LAKE DISTRICT - SEPTEMBER 2015

So here we are again...continuing on with our Wainwright adventure in the Lake District. We had a cottage all booked with Cumbrian Cottages which we booked based on the location of where we wanted to climb, having so far not even ventured into the North Western Fells, this cottage was in a good location. However....we were due to leave on the Sunday morning and Mr & Mrs S were going to join us in the evening.
Mrs F had a call from Cumbrian Cottages on Saturday morning (less than 24 hours before we were due to leave) to tell us that there is a water leak in our cottage and the owner has advised us to go elsewhere!!

Mrs F had to call both Mr F and Mrs S to let them know that although we were due to leave in the morning, we now had no where to stay, but Cumbrian Cottages were trying to find us a cottage not too far from our original broken cottage and one that has 2 double bedrooms. Mr F decided to leave work to help Mrs F sort out trying to find a new home for the next week. But thankfully, after a lot of prayers, Cumbrian Cottages managed to find us a cottage 10 miles from where we were due to stay. They did try to charge us £44 more since it was a more expensive cottage, but Mr F wasn't overly happy with the fact that it wasn't really anywhere near where we had planned to trek and they wanted to charge us more money for the privilege and inconvenience. So Mr F got on the phone to them and pulled some strings and we got the cottage and no extra cost.

Now all we had to do was pray that Mr F's car would actually get us to the new cottage as it was playing up again. But we prayed before we set off as we always do and the Lord saw us safely to the cottage, which was actually a really lovely cottage and in a lovely location right by the forest and we had a great view of Skiddaw from the front room window. We read in the welcome pack that red squirrels are usually seen in the garden too, so we bought nuts in a local tiny village shop. The garden was beautiful and was surrounded by forest and had a brook running right by at the back. After we unpacked, we headed out to a pub for dinner in Keswick since we were only just up the road, but far enough to have to drive.
Shortly after our Tesco food delivery turned up (and delivered by the same driver who delivered our shopping last September!) Mr & Mrs S turned up after driving around for nearly an hour trying to find the cottage since the directions that were given to us were absolute tosh!

Where We Spent Our Evenings By The Fire...And Tele!

Boys On Look Out For Red Squirrels 

Second Sitting Room At The Back Of The Cottage

VHS Selection!!

Upstairs Landing

Upstairs Hallway To Bedrooms

Spare Bedroom With 2 Single Beds

Mr & Mrs F's Room With Sink

Mr & Mrs S's Room ...Also With Sink!

Walkway To The Beautiful Garden

DAY 1: BARF - 1,536 FT
              LORD'S SEAT - 1,811 FT
              BROOM FELL - 1,670 FT
4 HOURS OF TREKKING

As always on our first day, we wanted to just have a milder day and stretch our legs to reintroduce them in to what we want them to do for the week! As I mentioned, we were blessed with our location as we were able to just leave the cars at the cottage and head straight out from the front door. We turned left up towards the forest and spotted our first red squirrel as a group. Mrs F saw one from the kitchen in the morning as it was scurrying across the garden, but this was a more clearer view but he went back over the little log bridge before we could get a photo of him.

The forest we had to walk through was lovely. It had moments of walking through what looked like a sepia film. The trees were beautifully in line and tall, just a really lovely forest walk. We walked up to the visitor centre that was actually quite nice. It had a little shop and cafe and had a Go Ape Tree Top Adventure area for £33 per person!! Needless to say as tempting as it was, we were far more interested in climbing to our Wainwright fell tops. We eventually made our way out of the forest and to the open fells and to our first peak of the trip...Barf. The views from there were really lovely of Bassenthwaite Lake....

Usual Scene Of Map/Location Checking By Mr F & Mr S

Mr F Looking Good At Barf

Bassenthwaite Lake

Heading On To Our Next Peak...Lords Seat 

Once we had made it to Lord's Seat, we could see Broom Fell in what seemed like the near distance, so everyone accept for Mrs F decided to ditch the rucksacks and make a quick dash for it! Mrs F quite likes the security and warmth she gets from wearing her rucksack. Although it wasn't an arduous quick dash over to Broom Fell, it was however a little further than it looked as the crow flies. But when we got there, the Cairn was most impressive! We didn't hang around much as we wanted to get back for the bags.....and lunch!

Broom Fell Had A Most Impressive Summit Cairn!

It took just as long if not longer to get back to the rucksacks and was a while before we could actually see them! When we finally made it back to the rucksacks, we sat in the tall damp grass to have our lunch. Mrs F had made an Ovaltine in a flask that unknowing to her had now reached the end of it's life in keeping things hot and so was disappointed to be drinking a luke-warm drink. After lunch we headed back through the forest and to the cottage. A good first day to the start of our adventure week...

Liked This Little Fairy Toad Stall

It was such a lovely day and walk and we were done by 4pm and well on our way back to the cottage. So we stopped briefly on a good view point bench before heading back for one of Mrs S's special Chilli Con Carne dinners. And very special it was too...she accidentally put a tin of bean soup into it, which would explain the random spoonfuls of potato, but it actually worked quite well. We had it with brow rice too which was definitely going to be needed for our mammoth day the next day!

Arriving Back At The Cottage

Before dinner, we decided to sit outside with ice cream cones and twisters that Mr Tesco brought us. It was a really lovely afternoon.

The Brook Running By The Back Of The Garden

After dinner, we played a game of Articulate from the VHS cabinet that had loads of board games. It was boys vs girls and each won a game, which meant we had to have a deciding match to play!! It was really good fun and such a laugh.

Enjoying The Sun In The Garden After Our Ice Creams

                                                    

DAY 2: GRISEDALE PIKE - 2,593 FT
              HOPEGILL HEAD - 2,525 FT
              GRASMOOR - 2,791 FT
              EEL CRAG - 2,749 FT
              SCAR CRAGS - 2,205 FT
              CAUSEY PIKE - 2,035 FT
              OUTERSIDE - 1,863 FT
9 HOURS TREKKING, 16 MILES
So today was going to be a pretty mammoth day. According to our Wainwright book and looking at the map - which was well planned out as usual by Mr F & Mr S. We were planning on knocking off around 10. Mrs F & Mrs S just tend to go along with whatever the boys decide to do! Once again we walked straight out of the cottage and turned up towards the forest. We looked out for our red squirrel that we saw the previous day but he was nowhere to be seen.

We headed quite deep into the forest and were walking through for what seemed like quite a long time and looked like Narnia! It was quite dark as we were completely covered by the big tall trees and had to dive off the main road and straight up a steep path through the forest before finally making our way out and into daylight.

Mr F's Usual Photo Face!

Photo Bombed By Mr S

It really didn't seem like we were in the Lake District but somewhere in Canada, as we hadn't trekked through a forest on our previous trips, so was quite different but really lovely views.

Mrs F's First Selfie Of The Trip

Heading Deep Into The Forest..Mr F Has A Strange Expression On His Face!

Finally Made It Out And Trying To Get Our Bearings Again

Heading On & Up

Lovely Photo Of The Girls

Looking & Preparing For The Rest Of The Trek 

There was quite a bit of cloud around that disappeared as soon as it came, so you were able to take good photos one 1 minute and the next, it would be completely covered by the rolling in cloud...

Unfortunately, although we were planning on knocking off quite a few Wainwrights today, it wasn't a case of gaining height and a ridge walk to the summits. A lot of the time we had to gain quite steep height and drop back down to climb up to the next one, and they were really quite steep....very testing on your hamstrings!! We stopped briefly for our boiled eggs which we discovered was a good idea and went down really well when we needed a little protein push. Mrs S was making herself boiled eggs for lunch everyday so we decided to join her and they've never tasted so good as when you've just exerted yourself. It did take a while to get it peeled and we brought the little pot of salt out with us and was passing it around to put on our eggs....was a great moment of the day!

The Way Up

Mr F Pointing Out Where We've Just Been

The Mountain Edge...

Mrs F Photo Bombing Mr F's Selfie!

Stunning Views

Off To Our Next Summit

In Between Mountains

We came to a crossroads where we were in between two of the mountains that we were planning on climbing. We had a couple who seemed to be following us for a while and when we stopped for some sugary sweets to help us get up and down, they asked where we were going and decided against our idea of heading all the way up, all the way down then all the way back up the other mountain....they decided to turn left as we turned right and headed up to our next summit.

It was quite a slog going up as it was all gravely so half the challenge was ensuring not to slip on all the loose stones. But it was tough on the legs having to keep going up and down...

Looking Back At Our Next Slog Of A Climb!

Mrs F Selfie Number 2! :-)

Looking Back At Where We've Just Been

Looking Forward To Our Onwards Route

We had a group of people that were heading in the same direction as us and who had a little black Cocker Spaniel. Mr & Mrs F used to have a golden Cocker Spaniel so we took a shinning to him and he did to us as we were showing him lots of attention! He liked to play with the rocks, chewing them (strangely) and bringing them to you to throw and he would always manage to bring back the same rock in amongst all the others. Whilst we were sitting for lunch, Mrs F threw the rock a little too far off the edge slightly and it made most peoples heart jump as he went running down after it!! But thankfully he was safe...phew! We didn't stop for too long before getting back on it...

Mr F Pointing The Way To Our Next Section Of The Trek

Really Have No Idea What Mr F Is Doing Here But He Looks Suspish!

Our Little Scramble Down...

We came to our first little baby scramble down, only to find that we had to go back up again!

...Our Way Back Up

Mrs F Playing With The Camera Settings

Once we had made it up and over, we were greeted by a zig zag road. Why it didn't just go straight down we don't know, but it added mileage onto the way down and whoever was heading up! Mrs F kept herself amused and her mind off of the monotonous trek down by singing Jackson 5 songs as she and Mr F had seen them in Proms in the Park the previous weekend :-)

The Zig Zag Route Down

Looking Back Up From The Bottom

The walk out from there was a bit like a big dipper in terms of up, down, up, down, but nothing too steep, just on the ridge walk out and eventually back down to ground level. Our open top fells turned into a bit of a forage walk towards the end before making it to ground level.

Once we actually made it to ground level, it was a soul destroying long walk back to the cottage. We basically done a massive loop from the cottage round to the right and came back down via the main road leading back to the cottage. The road seemed to just go on and on and on with no sign of the turn off we needed for our cottage. Mr F ended up pulling Mrs F along whilst she dragged her feet and walking pole behind her to speed up her slacking self! Her feet were aching and her knees were painful from the gigantic day...needless to say she had her Predator face on (o Mr F calls it!)

On the main road leading up to our cottage turn off, we came across all these cows that were just looking at us from over the gate! Think it must have been feeding time and they thought we had the food! Mrs F was way behind the rest of the team. Mr F gave up dragging her along and went up in front with Mr & Mrs S. Mr F kept promising that just around this bend we'll see the sign for the side road....but that promise just never seem to come! Eventually, we saw got to the turn off and the guys waited for Mrs F to catch up and we all walked up the steep side road together back to the cottage.....hooray!!!!

The Rest Of The Team Ahead Of Mrs F...

Mrs F's Predator Face!

Once we were back at the cottage, we all pretty much collapsed on the sofa. As we were out for 9 hours, we missed Pointless (Our tele programme we like to watch and make a joke of having to get back in time to watch it!) and it was heading towards 6:30, so as Mr & Mrs F were on dinner duty, we got going with it quite soon after getting back. Mrs F's famous lasagne and chips was on tonights menu...

Mr F Getting The Mince Ready

The Squires Collapse After Our Big Day

DAY 3: WHINLATTER - 1,696 FT

4 AND HALF HOURS TREKKING

So since we had a really big day the day before, we decided that there was absolutely no need for any alarms to be going off in the morning and that we were going to have a nice chilled out breakfast and a nice steady small climb somewhere, depending if everyone had the legs to do it. We did however plan to go into Keswick and have a mooch as this was going to be our chilled out day.

Mrs F made pancakes as she always does when we come to the lakes and managed a personal best of eating 8 of them!! It was a really lovely morning, crisp but sunny. So Mrs F went to sit outside in the garden with her bible and the rest of the gang followed suit. Mr S bought his bible too and sat by the wall by the stream reading it. After we had decided that we should really do a small climb, we got dressed and was ready to go then re-dressed once we realised it was raining! We planned on climbing Whinlatter which was just up by the tourist centre and only a low one. Once the boys had got barrings as to where to go from the tourist centre, we headed up through the forest from the cottage and underneath all the Go Ape Tree Top Adventure and out onto the open meadow where we had a steep climb up along a fence before diving off over to the left towards Whinlatter. Mrs F's 8 pancakes were having a good effect on her because although the grass was wet and 'Sponge' and was raining, she was actually in really good spirits. It is crazy what we have done just to tick off all these Wainwrights, come all sorts of weather and rubbish terrain to get them done! It wasn't an overly exciting walk and the summit was merely a pile of rocks, but it was one more Wainwright we could tick off...

Mr F would always check his pile of nuts that he left for the squirrels to see if they had been eaten. So we decided to rearrange them for when he next checked!! :-)

Heading Through The Forest Towards The Tourist Centre

 Mrs F had to balance the camera on a tree down by the bridge not far from the cottage for a self timer photo and leg it back up ready for the photo to take...twice! How she had the legs to do that after our big day I don't know!

Boys Checking The Route By The Tourist Centre

Common Scene Of The Boys Looking To See If We're On The Right Track

Location Check Done & Off We Go

Heading Up Towards Whinlatter Through The Wet Grass

Mrs F Enjoying Herself  In Her Waterproofs!

After we got to the summit, we didn't spend much time at all there as it started to rain, so we headed back exactly the same way we came up. We walked through the Go Ape section again and came across a Gruffalo! We went into the centre and planned to have a hot drink and possibly cake and Mrs S decided she was finally going to buy a jumper than she had been eyeing up for a couple of days now! We headed into a little information section part the shop where they had cameras set up by a Peregrine nest and pictures of different birds and what they were called along with all other nature information that was quite good. They had a bird nest that they recovered that was made of all sorts of things including hair and egg shells. They also had a few bird feeders hanging high outside and there were so many different types of birds coming to get food, it was great to watch. After seeing how busy the cafe was, we decided to get a drink once we were in Keswick. So we walked back to the cottage, changed into 'normal clothes' and headed to Keswick in the car.

We strolled around the town, Mrs F bought Chocolate cups and chocolate covered honeycomb from Friars, which we've bought stuff from before when we've been to Keswick. Then Mrs F and Mr S bought some chips from the chip shop (very nice they were too) Mrs S got a tomato soup from Greggs and we continued to stroll and look in a few shops before getting our hot drinks from Costa and headed back to the cottage for dinner. Mr & Mrs S were on dinner duty tonight and made a delicious steak, jacket spuds and roasted peppers and mushrooms...very nice. The spuds were so huge that the girls could only manage half of theirs! Needless to say the boys munched their way through the whole of theirs! Before dinner, Mr & Mrs S got out the Draughts and played a really long game of it, before Mr F headed out to play with his camera for an hour just before dinner and got some amazing shots! We also spotted another red squirrel in the garden and Mrs F & Mr S was quick to grab their cameras to get some great shots! Mr S was quiet about letting us all know at first so he could at least get a good shot before we all came bundling over and scarred him away! But Mrs F spotted him taking discreet photos outside the window in a covert manner and clocked what he was doing. Mr F had placed the net of peanuts on a tree right by the window, so we were able to get close enough to get some great shots, but not too close to scare him away...

The Gruffalo We Came Across In The Forest!

A Blue Tit In A Birdhouse In The Forest

The Hanging Bird Feeders At The Tourist Centre

Heading Back To The Cottage From The Tourist Centre

Mr S Carrying Mrs S's New Jumper

Mr S's Amazing Photo

And Another

Spotted Coming Down The Tree

Apologies for all the squirrel photos, but we may never see a red squirrel again. I pray and hope we do as they are endangered and very rare to be seen. So I took full advantage of taking as many photos of his as I could...

DAY 4: RED PIKE - 2,479 FT

              HIGH STILE - 2,644 FT

              HIGH CRAG -2,443 FT

5 HOURS TREKKING

So today is our 4 year wedding anniversary! We gave each other our cards in the room and opened up the ones from family before getting ready for our next day to 3 more summits, making it a total of 14 so far. The boys planned to take both cars so we could park at either ends of the planed route, so we didn't have to walk the mahoosive walk back to the car once off the mountains.

The drive out was quite far and the distance between the 2 cars was about 3 miles, so we were glad that we decided to bring both cars and not have to do that walk at the end of a tiring day. The long walk at the end of the day on ground level is more exhausting than the treks on the fells! After having to pay £7 to park the car, we headed up through the path, which lead to some good old faithful steps leading up....and up...and up! 

Loved The Sunshine Coming Through The Clouds

Photo Bombed On Our First Anniversary Photo By Mrs S

The Path Leading To The Steps

The Steps Begin...

...And Keep On Going!

Getting Hot Climbing Up...Delayering!

No Idea What The Boy Are Looking At?!

We reached a tarn where we took a right turn and continued up where we came across a tough, steep scree that reminded us of Lord's Rake that we climbed on our 2nd wedding anniversary (see November 2013) Once we all made it up, we were at a good height with the most amazing view of a rainbow over the valley. There was a wind shelter just at the top where we stopped for eggs and chicken. Mrs S cooked some chicken the night before as we had quite a bit to get through, but forgot it was in the oven! It was somewhat chewy but went down so well with our boiled eggs and salt after our little scramble.  

  

Turning Right At The Tarn

Looking Back Near The Top

Our Scree Scramble

Mr F Took This Great Shot Of Mrs F With The Rainbow Right Behind

Mr S In The Wind Shelter

The wind really picked when we were in the wind shelter, so we layered up, putting on our hats, hoods, buffs and gloves and started to make our way between a windy gap to our first summit.

              

Mr S Ready For The Wind

Mr F & Mrs S Ahead

Great Photo Of Mr F

Looking Ahead To Where We're Heading

  

We were heading over near towards Haystacks when out of nowhere, some hefty hailstones started to pound us to the point where we had to huddle together facing away from them because they hurt so much! It only lasted a couple of minutes and we stopped for lunch not too long after. But We had to get going again as they came back!! Mr S wasn't too happy about our very short pit stop lunch, but we were defeated by the hailstones. Plus the fog was really rolling in and we could see rain coming down, so needed to get a move on. We were as always well equipped for the rain, but still wanted to be able to make it down before it came. We did plan to do Haystacks, but looking at it up close, it's more of a monster than anticipated and the walk back down off of it looked just as long. So we all made a vote to come back another day for Haystacks as we can do others along with it. Plus, Mr & Mrs F plan to make Haystacks our very last Wainwright please the Lord. Our Lord was once again with us all on this trip. Mrs F was really worried about her knees as they were playing her up, but she felt no pain with them at all and actually felt quite strong. We were safe and enjoyed every moment of it because God blessed us with the amazing opportunity to be able to do so, financially and physically. We love our God :-) 

The Hailstones Have Arrived!!

The Fog Rolling In

Coming down, Mrs F was having a great time! There were either a sloggish stepping stone route down or a scree slope to slide down...Mrs F chose the latter! It was actually quite good fun with the walking pole, it was like skiing down and was ahead of the rest of the gang by quite some time, so had a little cop-a-squat on a rock whilst waiting for the rest of the team to catch up...

Mrs S Ahead Of The Gang

Looking Forward To Where We Needed To Go

Another Mrs F Selfie 

Once we walked on together, we came across a little drop of rocks over the other side and then had to find the non-existent path leading down. According to the SatMap, there was a path there in the grass but we really couldn't see if for love nor money! We just decided to head for the red looking sheep by the gap in the wall, which is where we roughly needed to be. The grass was Sponge and boggy in some areas and we had to go around some patchy areas to avoid disappearing through the bog completely. But we done quite well negotiating our way around and down to the gap in the wall where we eventually came across a more civilised path all the way down. Once we were on the obvious path, we took a quick breather and some sugary sweets and snacks before making a break for the car.


Mr F sitting down to see where this apparent path is...

The Rocky Patch Just Over The Edge

Our Way Down

Looking Over To Haystacks

Mrs F went steaming ahead of the gang again. She's become quite good at this coming down malarkey!

Coming Down Via The Non-Existent Path

The Actual Path On The way Down

Looking Back At Haystacks

Our Anniversary Photo

Once we made it down and off the fells, we were right by the car which was awesome and drove back to Mr & Mrs S's car before heading back to the cottage.

Once back at the cottage, we spotted another red squirrel in the garden who had come back for his bag of nuts and Mrs F & Mr S was quick to grab their cameras to get some great shots! Mr & Mrs F played a game of Chess that didn't last as long as Mr & Mrs S's game of Draughts, mainly because Mr F was quick to beat Mrs F! As it was our anniversary, we planned to go out for dinner that night. We all had a very quick shower as the hot water for the shower was very limited and keep running out on us making the shower stop completely!

We headed into Keswick town and parked up right near a Weatherspoons that was a converted courthouse, which was still set up inside as a courthouse too which was somewhat weird. The place was completely packed and we walked around for ages trying to find somewhere to sit. After a while, we decided to go and find somewhere else and was walking around for ages, but with no joy. So we headed back to the Weatherspoons where we all squeezed onto one table that was actually enough room for us all and realised that the reason why it was full, was because it was curry night. We all opted for the curry meals which came with a drink and they were really nice. A good night had by all and a lovely way to end the day celebrating our 4 year Wedding Anniversary :-)


DAY 5: ULLOCK PIKE - 2,230 FT
              LONG SIDE - 2,405 FT
              CARL SIDE - 2,420 FT
              DODD - 1,612 FT

So today is our final day on the fells before heading home in the morning and not sure if it's more psychological that we knew today was our last day, or if we genuinely are tired now. This time we needed to go out from the cottage in the car and paid £3 to park. Considering where we were based and mainly trekking, to pay only £11 for the week to park was awesome!

We parked up right by the forest and walked through and up on an obvious path that lead to a nasty steep track that lead up to our first summit, Ullock Pike. We were heading up for what seemed like forever and could see Ullock Pike in the distance that seemed to keep moving away from us! Once we were there, we all agreed that it was defintely a boiled egg moment!...

Walking through this forest was like walking from an old sepia film into a colour one, like The Wizard of Oz. It was really quite spectacular...

Mrs S Walking Through The Different Colours Of The Forest

Mrs F Playing With The Camera Settings Again

We Saw This Clutter Of Toad stalls On The way up and thought it looked like a little fairy village :-)

On The Steep Track Heading Up

Another Mrs F Selfie

Still Going Up.....

...And Up!

The View At The Top Was Worth It

Looking Ahead Towards Our Next Summits

A Look Back At The Ridge We Just Came Along

The Boys Checking Barrings For Next Summit Whereabouts

We were so close to Skiddaw that it was almost (almost) tempting to go and do it. Mr & Mrs F have already conquered this daunting, monotonous and non exciting mountain (see 2013 July) and it was just literally the same route straight up and straight back down. Needless to say it wasn't our favourite and glad that we bagged that one in early on our Wainwright conquering! Skiddaw Little Man was not too far away either, which we haven't done, but the cloud was covering both Skiddaw and Little man and therefore wasn't inviting at all, so we decided to just stick with the planed route.

The girls went ahead of the boys for a while having quite a nice chat before the boys called ahead and told us to dart off to the right, where we stopped for a proper lunch stop, as said by Mr S because the lunch stop the day before was cut short by the hailstones.. 

The Boys Behind

We Could see Our Cottage From Our Lunch Spot!

Second Cottage From The End 

After lunch, we headed down and had to to climb back up to reach our final summit for the day and for the trip. To get up and onto the track that lead up to Dodd, we had to take a tiny scramble route up, as demonstrated by Mr F below...

From our lunch spot, the track leading up to Dodd looked like a proper wide road that you could drive up. Once we were on the track, it wasn't as wide as it looked from the other side. It was a straight forward route up and the sun came out with blue skies which made it all look really lovely and was actually quite warm...

The Summit Of Dodd

Looking Back Over Towards Skiddaw

We headed down over the other side where we could pick up a path back through the forest and to the car. But before we headed back down, we stopped at a viewpoint bench for a while to admire our final views of the gorgeous lakes and eat the last of our fizzy sweets. It was actually a really lovely moment...

Heading Down

Stopping On The Viewpoint Bench

Mr S Looking Like Ken Dodd!!

View From The Bench

Mr & Mrs F was up front on the way back and done a little fell running, which we both like and is good fun. The walk back through the forest was longer than the walk heading out from the car. But with a good march on, we were back in good time and headed straight back to the cottage. We done our good deeds in giving our ticket to a lady who pulled up next to us too...   

Our Fell running Track

Back Through The Forest, Through A Little Opening 

Once back at the cottage, our squirrel came back for more food from the peanut bag. As Mr S said, he was a greedy little blighter so will no doubt be back. Mr S had already set his camera up by the window on the tripod ready to take some more photos for when he came back.

As this was our last night in the cottage, we still had a fair amount of food to get through. So tonight's dinner was cooked by Mrs F's fair hand and the plan was to literally cook everything we had! We had chicken breast made in the Maggi herb papers, roasted broccoli, mushrooms, onions and carrots with chips. There were mixed reviews but it filled our bellies along with the rest of the sweets that Mrs F bought and the big bags of crisps. We literally tried to eat everything there was left!!

Walking Back Through The Forest To The Car

So...we still had a small matter of settling who will win the final game of Articulate and be champions. It was a close call by only 2 squares, but the boys just nabbed victory! The fun didn't stop there, Mr S went in to the back room and being the architect that he is, he chose Jenga! The rules that Mrs S applied were harsh...once you had touched a block, you had to be committed to taking that one out and the hand that you touched it with had to be the same hand you pull it out with....harsh! It was good fun and we played a few games of it. The tallest we got to was 29 levels!! It was good fun, a good memory and a great way to end the trip.

Our Squirrel Who Came Back For More!

We Printed This One For Our Living Room Wall

The Boys Loving The Red Squirrels

Mr S Got A Great  Clear Shot With His Swishy Camera

At the beginning of the week we were so excited to see a red squirrel and rushed to see him, but we were so blessed with so many sightings of them that by the end of the week when one came in the garden, we would just say nonchalantly, "The squirrels back" and carry on with what we were doing!

Jenga Wars Begin

Its Getting Serious Now!

The next morning, we didn't hang around as we had to be out by 10 (stated as the first thing in the welcome book!) We packed up most of our things the night before and put them in the car and the girls fairly divided what was left in the kitchen as always. There were still some chips, ice cream and peas in the freezer, but we had to leave them behind rather than be in the car for the next 5 hours back to London! Mr S however did take a Magnum from the box we had bought during the week and Mr F took a twister. We said our fair-wells, Mrs F took some final pictures from outside and Mr F emptied all the nuts on the wall for the squirrels....and no doubt the big fat pigeon that kept coming and eating them all! Our next adventure was an exciting 5 and half hour journey back to London...

The Rest Of The Peanuts

Some Final Pictures

Mrs F took this photo sitting from the table outside where she sat and had Ovaltine sometimes in the morning and loved the view of the tall trees and being lost somewhere in amongst them...

Final View Of Skiddaw From The Car As We Left

VERDICT OF THE LAKE DISTRICT IN SEPTEMBER 2015

 Mr F: Another fantastic trip, staying in a great cottage, with daily visits from red squirrels. I had always wanted to walk the Buttermere ridge and got the chance on this visit which was a great day. Our day walking around the various Grizedale Wainwrights was tough but will live long in the memory. Ticked off number 100 this visit with 114 still to do, I can't wait for February and the chance to bag a few more with the added challenge of the snow....bring it on.

Mrs F: This was a special trip as we were celebrating our 4 year wedding anniversary and we made it to our 100th Wainwright! Considering this wasn't the cottage or location that we originally booked, it was a blessing in disguise. It was such a lovely cottage (minus the dodgy duck-down pillows and rustley duvet!) in an awesome location. The fact that we got to see so many red squirrels in the wonderful garden that we had was just amazing. I loved that we could just step out of the cottage and straight away get on it on our trek through the forest. The forest was beautiful and quite different to our usual surroundings, reminded me of someone in Canada or summer in Alaska. I really enjoyed every day at am at my most happiest when I'm on a Lakeland Fell with my God, my Hubby & our friends. We were hit by every bit of whether accept for snow, but as a man once said 'No such thing as bad whether, just the wrong clothing' 

I really enjoyed the cosy cottage, the treks, the evening games...just everything really. I always look forward to coming back from the minute we sit in the car to head home. As always, all the credit for a successful trip for strength, safety and determination goes to our Lord, who is always our 5th trekker in the group. 100 down.....214 to go...bring them all on!!