We take the mid-day HSS to Scotland and proceed through Dumfries and Galloway, along the edge of the Solway Firth and into Cumbria - the Lake District. We check into our hotel for the next four nights, in the centre of Keswick.

After a relaxing breakfast we have time to get to know the town. Later we travel south, along the edge of Thirlmere, to the small village of Grasmere. We visit Wordsworth’s home at Rydal Mount and spend a little time in nearby Ambleside before returning to Keswick, in good time to freshen up before dinner.

We return south this morning as far as Ambleside before turning west along the edge of Coniston, through Penny Bridge and Low Wood to Holker Hall, a stately home set in 200 acres of parkland with an immaculately kept 25 acre garden. We visit the house, gardens and the fascinating motor museum before driving to Lakeside at the south end of Lake Windermere.

In late afternoon we make our way to the hotel via several places which have featured in our tour - back through Bowness-on-Windermere, Ambleside and Grasmere to Keswick.

Our route home on our last day takes us along the edge of our final lake, Bassenthwaite, into Cockermouth and Maryport. We follow the southern edge of the Solway Firth to Carlisle, where we stop around lunch-time. From there we retrace our outward journey to Stranraer and take the evening sailing back to Belfast.