England's scenic Lake District and Hadrian's Wall

The Lake District National Park was established in 1951 and covers an area of 2,362 square kms; it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017

Lee and I took a tour through Dove Cottage which was Wordsworth's home during his most productive years; we were embarrassed that neither of us had read anything he had written

Keswick, home to the world's first pencil factory, is also home to the world's largest pencil measuring almost 8 meters long; I thought a teacher might appreciate this stop on our itinerary

In the Lake District, you have to hike/walk so Lee is patiently dragging me around to admire the great vistas; there are 1300+ miles of public footpaths in the national park

Lee saw more of Keswick than I did with his early morning runs and his evening show at Theater by the Lake; the author Beatrix Potter who wrote The Tales of Peter Rabbit lived nearby and her home is a tourist draw

Lee and I took a one hour detour from our route to visit Housestead's Roman Fort and Hadrian's Wall; the ruins feature the best-preserved Roman toilets anywhere

Hadrian's Wall was a defensive fortification in the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of emperor Hadrian; it ran 73 miles from River Tyne near the North Sea to Solway Firth on the Irish Sea, and was the Roman Empire's northern limit

The most impressive Roman ruins in Britain are found here along Hadrian's Wall; the wall was originally 20 ft high but is now only 3-6 feet high and 3 feet wide

This model shows the extensive barracks at Housestead's; Hadrian's Wall was a manned fortification with 16 forts along the way; today thousands of people walk the national trail alongside the wall

Many artifacts have been recovered at Housesteads which the Roman's occupied for about 300 years; Hadrian's Wall is not the boundary with Scotland although Scotland is often very close

It's amazing to think how large the Roman Empire once was!; the number of soldiers required to defend such a territory had to have been enormous

Lee showing off his form as his kicked my butt at pitch and putt; Lee golfed quite a bit in college and, although rusty, had moments where his experience showed

All the land in England higher than 3,000 feet above sea level lies within the Lakes National Park, including Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England; it also contains the deepest and largest natural lakes in England

Our first hike in the Lake District wasn't marked so we relied on Google maps; it's still amazing to me how we traveled in Europe before Google maps

Hope Park; most of the tourists we encountered were seniors from elsewhere in England; they came to the Lake District to enjoy the long scenic walks

Derwentwater is one of Cumbria's most photographed and popular lakes; closest to Keswick, the lake has good boat service and miles of hiking trails

Around Lake Buttermere there were plenty of sheep grazing but this one had somehow found a different place to graze; I saw signs warning drivers about red squirrels but never saw one

Fly agaric mushrooms are common in the Lake District and are probably the most iconic toadstools; technically, they are poisonous but with specific cooking instructions they are eaten in Europe

When you mention the Lake District to any Brit they'll tell you how much they love it; everyone has their favorite hike and Lee took the advice of a guy at the theater in selecting our first hike

Lee and I did a second walk of 6 miles or so around Buttermere Lake; with gorgeous weather, there were tons of people out enjoying the walk with us

Some of the hills we climbed were just all crumbled slate but then we had views of vibrant green sheep meadows below; the roofing slate for Buckingham Palace came from here

Lake District National Park is the largest national park in England and also the most visited with 23 million annual guests; the Lake District is roughly 32 miles by 40 miles

At times we were forced to walk on the loose slate which tended to just slide so Lee and I started keeping a tally of how often we landed on our backsides; I won, of course

Moot Hall in Keswick; we stayed at a very small inn here since it is the most centrally located of the villages in the Lake District

One of the most ingenuous uses for pencils was during WW2 when maps were hidden inside them; featured on Antiques Roadshow, one of these WW2 pencils recently sold for $500+

There are just a handful of historical buildings around Lake Buttermere; most of the time you couldn't even see a building but were just lost to admire the scenery and peacefulness

I originally thought these were mushrooms but, with research, I think it's some type of fungus; it rains 180 days a year here so we lucked out with sunny weather

Castlerigg is the most visited ancient stone circle in Cumbria; it was probably constructed around 3200 BC (Late Neolithic/Early Bronze-Age), making it one of the earliest stone circles in Britain

Supposedly Grassmere gingerbread is the original gingerbread with a recipe going back centuries; it tastes very different from American gingerbread with more cinnamon and other spices