UK ADVENTURES

THE LAKE DISTRICT

FEBRUARY 2013

After being back in the UK for nearly 7 months, we were really starting to miss the amazing adventures that we had on our backpacking journey around the world. So we booked up to go to The Lake District for a few days, which we have always wanted to do and was lovely to go the day after the both of us were baptised.

Mr F booked us into a B&B in Windermere called 'Hawksmoor Guest House' owned by a very lovely couple Trevor & Phillipa who were very welcoming when we arrived with cups of tea and biscuits, which went down nicely after a long 4 hour drive.

Our room was very lovely with 24hour central heating with a controlled temperature cage, under floor heating in the bathroom, a TV with a list of free DVD's to loan aswell as the usual tea/coffee facilities.

We were told by Trevor that the lower town is where most of the tourists/visitors go to eat although a little more expensive than the upper town. Since Mr F's trekking boots were left at Lukla airport in Nepal, we needed to go in search for new boots and waterproof trekking trousers, so we went for a walk to the lower town and successfully bought both. The man who owned the shop was very helpful with advice about what treks and climbs we could do that were suitable in the current rainy and misty weather. Unfortunately we were advised by a couple of locals not to climb Scafell - the tallest mountain in the UK - due to the poor conditions of the weather, which was disappointing as we had intended to climb it.

On the way back to the B&B, we looked at getting dinner somewhere. We discovered that for the both of us to eat anywhere in the lower town would cost an average of £40 for the both of us, so we got in the car and drover to the upper town where we found a pub called The Elleray. A very dodgy looking pub from the outside and seems to be a locals pub, but it served very good homemade food for half the price of the upper town.

       Hawksmoor Guest House

Our room.....

Mr F and Buggles on the balcony looking out for Deers and Owls......

                                  View from our room.....



LAKE DISTRICT - FEBRUARY 2013

DAY 1:

The breakfast in the B&B was really lovely. Cereals, fruit, juice & yoghurt to help yourself to & a cooked option of full English, porridge or daily specials. After loading up on breakfast, we headed out. Since Sca Fell wasn't climbable to the bad weather, we decided to attempt the third biggest mountain in the UK - Helvelyn. At the bottom it was quite clear and seemed climbable and an hour into our climb we were able to see some stunning scenery. However, as we got higher, there was still snow on the mountain that we had to negotiate ourselves around, it was raining quite a bit and visibility was not as clear.

So after getting halfway, we made the sensible decision to turn around and head back down. As it was still quite early and we were armed with our waterproofs, we decided to go for a non strenuous walk by a lake. But after 40mins, the rain was coming down quite hard so we had no choice but to turn back and head back to the B&B for a much needed and enjoyable soak in the deepest bath we've ever seen. 

                                          .....The very impressive & beautiful fish tank in the breakfast room, complete with the entire cast of Finding Nemo

                                                                     
                                                               Views of the mountains on the way to Helvelyn....

                                                        ......Mr F points to our mission mountain

                                          
    Clear views at the bottom of Helvellyn.....

  Looking back over the lake on our way up....

 

We came across this stream that we had no choice but to cross - a little wobbly but we made it ok

                                                    ......As we were getting higher, the weather & terrain was getting noticeably different to the bottom of the mountain

                                                     
                                                                    .....Mrs F trying to stand against the heavy wind and rain

Back at the car, Mr F has a look at our rather large
waterproof map to see where we could go for
a little trek...

DAY 2: 

After Mr F had studied the map, our next destination was Ingleton Waterfall Trail. The whole trek starts and finishes in the car park and you can go either way for the price of £5 per person or £11 for a family of 2 adults & 2 children. It was such an enjoyable walk and the scenery was stunning - better than anything we saw during our time in New Zealand! We were very fortunate with the waterfalls in fall flow due to all the rain so they were great to see. After having trekked for just over a hour in a forest covered trail, we came out in the open & walked across the moors which we absolutely loved. Good old English moors and they were beautiful. It was also a bonus that the rain held off throughout our trek accept for a little bit of hail stones, but we stayed dry thanks to God very lovingly answering Mrs F's prayer for a dry day :-)

                                                              The start of our walk across the moors

After getting back to the B&B for a little chill out, we planned to head straight back out for another little walk but it was raining, so we stayed chilling out. Once the rain had stopped, we headed out on foot towards The Elleray for dinner, but first decided to walk to Orsett Head - Windermere's highest viewpoint. We set out in the late afternoon/early so it was well on the way to getting dark and the walk is a very secluded forest trial.....and we forgot our head torch! But with Mrs F's trusty phone torch, we got to the top and back again safely. The views even at that time of day from the top were still lovely.

DAY 3:

Our last day spent in The Lakes, so we decided to do a big walk and climb. We set out for Loughrigg, which is a nice little 1200 foot high mountain. We walked around the lake on a path for a while before heading upwards towards the hills. On the way, we came across a tractor than had been abandoned randomly, so we couldn't resist getting a picture with Mr F in it! :-)

Then after walking some more, we came across a cave which we tried to get into, but there was no clear route inside. But not long after that, we came across more caves called 'The Great Cave' and were able to go inside that one. Since Mr F was very chuffed at his new waterproof boots, he had no problem at all stomping through puddles and streams and decided to enter the cave via the stepping stone route. Unfortunately, his foot went a little deeper than he anticipated and his foot got soaked!!

                                    
                                       Helvelyn in the distance.... 

            The first cave we came across.....

                                         
                                                    The Great Cave.....

After the caves, we carried on our route and trekked along with a group of sheep for about 10mins before they headed up the mountain that we were about the climb from the other side. At this point, we were quite high up already with a great view of the town below before we started to head up Loughrigg. We had a bit of scrambling to do and a lot of unsteady steps to walk up and at one point, there were no steps, just pick your best way up! Towards the top it was getting quite boggy and horrible but once we made it to the top, it was all so worth it with the views that we were greeted with.....along with some strong winds....

                                                                           
                                                       ...The sheep that we walked with for a while :-)

 Mr F spotted this robin red breast who didn't seem to be phased by us, so we gave him some of our flapjack which he loved :-)

                                                         
                                                                     .....our way up to the top

                                                                                                           .....Mr F at the cairn

                                                                               .....Mrs F standing against the hard blowing wind

Once we were at the top, we could see loads of different routes that we could take going back down. So we decided not to go the way we came up, but instead chose a more direct route down.....and met a lot of sheep along the way.....

                                                                                            Mr F points to the start of trek

                                 Our direct route down the mountain.....

                                                                                              Back on the ground and heading over to the other side of the lake to do the Coffin Trail

We got back down and walked over to the other side of the lake where we then walked on The Coffin Trail to Grassmere, which was supposed to be our warm down walk but turned into more hill climbing!

                                                                                            .....The hill that we climbed

                   View of the mountain we had just come down from on the other side of the lake

All in all, we trekked for 5 & half hours and loved every minute of it. Then as per routine, we headed back to the B&B for a much needed and deserved soak and The Elleray for our last night and meal in The Lake District.

We set off the next morning for another long 4hour journey back to London with one last photo on the way...

VERDICT OF THE LAKE DISTRICT

MR F: Beautiful - not sure why we went to New Zealand! Lots of mountains to climb although the weather prevented this. Will be returning soon and can't wait.

MRS F: Absolutely loved The Lake District - a very stunning place which I have always wanted to see and am glad to have now seen it with Mr F and straight after our baptism too. If I knew that New Zealand didn't have anything on The Lakes, I would have saved the journey to go there! Can't wait to return when the weather permits us to do more.