After a lovely time in Blackpool here we are in the Lake District, another step nearer to Scotland. We arrived in middle of the night (under an amazing starry sky) at youth hostel in Helvellyn (half way up a mountain). It’s just like the movie Withnail & I, the difference was our hostel looked much better than that old rotten house in the movie.

The hostel we stayed is a little heaven on earth in terms of location. In the hostel’s backyard is a small tarn running down the mountainside – surrounded by snow-capped mountains.

The next morning we cooked English breakfast very early in the morning and then set off for a big hike. Our mission was to walk to the frozen lake on the top of the mountain. How long did it take? Well, it took two and a half hours (not including the journey back!).

The view at the top was very impressive – a beautiful lake and surrounded mountain views. It was also very chilly as the wind kept blowing, so we decided to have a sip of red wine to warm us up.

After the hiking trip, in the afternoon, we went to Castlerigg Stone Circle, Keswick. The stone circle was constructed around 3200 BC (about 5,000 years ago).

Then we set off to Keswick for a lunch. Kewsick is a small, quite town. We had some pub lunch – beef stew in huge Yorkshire Puddings – yum yum.

Two days in the Lakes, now off to Scotland to see a monster.

To be continued …

One of the best holiday I’ve ever had in 2008! This city beat 130 other European cities to gain first place in European Tourism City of the Year in June 2007. In this cute little town, they’re not about cheesy tourist story but a true heritage. The city has so many unique views hidden in every corner of the street. It like a treasure game where you wondering around for a gems after gems.

It took about two hours to York from Rochdale, Manchester. The trip started with a 12th century church, Rochdale Parish Church St.Chad’s, where I had breakfast and took some pictures with the first Co-Op of the UK.

Then I jumped on the train, after about an hour, I stop at Leed and did some sight seeing. I went to Harvey Nichols’s sale season. What I found in Harvey Nic’s sale was a lovely shoes from Dries Van Noten and it was very cheap, something that wouldn’t left in the sale in London!

In York, I spent an hour looking for a lovely hotel to stay and end up with one little cute B&B hotel that had picture of a lovely cat at the window, I knew right away this is the place I want to stay ;-)) A time in York was so lovely. It has so many cute little boutiques and a lot of things to see and taste. Basically we spent a lot of time explore from day to night. What’s a lovely life!

The hi-light of the town would be the Minster itself. It is one of the largest gothic styles cathedral in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral. York minster resurrected so many time from destroying since 627AD. It took half of a century to made it today. This cathedral has been there as a house of god for over 1,000 years! What a history!

Inside the Minster is so much bigger than the outside. The building contained the biggest stain glass window in European and the hall were designed with high ceiling. There are statues of English Kings decorated on the wall while all the statues of angels and saints are beheaded as a result of King Henry VIII turned England into Protestant.

After the Minster, I went for a long walk along the city wall. I also visited the old king castle site that today nothing more than a crumble of a rock.

The last night in York was mainly about bitter and wine. I did pretty well went in and out many pub, drank lots of wines and beers.