are still present everywhere in Liverpool, and it’s a joy to see.

The almost sinister bulk of Liverpool Cathedral, the largest church in Britain, built between 1904 and 1978. It’s stunning to see such an audacious project built in the 20th century.

Buzzy Mathew Street, home of the little clubs that fueled the unique Liverpool music scene in the 1960s

A replica of the Cavern Club, the little underground space on Mathew Street where the Beatles performed 292 times before emerging as global superstars

Scousers out having a rowdy good time

Delicious Turkish food on lively Castle Street

Beautiful architecture in the buzzy central city

Monumental architecture, including our hotel with the huge clock tower

The city had kind of a rainy, gloomy hangover by Sunday morning

OK, there is one peculiar and not at all good thing about Liverpool. Some genius here decide to make crosswalk signals work differently than every other place on Earth. When you want to cross the street the signal is not directly in front of you on the other side of the street (like it is in every other city on the planet). Here in Liverpool, the signal is tastefully and discretely placed just to the right or left of where you are standing. So when you look across the street, where you expect the signal to be, you are actually looking at the signal for the people who are trying to cross the street perpendicular to the one you want to cross. The result is that when you see the crosswalk signal you are looking for, it’s exactly the opposite of the one that applies to you. So if you look up and see a green man that means you are certain to be mowed down and die if you cross now. Who came up with this madness?

If you see a green man in front of you, that means you will be killed if you try to cross the street. You are supposed to be looking at the red man on your right instead. In fact, it’s the guy standing in this picture who has the right of way, not me. Uniquely Liverpool!

High above Lake Windermere at Wansfell

After Ambleside we moved just a few miles down the road – literally less than 15 minutes by taxi – to Windermere. Well, technically to a lodge two miles north of Windermere, right on the big lake of the same name. The hotel was fantastic, an old 19th century mansion converted beautifully to a hotel, every detail just perfect. What a place to settle in for three days of hiking and eating and relaxing.

First off, I love the Lake District. I remember reading about it decades ago in a biography of Woodrow Wilson. He started coming to the area when he was President of Princeton University and fell in love, so much that he later regretted not buying a place here. One day while I was hiking on a small, narrow road up to a tiny village named Troutbeck I was wondering if Wilson had walked this same route. Turns out there is an historic house on the route – a 400-year-old property owned by 12 generations of the Browne family – and at one point the description of the property explains that this was one of Wilson’s favorite walks in the Lake Country. So yes, I was walking in his footsteps.

The elegant Langdale Chase Hotel outside of Windermere

Walking the fells – the hills and mountains above the tree line – is the major activity in the Lakes District and we did a lot of that during our stay. Just beautiful walking and hiking on small country lanes and usually well marked trails, ultimately to places with spectacular views. The highlight of this three-night stop was up to Wansfell, high above Ambleside. And a bonus for the hike was that along maybe the first third there were endless blackberry bushes with the berries just coming into season. Yum!

The weather has remained surprisingly cool and – while usually overcast – pretty dry. Such a respite from the heat in much of the rest of Europe and the U.S. I’ve worn a sweater pretty much every day since we left London four weeks ago, but I’m not complaining. And then the last morning in Windermere, getting ready to go to Liverpool, the skies are perfectly blue – I’m pretty sure the first time since we left New York. Really beautiful.

On our final morning the skies cleared and we had these beautiful views of the lake

One thing that strikes me hiking around northern England and Scotland are the stone property boundaries. You have to wonder just how many miles of rock boundary walls? How many untold hours of human labor went into them? They’re just everywhere, winding up and over and around the hills. They’re often hundreds of years old and they’re just rock – no filling or anything to hold them in place. And there are still experts who repair and rebuild walls that are damaged for one reason or another. We asked one local at the hotel why they go through the significant expense of repairing the stone walls as opposed to just replacing broken parts with modern fencing. “Because they’re beautiful,” he explained. Fair enough.

Working my way gently up the hill, wondering about all those stone property boundaries

And so we are now half way through this UK explorer, done with 13 of 26 stops. Now it’s a quick stop in Liverpool on our way to Wales.

The Great Hall of our hotel

Climbing the stairs to our room

The terrace at our hotel. For the most part the weather wasn’t begging you to sit out there but the blankets made it cozy.

Speaking of blankets, we did an evening lake cruise one night before dinner and the blankets helped. Note the champagne glass sitting there – very civilized!

More of the cruise. We didn’t book a private tour but no one else signed up, so we had a private tour.

Hiking down to Ambleside

The paths weren’t always this gentle but we appreciated this stretch

The library in the Browne’s cottage, added to the house in 1672. There are 44 books in the collection that are completely unique, with no other copy existing. The oldest book is a New Testament from 1548.

Another welcome sight on the trails. On our first day there were only a tiny number of ripe berries but by day three they were doing a lot better!

This was one of Mark’s highlights. He figured out the local bus system, making it way easier to get into town and back for lunch. Here he is on his first ride on the upper level of the bus.

Can’t get enough sheep pictures, huh?

We’re doing our best, though

Meals are always a big part of our day. This is our hotel restaurant with big juicy oysters. Strangely, we encountered a nearly identical octopus serving dish in London at a tapas restaurant!

Lunch at The Schelly in Ambleside. It’s a tiny Michelin-listed restaurant with some of the seats facing out onto the little local square, great for people watching.

The bar after dinner

Hiking pictures

And more hiking pictures

Lakeside, looking up at Langdale Chase Hotel

The terrace at night

We saw a few of these signs and kept wondering what the sheepdogs were accused of…