Sunshine, dogs and Kendal Mint Cake
What a spectacular long-weekend away! The Lake District was awesome (in an English way!). We drove up on Thursday night- leaving Cambridge at about 7.45pm, arriving at the campsite at about 1am. The slow part was finding a place to camp.... we ended up driving down the smallest little roads and doing the Wynose pass in the dark.
The first campsite was in Seathwaite. Actually we discovered by accident that there are TWO seathwaites in the Lake District. One near Conniston which you get to via the Wynose Pass, and the other up past Seatoller which you get to via Keswick. We camped at both. The one pictured above is near Conniston. See first photo. Really pretty little place and well off the beaten track. Check out the weather! How lucky were we?
That morning we drove up to the other Seathwaite through Keswick to start a walk up Scarfell Pike, which is England's tallest peak. The following photos are from the walk. Great day and easy walking. We had bought this cute little guide by a guy called A. Wainwright, who worte about 7 books on walking in the Lake District. It had great little pen and ink drawings of t he routes and pictures of the climbs and nice discriptions about the routes. I wish that there was more guides like this. That night we stayed at the other Seathwaite campsite at the farm.
We arose late on Saturday morning only to find the start of the Scarfell Pike walk that we did the prior day crammed with people bustling their way to the top.Being a Bank holiday weekend we were pleased we had done it the day before!
We spent Saturday basically touring around visiting the stone circle outside Keswick, passing by Ullswater and getting in a few more passes. It was another great day and we had planned to go climbing but my silly knee and my Iliotibial band caused havoc. We drove past the crags that had 'Oxford and Cambridge Direct', and I could see sadness in Iain's eyes, but he was very good about it.
We stopped by Ambleside in the late afternoon to check out the Bridge House (very cute!), and also went to Grisdale Forest to see the sculptures in the wood. That night we drove up to Greater Langdale and camped at Chapel Stile in a huge campsite that was full of kids, stereos and dogs.... Crazy!!!!
The next morning we parked at the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel and had a top breakfast before staggering up the slope to the Gimmer Crag to get a climb in. We did 'Bracket and Slab', which was lots of fun and pretty scary- Iain had a few interesting moments leading with a backpack on.... the only problem I have with UK climbing is that I always get blood cold....
We ate at the New Dungeon, and then drove on up the Wynose PAs and Hardknott pass heading towards Wasdale. That night we stayed in a crappy little campsite (well, the camp site was nice but it was expensive and the facilities were terrible) at Stanton Bridge.
It rained all night but started to clear in the morning. We drove up to Wasdale, and checked out the little church there where a stack of people are buried who have died on the surrounding peaks.... nasty! Also we spent some time in an Outdoor shop purchasing a few new books... we coulsn't help ourselves.
We then drove on through Ravenswater and up to Conniston and around to Blackwell, the Arts and Crafts house at Bowness on Windermere. The house was gorgeous, with lots of detail. A really nice space. I wish we still built houses with this sort of character. Gave me a few ideas to stick in my notebooks, if I ever get around to writing them up.
Had a bit of a look around before heading off home via the Yorkshire Dales National Park, stopping at a wind-farm on the way.
We had dinner at about 8pm and were home by 10.40pm.
Top trip.... sad to be back at work.
: (
Well, Scotland is coming up in a few weeks. Can't wait!
The first campsite was in Seathwaite. Actually we discovered by accident that there are TWO seathwaites in the Lake District. One near Conniston which you get to via the Wynose Pass, and the other up past Seatoller which you get to via Keswick. We camped at both. The one pictured above is near Conniston. See first photo. Really pretty little place and well off the beaten track. Check out the weather! How lucky were we?
That morning we drove up to the other Seathwaite through Keswick to start a walk up Scarfell Pike, which is England's tallest peak. The following photos are from the walk. Great day and easy walking. We had bought this cute little guide by a guy called A. Wainwright, who worte about 7 books on walking in the Lake District. It had great little pen and ink drawings of t he routes and pictures of the climbs and nice discriptions about the routes. I wish that there was more guides like this. That night we stayed at the other Seathwaite campsite at the farm.
We arose late on Saturday morning only to find the start of the Scarfell Pike walk that we did the prior day crammed with people bustling their way to the top.Being a Bank holiday weekend we were pleased we had done it the day before!
We spent Saturday basically touring around visiting the stone circle outside Keswick, passing by Ullswater and getting in a few more passes. It was another great day and we had planned to go climbing but my silly knee and my Iliotibial band caused havoc. We drove past the crags that had 'Oxford and Cambridge Direct', and I could see sadness in Iain's eyes, but he was very good about it.We stopped by Ambleside in the late afternoon to check out the Bridge House (very cute!), and also went to Grisdale Forest to see the sculptures in the wood. That night we drove up to Greater Langdale and camped at Chapel Stile in a huge campsite that was full of kids, stereos and dogs.... Crazy!!!!
The next morning we parked at the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel and had a top breakfast before staggering up the slope to the Gimmer Crag to get a climb in. We did 'Bracket and Slab', which was lots of fun and pretty scary- Iain had a few interesting moments leading with a backpack on.... the only problem I have with UK climbing is that I always get blood cold....
We ate at the New Dungeon, and then drove on up the Wynose PAs and Hardknott pass heading towards Wasdale. That night we stayed in a crappy little campsite (well, the camp site was nice but it was expensive and the facilities were terrible) at Stanton Bridge.
It rained all night but started to clear in the morning. We drove up to Wasdale, and checked out the little church there where a stack of people are buried who have died on the surrounding peaks.... nasty! Also we spent some time in an Outdoor shop purchasing a few new books... we coulsn't help ourselves.
We then drove on through Ravenswater and up to Conniston and around to Blackwell, the Arts and Crafts house at Bowness on Windermere. The house was gorgeous, with lots of detail. A really nice space. I wish we still built houses with this sort of character. Gave me a few ideas to stick in my notebooks, if I ever get around to writing them up.
Had a bit of a look around before heading off home via the Yorkshire Dales National Park, stopping at a wind-farm on the way.
We had dinner at about 8pm and were home by 10.40pm.
Top trip.... sad to be back at work.
: (
Well, Scotland is coming up in a few weeks. Can't wait!
