LAKE DISTRICT - JUNE 2018
So once again, Mrs F found a cottage for us to stay for the third time running in Doddick Farm just along the A66, which was perfectly situated for all the fells we had left to climb. We had a great view of Blencathra just out the back of us too which you could walk to straight from the cottage. But as we have all done that one we didn't fancy it, 17 must do mountains was quite enough! We were once again joined by Mr and Mrs S and this time, it was the most important trip to the Lakes as we only had 17 Wainwright’s left and Mr F had worked out an itinerary to get them all done in one week…very ambitious!! We normally go Friday to Friday, but as Mrs F had won tickets to go and see Ed Sheeran on the Friday night, we booked it from the Saturday. Considering we were late home on the Friday, we were still out and ready to hit the road by 7:30am and this time we headed up via the A1 across the Pennines, which is the route we normally take on the way back, but for the first time we decided to head up that way and was a clear drive the whole way instead of the dreaded M6 roadworks which go on for miles!
We met up with Mr & Mrs S in Booths car park in Keswick and went for a short stroll around the market and then headed to the Weatherspoon’s at The Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. 40 minutes into our journey out of London, Mr F realised that we had left the large pot of Chilli Con Carne in the fridge which is what we were going to have for dinner that night…very annoying!! Mr S forgot his jeans and Mrs S forgot her wash bag (but blamed it on Mr S!) so she had to go and buy some things from Boots in Keswick. As we had no dinner planned for the night, we had an early dinner and headed to the cottage hoping we could get in early as we were not sue to check in for another hour. Thankfully the cottage was ready for us and we were able to get in. The cottage was new and only been available to rent out from May which is partly why we got it at a good price of £586 and everything was brand new, which was really nice. Both beds were really comfortable which was a big bonus, in fact they were the comfiest beds we’d had in a cottage. We had 2 different pieces of paper with two different Wi-Fi codes on which neither of them worked! We called Cottages4you who got in touch with the owner who knocked to give it to us, which enabled Mrs F to log into her Netflix account J
Sticking the Mr F’s schedule of getting all 17 mountains done in the week, we needed to have climbed one little one of 1,000ft straight up the same day. However, the weather had other ideas and it really rained all afternoon, so we stayed indoors and watched a lot of World Cup football! We also had to wait for the shopping to turn up between 5-6pm and we planned to head out to do the mountain if it arrived closer to 5pm. Instead, we decided it would be too late to do the mountain that night so we did however walk up the road to the White Horse Inn that evening when the rain stopped, which was quite nice to get out. We sat in the corner where they had an old bible in a cupboard in the wall and Mr S was asked to give up his chair so the people next to us could sit to eat, which miffed Mrs S! I think the fact that there was a dog sitting on a chair on another table nearby being fed by its owner nearby rubbed salt into the wound! We walked back and watched a film called The Ottoman Lieutenant, which was rather average! Upon unpacking, Mrs S discovered she didn’t forget her wash bag after all…we however definitely left the Chilli behind!! In place of forgetting the Chilli, Mr F got given a massive box of different protein bars which he bought with him...we were all very excited about it!
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| Buggles Looking Pleased With The Box Of Protein Bars |
4 AND HALF HOURS TREKKING - 9 MILES: 4 THERE, 5 BACK
So our first day was an hour and half drive away in the car but unavoidable as there were three over by **** that we hadn’t done. One of them **** we could have done when we done ****, but the weather so bad we decided to call it a day and come back. (see 2016, June entry) Mrs S decided to come into our room and sit on the dressing stall and have a little chat while we were still in bed! 😊 It was quite a nice drive going through little towns and villages that looked really old. We drove right past our first cottage we all stayed in together over by Stanton Bridge , which we never thought we would be back over that neck of the woods again. There was the Ennerdale triathlon race on and so we passed quite a few people on their bikes. Mr F drove and considering her didn’t have a satnav to get us there, he drove the whole way using the force!! Apart from overshooting the car park which was tucked up from the main road, his navigational skills were quite impressive! From the car park, we walked straight through the kissing gate and along a wall that lead us upward towards Slight Side that was a little bit of a walk in. As we were walking towards the mountain that we could see in the distance, the weather was overcast and quite warm with no real sign of rain so it was intermittently appearing and disappearing in the cloud. As we neared the mountain, we headed up a slight slog of gravel which lead up and around the side of the summit as the rain started to come down! We stopped for both boiled eggs and to put our rain coats on and covers on our rucksacks before pushing on for the summit. It was a little climb up over rocks, Mrs F left her pole at the bottom just to make her way onto the summit for a quick group photo then headed straight back down in the pouring rain, which didn’t ease off until we were quite far away from the mountain...
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| Heading Up... |
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| Walking Alone The Wall |
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| Wardrobe Change For Mr S |
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| Our Direction Of Travel |
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| Looking Over At The Hardknott Pass Which We Need To Tackle This Week! |
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| Slight Side Just Under Cloud In The Disatnce |
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| Water Feature Of a Stream Crossing |
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| Mr S Reflecting On Our Other Planned Days |
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| Mr F Feeling The Burn Going Up The Steep Gravel Path |
When the rain eased off, we stopped by a little stream to have a much needed lunch. Mr S was really feeling the burn as normal on his first day in the mountains and both Mrs F & Mrs S’s legs were literally shaking and buckling under them! Mrs F often has wobbly legs on the first day and finds her stride on the third or fourth day. The plan was to head back to the car and head over the other side of the car park to do ****, however we were all pretty worn out and wet and it was late in the day to do another one with the long journey back, so Mr F said we could access it from other mountains on an other day. We made our way back to the car along the wall that lead us back to the kissing gate by the car park. Mr F took his feet out of his boots to which a load of steam starting coming out of his boot!! He took the other foot out and had steam coming off both his boot and sock!! He did make a point of saying that was after only miles, imagine what they were like on the Coast to Coast walk that he done in October the previous year!
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| A Wet Summit Photo |
We headed back to the cottage on our long drive and all had welcomed showers, except for Mrs S who had a bath whilst watching the Smurfs on the tele! J Mrs F was on dinner duty of chicken, jacket potatoes, roasted peppers and salad and was happy singing away in the kitchen whilst making it. Unfortunately for Mrs S, her jacket potato was bad inside so Mr S gave her half of his. Unfortunately we had a bit of a problem with other food being bad from our Tesco delivery. Mrs F had to call to let them know that the melon and grapes were bad too. We watched Switzerland vs Brazil in the World Cup and then watched a film called The Ottoman Lieutenant which was OK, wouldn't rush to see it again but it was a 'leave your brain at the door' watching...
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| The Boys Hijacking Mrs S's Bath To Watch The Football! |
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| The Boys Planning Next Days Rote As Per Usual In The Evening |
DAY 2: HIGH TOVE
AMBOTH FELL
ULLSCARF
6 HOURS TREKKING - 10.8 MILES
MR F'S BIRTHDAY AND ENGLAND'S FIRST WORLD CUP GAME! 😃
We stared the day in birthday tradition with opening birthday presents and cards in bed and then shortly after, we were joined by Mr & Mrs S who came in with more pressies for Mr F singing Happy Birthday! Once all presents a had been opened, we loaded up on breakfast, got ourselves organised and headed out for another fine day on the fells...
We drove for a while took us to a car park in a very little village where they had a couple of working farms. As Mr F was getting his trekking boots on, a little robin flew over to us and sat on his trainers quite close to us, presuming he was after food. Mrs F was trying to temp him into her hand but as she didn't have anything to offer he stayed put! We headed from the car park straight up from the car park onto a nice gentle stepping stone path. We were soon out onto the open fell top plains and on our way to our first fell, which was on a big rock mound where we had a brief stop for scooby snacks. Mrs S loaned Mrs F her windproof jacket and Mrs F loved it's efficiency so wore it for the rest of the trip! It was too hot to wear a coat or extra layer but the wind still had a little bite to it, so the windproof jacket was the perfect option. Once we were out onto the grassland, underfoot was really quite boggy with deep water you had to jump over and ground that fell away into hidden water, which mainly caught out Mr F as he went scurrying over what seamed like mini hidden tarns under the grass!
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| Mr F With All His Birthday Cards & Presents |
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| Really Cute Card From One Of Our Nieces to her 'Uncool' 😊 |
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| The Stepping Stone Path Leading Up |
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| Looking Down At Where The Car Is... |
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| Farmer With His Sheep On The Working Farm |
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| Photobomed By Mr S! |
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| Some Fine Views Around |
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| Bog Fest Ahead Of Us |
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| Quick Group Photo En Route To Our First Summit |
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| Mrs F & Mr S Up Ahead... |
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| Mr F & Mrs S A Little Bit Behind... |
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| Looking Back At The Boys Who Stopped For A Quick Route Check |
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| Mrs F On Our First Summit, High Tove |
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| Mr S With His Trail Magazine Pose! |
As we made our way over yet more boggy areas, Mrs S put her foot right in it...so to speak! Her feet were so wet we had to stop so Mrs F could give her her spare socks to wear. There is only so much a pair of gaiters and Gore-Tex boots can take!
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| Mrs S Looking Sad About Her Wet Feet! |
Socks changed, we carried on until we saw the fence which we had to follow the whole way to get to our next fell for the day, Amboth Fell. We tried to think of films with fences in them but could only come up with two: Rabbit Proof Fence and The Great Escape! The fence took us through yet more boggy land where we had to come away from the fence completely to jump and leap over watery areas or literally walk along the bottom of the fence to get over them. As we were heading for a big looking boulder in the distance through the grassy land, a bird of some sort flew out of the tall grass, followed by a little chick running after her. It was then that Mrs S spotted another chick in the grass that Mr F didn't see and had unfortunately trod on it and sadly killed it 😢 Mrs F was quite upset about it. We pushed on for a ridge line we could see just ahead of us, which took us onto more dryer land and eventually up to our summit...
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| Just Before Mr F Stepped On The Chick 😢 |
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| Following The Fence |
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| Very Wet Terrain |
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| Mrs S Jumping Over & Through The Bog Fest, Kicking Up The Water! |
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| There She Is... |
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| A Little Squeeze Past a Wall |
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| Mr S Definitely Feeling The Burn In This Photo! |
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| Just a Little Climb Up For The Summit |
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The Summit Cairn Just In The Distance
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| ...And We're There! |
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Mr S Looking Disappointed With The Summit Cairn!
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| It Was Boggy On Top Too!! |
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| Off We Head To The Next And Final One For The Day |
We headed on towards our final fell, Ullscarf and then started making our way towards the car and back down. On our way, we made our way up onto a viewing point mount, which according to Wainwright was worth going to. It was en route on the way down anyway and was only a little further up and Wainwright was right, the view was worth it! It was however extremely windy! From there, we went to the left of the viewpoint where we had to negotiate our way down through fern and over rocks with the tarn in sight of reference of where we needed to be heading. It was quite a steep way down which took concentration and care, until we finally go to the bottom where we had to next negotiate our way across a big stream. Mr F suggested heading over to the left of the stream to pick up a path over to the left once over the stream, but Mr S said to stick to the right. We went with Mrs S and ended up a little lost as to where we should be. We were faced going down into what looked like jungle Bear Grylls style (as Mr S put it!) or head up, gaining height to pick up a path further up, which is what we opted for...
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| Our Stunning View Point Stop |
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| Unfortunately Mrs F Had Her Eyes Shut But Too Windy To Take Another! |
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| Mr F Looking To See Where The Route Was Back |
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| Mr S Trying To Find a Safe Way Across The Stream |
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| Trying To Find a Way Out Of The Jungle! |
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| The Bear Grylls Way... |
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| ...Mrs F Not So Sure!! |
We eventually were on a good path that lead us to the stepping stones that took us all the way back to the car park. It was at this point that Mr S said the soles of his feet felt like a China Man had been hitting them with bamboo!! 😄 On our way down we could see about 6 working dogs in the field all waiting to do some work whilst the farmer was helping to fix a wall. Once back at the car, we were greeted by two little short haired terrier dogs, one being a pup and the other assuming its Mum. We thought they belonged to the people in the car next to us but they didn't know who they belonged to. We presumed (and hoped) they must belong to one of the farms. They were hanging around once we got the ginger cake out that we didn't eat and Mrs F kindly gave them her share, which they loved! Mr F went to see the lake by the car park, followed by Mrs F, which was lovely. There were boats on the bank with rowing oars up against a wall, so assumed you could hire a boat for go out on the water...
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| Stepping Stones Back To The Car... |
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| Two Hungry Dogs Who Love Ginger Cake! |
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| The Lake By The Car Park In The Little Village |
On our way back, we stopped off at another viewing point called *** which was a very popular place to pull over for a photo, so we did. Mr F was quite happy sitting looking out but was sadly cut short with the need to get home ready for England's first game in the World Cup!
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| One Of The Setting On Our Camera |
On our way back, we stopped at Booths quickly so Mrs S could top up on her fruit and get some red onions and mushrooms to go with our dinner. Once we were back, we each had our shower and Mrs S kindly offered to make dinner which we all felt steak & chips was a good choice to go with the football. Mr F was ready with his new t.shirt courtesy of Mrs F's brother, wife & kids. Mrs F's Mum also got him a bag of things to eat/drink for the footie, including a four pack of Peroni beers, pretzels, Matchmakers, Fruit Gums and healthy Satsumas...oh, and an Odeon cinema voucher to go and see Solo...but when we were back in London! So, England won their first game 2-1 against Tunisia. The ref wasn't a fair ref with Harry Kane being pulled and pushed to the floor with no penalties, bookings or free kicks. But regardless, we won, and what a great way for Mr F to end his birthday! 😁
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| Mr F Ready For The Footie! |
DAY 3: BLEA RIGG
AMBOTH FELL
ULLSCARF
6 HOURS TREKKING - 10.8 MILES
So today we were heading over to Grasmere, one of Mrs F's favourite places in the Lakes. We couldn't get parked in our usual spot, so we parked in the YHA car park just along the road we needed to take that lead us to Easdale Tarn. We made our way up the gradual path, walking past houses, across the little stream until we were out in the beautiful open with some great views ahead of us. It was a lovely warm, sunny day too with lots of luscious green grass and beautiful flowers around, a typical beautiful English country day 😊 We had to walk through a field of cows who didn't seem fussed by us at all. They were soon on the move following the quad bike that come through, thinking the woman on it had food!
We made our way past Sour Milk Ghyll (the other Sour Milk Ghyll is over by Seathwaite) and we were entering into what could have easily been somewhere in Peru or some kind of tea leaf plantation - it was so green everywhere, we've never seen anything like it in the Lakes before...or anywhere at that matter other than Vietnam maybe....
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| Walking Through The Fields From Grasmere |
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| Our First Group Photo |
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| The Cows Ahead of Us |
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| Sour Milk Ghyll In The Distance |
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| Heading Into What Looks Like Peru! |
We were now on a stepping stone path that continued to take up to Easdale Tarn. We did once try to attempt getting to this Tarn with Mrs F's Dad and his fiance, Meryl when they came to spend the afternoon with us after we had a week in the Lakes before. After realising how far it was, we gave up and had a nice little stroll along the river instead (See 2014 July entry) Once we made it to Easdale Tarn, we walked to the left of it and continued to make our way up towards to ridge at the back for Blea Rigg. We walked past a man who had binoculars who was excited that he's seen a Heron and showed us where it was. However, we see them all the time in Lee Valley Park, so we weren't as enthusiastic about it as he was! We caught up with a man who was with 2 people asking them where the route was to Blea Rigg. Mr F showed him in the book where he needed to go, but once he found out we were also heading for Blea Rigg, he tagged along with us! His name was Stephen and from Sunderland, so another red & white supporter! We could see why he was confused as to where the path was because it disappeared after we made our way over a fair amount of peat. The path was picked up again not too far on the other side of the peat. He was walking in shorts and Mrs F recommended he put the bottoms of his trousers on as we were heading into tick central through a lot of fern. We stopped for eggs and a drink as the humidity was high but we felt how cold it was when the sun went in...
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| Easdale Tarn |
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| Blea Rigg Up Ahead |
Once we were onto the ridge, we had to then work out how to get to the top. We had to skirt around the back slightly over rocks and thought we made progress, but had a bit more skirting to do, until we finally saw the summit...
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| Working Out Our Route |
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| And Finally, Blea Rigg! |
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| Great Group Photo Beautifully Taken By Stephen |
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| And Mrs S Kindly Returned The Favour ☺️ |
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| Stephen Joining Us On Our First Fell Of The Day |
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| The Boys Also Joining Us Today On Their First Fell Of The Week! |
Stephen was debating whether to head back down to Grasmere via a route over the other side of where we just came form or join us, as he wasn't overly confident of where he was heading back down! We offered for him to join us but he said he'd already done what we were planning next. So we parted ways and we headed up over onto the ridge towards Tarn Crag. We walked up onto the ridge before picking up a path that lead us downwards towards a tarn, hence the name Tarn Crag. The path was quite a level one and we stopped for a quick pit stop just before the tarn before setting off for the summit just up ahead...
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| Not Sure Why Mr F Looks A Bit Confused! |
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| Mr F Takes A Seat Whilst Looking At The Satmap |
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| The Tarn Up Ahead |
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| Nice Rare Photo Of Mrs F & Mr F |
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| Short Pit Stop |
We made our way onto the summit for a quick photo as it was a bit windy, so we dropped down not too far from the summit out of the wind for lunch. We were on a little slop which was quite comfortable to sit and was a great view looking out...
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| Tarn Crag...Done! |
Lunch eaten, we made our way downward through a little boulder field before picking up a route further along that lead us through fern back towards Easdale Tarn on the opposite side to where we were on our way in. Navigating our way through the fern was slightly tricky but we eventually made it back to the tarn by a crossing. The crossing was straight forward as the water level was quite low and there were strategically placed rocks which made a safe foothold over to the other side. In the Wainwright book, he says there is an 'interesting boulder' just on the other side of the crossing....and sure enough, there was indeed an interesting boulder!
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| Making Our Way Through The Boulder Field |
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| Mrs F Catching Up After a Quick Toilet Break! |
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| Easdale Tarn Not Too Far Below |
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| Approaching The Fern Field |
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| Mr S Making His Across Over The Tarn... |
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| ...Towards The Interesting Boulder! |
From here, we made our way back to the car on the same way we came in through Grasmere. We did wonder if we would have a parking ticket on the car for parking in the YHA but we were all good. As we were back in pretty good time, we headed to Keswick where Mrs S bought herself a new pair of trekking trousers. That night, Mrs F was on dinner duty with the good old faithful and welcomed lasange, chips and salad, which tok longer to cook than anticipated but well worth the wait. We watched another film on Netflix called Walking Out, which could have been so much better than it was, but it was easy watching. Dinners demolished and film watched, we didn't hang around for bed. On this trip we were all in bed by 9:30pm, which seemed to be the average time for all wanting to head to bed for sleep and worked quite well with everyone sleeping well ready to be up at the same time each morning for another day on the fells. All except for Mrs F who on this trip was exceptionally hungry. A couple times during the week she woke up in the early hours feeling hungry and had to go downstairs to make herself a peanut butter sandwich and glass of milk. This was one of those nights and when she went downstairs, she was greeted by the biggest white slug she had ever seen on the kitchen!! She didn't want to touch it especially not in the early hours of the morning, (although she did manage to get a photo on her phone!) so she just sat and watched it make its way around the kitchen floor! The next morning we could see the slim trail n the carpet by the table where it had been but no sign of it anywhere!
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| Slugzilla! |
DAY 4: HARDKNOTT
HARTER FELL
COLD PIKE
6 HOURS TREKKING AND A TYRE CHANGE!
So today was the day we were finally going to drive over the infamous Harknott and Wrynose Pass. With gradients of 30% going over in between in the mountains, this road connects Greater Langdale and Wasdale. There was an unsaid understanding that we should go in Mr F's car as Mr S's estate would be a tell order, although they have driven the Hardknott Pass before, but without the extra weight of two other people and rucksacks etc. So we bundled in Mr F's car and made our way to start the risky drive up the pass. On the way there, we stopped at Tesco express in Ambleside so Mr S could buy some antihistamines as he was struggling with his hayfever and Mrs S bought some fizzy laces. As we made our way onto the start of the pass, Mrs S was using the fizzy laces as a distraction!! Mrs F was quite nervous about the drive up too and so joined her in the eating of the fizzy laces, but she was in the front so had a good view of the sheer upward road they were approaching and clenched her fists as Mr F made his way around the very tight, steep turns in the road. Mr & Mrs S told us that when they came over the pass they actually went around a corner with the car tilted on two wheels....proper scary!! 😮 We planned to climb Cold Pike first but Mr F overshot where we were supposed to park, so carried on going on through the Wrynose Pass where we parked to do Hardknott and Harter Fell first instead. It turned out to be a better way of doing it because we cold just head back to Cold Pike and carry on down the pass and back. As we pulled into a little lay-by, Mrs F thought she could smell burning. Then she noticed that Mr F had a flat tyre!! We made a joke on our way up that the pass would be a pretty bad place to brake down and lo and behold, it happened to us! The impressive thing is, Mr F not only made it up the pass with ease, but had done it on only three functioning tyres...even more impressive!! As Hardknott was only a small one, we decided to first head up and get that ticked off and then come back and deal with the tyre...not the best start to the day!
We left our rucksacks in the car and made our way up through the very low cloud and boggy terrain. It really didn't take to long at all and we didn't hang around on the summit, not only because there were no views to hang around for but the small matter of a tyre change once back at the car!
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| Just About Make Out The Summit Ahead Of Us |
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| Quick Group Photo Then Back Down |
Mr F first tried to pump the tyre to see if it would hold enough air to make it back to Keswick later, but after pulling out the valve, we could instantly hear the air coming out at a rapid rate. Mr F said they'll change it after coming back from doing Harter Fell but Mrs F made a strong suggestion to change it now. Suggestion taken on board, the boys got to work whilst the girls played around with the wrench talking through one end so the other cold here it out the other end...very juvenile but very funny! After the boys got the tyre changed, Mrs F got it ready to get going to Harter Fell. However it was literally a walk away from where we were, but Mrs F thought we were having to drive to the next one, hence why she was keen to get the tyre changed first! Once gain we left the rucksacks in the car and made our way down the road on on the opposite side to Hardknott, but this time to cloud completely cleared...
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| Pumping Up The Tyre |
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| In The Meantime, The Boys Check Out The Day Ahead |
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| Hardknott Now Not In The Cloud |
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| On Our Way Towards Harter Fell |
We didn't realise how far the walk in fro the main road would be. We were walking for some time following the directions of the Wainwright book such as gates to look out for and the direction of travel. We eventually saw what we thought was the summit on a tall mound ahead until we realised it was further over the back of it, which never seemed to come. We've learned that some of these 'little ones' aren't as easy as they look from the surface!
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| The Gate With The Heavy Stone Chained As a Pull |
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| Heading Somewhere Up There... |
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| And Still The Mountain Kept Giving! |
Eventually we made it to the summit and it was worth the slog to get there. Once the cloud cleared, we had a fantastic view of the coast ahead in the distance and an old Roman fort called Hardknott, quite appropriately. It was strategically placed because you could see in every direction for quite a way off...
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| Harter Fell! |
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| The Coast Through The Cloud |
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| It Was Quite Windy On Top Hence The Girls Hoods Being Up! |
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| A Clearer View of The Coast |
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| Hardknott Roman Fort |
We admired the view for some time before the wind got the better of us and we headed back down. As we neared the road there were a group of sheep in front of us who stopped for a good body scratch on a nearby post and a little black lamb that was jumping and kicking his back legs up, it was very cute. They ended up heading onto the road too and on the other side no doubt in search of better grass. We walked along the road where someone had written on it with the words "Well Done" which we assumed was part of the Ennerdale triathlon where they run along the pass...hardcore!! We got back to the car and drove back over and down the pass to our next and final fell for the day, Cold Pike. We parked up just at the start of the route in and had our lunch in the car. Again, we left our rucksacks in the car and made our way towards Red Tarn. We assumed it was called Red Tarn because of the red tracks that lead us to the summit...
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| A Little View Of The Pass Heading Down |
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| The Path Taking Us To Red Tarn |
Mrs F's back was hurting on the way up - a couple weeks beforehand she was driving home from work and went over a pothole that damaged both her car and her back! Also, having a rucksack on supports her back so she prefers to have it than not...
We had to across the other side to the tarn and up onto the ridge to get to the summit. It was at this point the path turned from being a regular stepping stone path to a red gravel underfoot...
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| Looking Back Over To Red Tarn |
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| Heading Onto The Red Gravel Path |
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| Pike O' Stickle In The Distance On The Right |
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| Harrison Stickle |
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| Still A Bit To Go... |
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| And Finally...Cold Pike! |
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| A Few Views From The Top... |
We headed back to the car the exact same way we came in, which we're not a fan of but when they are short like these ones, there's no option for multiple ways in/out. At least it was a good path and nothing boggy to negotiate our way through. We were going to do Hartsop Above How, but the time ran away with us as Mr F had to go into Keswick to try and get his tyre sorted out, so we would have to do it the next day to be on track with getting them all done and finishing on Haystacks on the Friday. We couldn't find a garage and one that was open, so Mr F knew of one that opened at 8am the next day so planned to go and get it done early before we headed out for the day. So instead we went home for a much welcomed pie for dinner and another film on Netflix, American Aid, which we all really enjoyed...we said this day would make a good title for a biography - "Three Fells & a Tyre Change"
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| Heading Back Towards Red Tarn |
DAY 5: SELSIDE PIKE
BRANDSTREE
TARN CRAG
GREY CRAG
HARTSOP ABOVE HOW
7 HOURS TREKKING
So today we headed back over to Haweswater where the old village of Mardale was. We were over this way when we done the ridge walk up to High Street (See 2017, December entry) and we loved the prettiness of it, so glad to be back. We parked up in a little lay-by on the road above the old village and headed straight up onto a bank through a little fern trail called Old Corpse Road, which is named this for obvious reasons when years ago, it was the route they took for carrying coffins from Mardale to Shap. We passed an old shepherds hut which apparently is one of the most photographed points in the Lake District. Although we were all very fit and were on day 5, the initial climb still took a while for the lungs to get on board with what you wanted them to do!
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| A Bit Of Creative Photography |
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| Making Our Way Straight Up Through The Fern |
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| The Boys Reminiscing Our High Street Day |
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| The Old Shepherds Hut |
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| Onto More Grassland Areas... |
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| ...And On Our First Summit of The Day, Selside Pike |
From Selside Pike and after a little nibble of snacks, we followed a fence all the way until we got to a wall that headed off in a different direction the where the fence that we were following continued to run. At this point, we came to our next fell, Brandstree, which was a little plaque in the floor...
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| Our Guideline Fence |
At points along following the fence we had to either head away from it slightly to make our way around hidden pools beneath us under the grass or climb along the fence. We came across a big area of peat which was had to make our way around fro the fence in order to get across it. We also came across a couple of OS reference points that lined up with each other even though they were quite far from each other, which looked like old lookout towers...
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| The peat Challenge! |
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| One Of The OS Reference Points |
We came across these weird pillars of slate and had no idea what they were. At one point we thought they were the summit, but we had a little bit further to go for that. They looked a little like Nine Standards Rigg, but no idea what they were!
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| The Mysterious Pillars |
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| Brandstree Cairn...Sort Of! |
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| A Great Group Photo...Again, Sort Of! 😃 |
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| We Were Quite Impressed With The Neat Building Of This Wall |
So we carried on following our fence that took us down, dropping quite a bit of height. On the way up were a middle-aged couple who were both in jeans and regular tops and trainers. The lady had literally just gone in a bog at the bottom because we not only heard her yelp, but saw the mud stain up to her knee! As we were heading down, we had a mountain in our sights dead ahead which we thought was Tarn Crag, our next one we were heading to. However, the boys called us to a halt when Mr saw Harter Fell and realised we were heading in the wrong direction. They then looked at both the Wainwright book and the OS map for quite some time. The girls decided to take a pew and have some snacks whilst the boys figured out that we were going the wrong way and the mountain we were heading for wasn't Tarn Crag!! Mr F realised that the wall we stopped to admire, was the wall we should have then followed and not the fence we continued to follow. As we dropped so much height and was quite steep to back track, we decided to head for the path at the bottom and traverse around to the right, hopefully picking the trail up at the bottom. It was a monumental cock-up, as we had to walk through tall grass, a bit of bog and the occasion hop over water holes that added about half an hour. Eventually we were on the path we should have been on had we followed the wall and headed upwards towards Tarn Crag...
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| Heading Down Along The Wrong Fence |
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| With The Wrong Mountain In Our Sights |
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| The Boys Working Out Where We Went Wrong |
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| Making Our Way Over The Bog |
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| Making Our Way Through The Tall Grass |
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| Looking Back At Where We WentWrong |
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| Following Another Fence...The Right One This Time! |
The walk out to Tarn Crag was so long. We walked for what seemed like miles before we even caught a glimpse of it. But we realised only when we got close to it, that it was better to carry on to do Grey Crag first which was just up ahead a little longer, then turn around and do Tarn Crag on our way back...
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| Making The Long Walk Out To Grey Crag |
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| Grey Crag, Finally! |
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| The Boys First Photo On Grey Crag |
Once we reached Tarn Crag (our second Tarn Crag of the trip) we stopped for quite a while as we were pretty knackered from the long walk out and it was a nice enough day to just sit and soak up both the views and the sun. From here, we headed back over to the path that we picked up when we took the wrong turn and headed back up over the valley where the car was on the other side....and some! The walk back to the path was a long enough one as it was, but then the path going up over through the valley and back to Haweswater was a killer!!
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| Mr F Having a Little Nap on Tarn Crag |
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| The Boys Enjoying The View Before Mr F Popped Them Back In Safely |
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| The Path We Were Heading For...Far Far Away! |
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| Making Our Way Back Down |
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| The Start Of The Long Path Back |
As we made our way up the path that was quite a gradient, all we kept thinking about was the other fell we still had to go and climb when we got back. It needed to be done if we were going to be on track with our plan of Haystacks being our final one. It had already been a long day, was nearing 6pm and we had to drive to Hartsop Above How first before climbing it. But we had no choice, the last day was a long enough day as it was without the added extra fell on top of it. We did toy with the idea of getting up early the day next to go and do it, but would have to be out by 6:30am and then have the long day ahead of us. At least by doing it when we got back, we could have a good nights sleep and feel fresher in the morning. But first, we still had the long daunting walk back to the car which was quite a way off of where we would come onto the road from the path we were on....which was daunting enough in itself!
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| The Long Slog Up The Path |
Eventually, our slog going up on this path back to Haweswater turned into a slog going down down, which was easier but still a slog after a long day...and the day wasn't over for us yet with still one more to climb! We stopped a little way down for a little rest and a guzzle of water before making our way back onto the road. Mrs F doesn't like long walks out on road surfaces as it hurts her knees and heels, so she finds that the best plan of action is to literally route march at quite a speed the whole way, which put her ahead by some distance! The car was a good distance away so the walk back along the road was a good half an hour...
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| The Path That Kept On Giving! |
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| Finally, Hawsewater In The Distance... |
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| Our Little Water Stop |
The car was such a welcomed sight; for quite some time it was just little silver dot we could see in the distance, so was a good feeling to be able to finally sit down in it! We sat and pondered our day for a short while before heading off back through the village of Shap. Last last time we came over by Haweswater we spotted a village church that was selling jams and relishes with an honesty box, so this time we decided to stop and have a little look to see if we wanted to get any. We'd be surprised if anyone would be honest enough with the honesty box as the prices were a little higher than most would pay for a jar of jam or relish, needless to say we didn't buy any any carried on with our journey back to the cottage...
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| On The Long Road Back To The Car |
Once back at the cottage, we didn't hang around at all as we decided to go straight back out and finally do Hartsop Above How. We took a bottle of water and the relevant Wainwright book and headed out on our car, leaving Mr & Mrs S behind who were quite happy not to come for this one. Mr F initially thought that the drive out to the start would be around 40 minutes, but in actual fact, it only took us 20 minutes to park the car. Just 5 minutes driving down the road from the cottage, Mr F had a horrible feeling that he didn't pick his trekking boots up from outside the cottage, as he always changes into his trainers to drive. We pulled over, he looked in the boot of his car and sure enough, he had left his boots behind!! Mrs F suggested we go back but it was already late and it would have made it even later, so Mr F decided to solider on in his trainers. We parked in a little car park not far from our mountain. Mrs F thought we were climbing the monster directly next to it, so was a relief to see we were climbing the small hill beside the monster! From the car park (which was free) we marched along a river bank path to an open field where we had to walk right across to get to the start of the trek. It was only a small trudge up but Mr F was now fully appreciating just how much his feet and ankles felt secure and supported in his trekking boots, as his ankles were really hurting him. Mrs F insisted he took her walking pole so he could at least lean on that for a bit of support and we made regular stops to allow him to stretch out his ankles. Mrs F spent the majority of the last 10 minutes really praying for Mr F's ankles and to give him to strength he needed to make it up...
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| Our Path From The Car Park |
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| Already Looking Knackered & About To Climb Another! |
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| Through The Filed With Hartsop Above How Dead Ahead |
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| Making Our Way Onto The Grassy Path |
The start of the trek up was a nice even grass route, which eventually turned into little narrow gravel paths/gully's with a few high steps needed. It wasn't a hard trek at all, but when you've just done a full day on the fells and attempting this a dusk in trainers, it seemed like Everest Base Camp all over again!! (See 2012 April entry)
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| Mr F Taking A Much Needed Break In His Trainers |
The top was so upon us and what a view we had too. The summit cairn was nothing more than a gathering of stones, but we caught the sun just as it was setting behind St Sunday Crag beside us. We managed to just catch a snapshot of our shadows before they disappeared and we both felt it was the perfect time to pray to our Lord for many things. We held each other and gave thanks for our day and the strength the Lord gave us, especially Mr F with his aching ankles. We then asked for the Lord's guidance on our lives as we were both in a place of not knowing what to do with our lives and where God was leading us. Mr F had not long given up his job as he felt God was calling him to other things. He had since been volunteering at the local Food Bank which is where his passion is and believes it came from God. But we prayed as we continue to pray for His Will to be come clear. It was such a great moment to be with God, just us two on a mountain with the sunset...
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| A Quick Snapshot Of Our Shadows Before They Disappeared |
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| Hartsop Above How Summit Cairn...Done! |
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| The View Looking Over To Brotherswater |
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| The Sunset Over By St Sunday Crag |
As we headed down, the sunset colours kept changing, so Mrs F ended up taking a few pictures. The trek up to the top took 45 minutes and the trek down took 30. We did at some points on our way down have a little jog where we could on the grass areas, which was quite good fun and not too hard on Mr F's ankles. It seemed so soul destroying to have to come back out to climb another mountain after a long day, but we were so glad we did and this time of day too...
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| Heading Off Of Hartsop Above How |
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| Looking Behind At The Ever-changing Sunset |
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| The Little Narrow Gravel Paths/Gully's |
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| Mrs F Found The Two Bumps In The Distance a Little Amusing! 😀 |
We got a quick march on back to the car where Mrs F sent Mrs S a text to say we were on our way back. The plan was for Mrs F to do fish, chips, peas and roasted peppers for herself and Mr S and keep ours warm for when we got back in case they were in bed. However, that plan went completely out of the window when Mrs S discovered that we hadn't ordered any fish!! They then had to get dressed again after showering and head out to buy pizzas, which is what they out in the oven for us for when we got back, so they were still up watching a film by the time we got back around 9:15pm! Needless to say we didn't stay up for too long and had another good nights sleep, ready for another momentous and memorable day...
DAY 6: COMPLETION DAY!!
FLEETWITH PIKE
KIRK FELL
HAYSTACKS
10 HOURS TREKKING - 15.8 MILES - 37, 762 STEPS
So today is the day, after 6 and half years of completely and utterly dedicating ourselves to completing the 214 Wainwright Fells, today we will finally complete them all!! Mrs F had designed a little finishing poster with the date we started and the first fell, Loughrigg (See 2013 February entry) and the date finishing on Haystacks. This is partly the reason why we had to stick to a tight schedule as Mrs F had committed us to what was said on the little posters...no pressure then! 😄
It was by far one of if not the most glorious day for weather we'd had on the fells, not a cloud in the sky and a perfect day for finishing..how blessed we were 😇 We parked up at Honister Slate mine and walked up the very same stones steps that Mr F walked down when he passed through here on his Coast to Coast solo walk back just 8 months previously. His Coast to Coast walk was to spend some one-on-one time with God to seek His Will for his life, which is when he discovered that God wanted Mr F to help others who can't help themselves. It was an awesome 2 weeks he had spent in prayer, reading the bible and singing...
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| Getting Ready To Start The Day At Honister Slate Mine |
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| Making Our Way Up The Stone Steps |
The stone steps lead us up onto the open fell tops where we met a path. We followed the path all the way along until we came across and old shepherds hut. It was here that Mrs S asked a man to take a photo of her and Mr S as we were a little bit behind. It was a good job they stopped to ask for a photo as the man informed us that path we were continuing to follow will take us straight to Haystacks, which is obviously not what we want to do. We should have dived of the path a little further back up the side through the fern and onto Fleetwith Pike. So from here, we back on ourselves slightly and headed up the side towards our first our three summits for the day...
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| The Path Leading Us Unknowingly To Haystacks |
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| Chuggles Enjoying His Time Out |
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| The Old Shepherds Hut Where We Backed On Oursleves |
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| Mrs F Loving The Glorious Clear Views Surrounding Us |
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| The Photo Taken By The Kind Man |
As the morning went on the sun heated up and became very hot, so Mr & Mrs S stopped to zip off their trouser bottoms. Mrs F was a little reluctant as it would have meant creaming up her legs as she tends to burn easily, so kept them on. Mr F was completely covered up from head to toe, borrowing Mr S's National Trust hat, as he not only burns but gets damaged skin in the sun, so it's best for him to stay covered...
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| Making Our Way Through The Fern |
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| Still a Bit To Go... |
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| Fleetwith Pike Somewhere Up There... |
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| ...And There It Is, The Summit Of Fleetwith Pike! |
The views from Fleetwith Pike were breathtaking. We had a fantastic view of Buttermere in front of the summit cairn which made for a really lovely photo too. We met a lady here who had just completed her 214 Wainwrights, so was a pleasure to have been there when she did. We later saw her post on Facebook with a good photo she took of a glass of wine and her Wainwright book with the view in the background 😊 This was the second time we'd been with other people as they completed their 214 Wainwrights. Back in 2013 when we done Scafell and Scafell Pike, we met an elderly couple on Scafell who had just finished theirs too (See 2013 November entry)
Mrs F decided that it was far too hot to keep her trouser bottoms on, so she took them off, creamed up her legs and was good to go. It had been a good couple of years if not longer since we had then need to get our legs out on the fells! From Fleetwith Pike, we headed away from the summit almost running along adjacent to the path we cam in on below us. We then came across a part of the mine that was still in operation with diggers, that were put to work once we had passed them. From here, we made our way onto a path called Moses Trod that lead us all the way along the bottom of Green Gable, Windy Gap and Great Gable and over towards Kirk Fell. We'd never been on this side of the Gables before, so was good to see them from a different angle. As we neared windy gap, the sun disappeared in the clouds and it became a little nippy, so we put our windbreaker jackets on and carried on...
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| Heading Away From Fleetwith Pike |
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| Moses Trod Path Leading Over To Great Gable |
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| The Operating Slate Mine |
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| A Road leading Back To Honister |
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| The Start Of Moses Trod |
It was not long after we joined the Moses Trod path that Mrs F took out one of protein bars from the box and was by far one of the best things she'd eaten on the fells! It was quite nice making our way through the big box of goodies and trying a different one each day. So far our favourite was a raspberry cheesecake protein bar...until Mrs F had this one that tasted just like a Picnic bar...and didn't even share it, so it must have been good!!
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| Haystacks In Full View |
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| One Man & His Mountain... |
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| Windy Gap |
Not long after we passed windy gap, we had a small amount of steps to climb that lead us directly to the bottom of Great Gable, where we stopped for our eggs. We took our time in chilling out for a bit and just enjoying the views around us. There were quite a few people out as the weather tends to bring out all the fair weather walkers! From here, we headed down through a little scramble of boulders and onto a stony path over towards Kirk Fell. Kirk Fell for us had been the one we had been dreading and almost putting off as it was a nasty sheer upwards climb from bottom to top, nut as we were approaching it from this side it wasn't too bad, but still a bit of a slog! So it was quite poignant that this would be our second to last fell of the 214...
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| Pit Stop By Great Gable For Our Eggs |
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| Kirk Fell Dead Ahead! |
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| Making Our Way Down From Our Egg Stop |
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| Buttermere From a Different Angle |
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| The Start Of Our Climb Onto Kirk Fell |
The trek up towards the summit was a slog with loose stones and gravel, but it still only took us 40 minutes, which never ceases to amaze us when we do so well. It felt so good to finally be on the summit of Kirk Fell, the fell we had been putting off since we pretty much started this adventure 6 and half years ago! There was a lovely wind shelter on top where we took great pleasure in plonking ourselves to eat lunch, with no intention to move for quite some time. We marvelled in the perfect views around us and the beautiful sunshine beaming down on us. We could see the Scafell's in the distance too and was quite a proud moment to look around at all of our accomplishments 😊...one more to go!!!!!
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| Great Gable Sitting Next To Us |
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| Our Slog Trek Up To Kirk Fell |
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| Views On Our Way Up |
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| Views From Kirk Fell...Buttermere |
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| Great Gable |
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| Scafell & Scafell Pike Over To The Right |
We had to head back on the exact same route we came in on towards Moses Trod, where we eventually dived off down towards a path leading us to our final fell, not only for the day, but of all the 214 Wainwrights!! Mrs F quite enjoys heading down steep gravel paths and finds that heading down with speeds with a few slides as though skiing is the best and most fund way forward. The other three were left trailing behind and taking their time, so Mrs F sat on a rock at the bottom by a little tarn and waited for them to catch up. We saw quite a few people out fell running which Mr F guessed they were training for the Bob Graham Round, as this is a popular training route. Mr F got a book on the Bob Graham Round as he planned to give it a go!
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| Mrs F With The Scafell's In The Background |
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| Our Steep Route Off Of Kirk Fell |
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| Walking Poles were Definitely Needed At This Point |
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| Mrs F Rock By The Little Tarn |
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| Can You Spot Mr F Coming Down??? |
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| There He Is!! 😃 |
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| Mrs F's Little Tarn |
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| Mr & Mrs S Following Shortly Behind |
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| Great Photo By Mrs F Of The Scafell's Over Another Little Tarn |
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| Views Heading Back To Moses Trod |
Halfway back on Moses Trod path, Mr F was able to show us exactly where he had walked and the routes he took when he was last here doing his Coast to Coast walk. We were already really proud of him for doing it but found a whole new respect seeing exactly what he done, mighty impressive!
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| Looking Over Towards Haystacks |
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| Mr F showing Us His Coast to Coast Route |
From Moses Trod, Mr F & Mr S had to look at the map for a little bit to be sure on where were heading. There was a fence that we crossed on the way here that we needed to follow downward until got reached a main path that we followed all the way over to Haystacks...
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| Haystacks Getting Closer! |
The path leading to Haystacks was a windy one. It took us first around the side of the mountain and then through the centre of it where we eventually came across Innominate Tarn, which is where Wainwrights ashes were scattered and what a stunning tarn it is too and can completely understand why Wainwright chose for his ashes to go here. In one of his books, he talks about Haystacks and says "If you get a bit of grip in your boot, treat it with respect, it might be me!" 😊
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| Mr S Attempting Some Sort of Photography! |
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| Beautiful Innominate Tarn |
From Innominate Tarn, we knew we only had a little bit to go before we reached the summit. We eventually saw a small steel pole sticking out from a point above us and got really excited. We walked hand in hand to the pole and celebrated....prematurely, as the actual summit was a few more steps further along the ridge where there was a little rose! Eventually, after a very long day, week and 6 and half years, we made it Wainwright summit number 214, Haystacks!!!
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| Haystacks Summit Up Ahead |
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| The Summit We Thought Was The Summit...But Wasn't The Summit! |
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| 214 Wainwrights...DONE!! |
We both felt quite emotional, as this had been our lives mission for so long and is now all at an end. We were so glad Mr & Mrs S were with us, as they have been a big part of this adventure, doing a lot of the Wainwrights with us through thick and thin...literally. They weren't going to come at first but it was only right they were here at the end with us...
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| Group Photo...with The Boys! |
We met a group of three people who were doing the Coast to Coast walk, but had decided to make it hard on themselves by going the very long route over Haystacks. The man and woman who were French were accompanied by a man who was clearly their translator and guide. They were heading back to Honister Slate Mine and even further than that to meet the mans wife who was due to pick them up, but they still had a very long way to go as they were already quite late. Mr F spoke top them for a bit about his Coast to Coast and Mrs F spoke to them about Everest Base Camp as the woman planned to do the Himalayas, so was nice to give them a count of our experiences. We stopped at Innominate Tarn and let them pass us by, as we planned to sit and dip our feet in whilst enjoying the very well earned celebratory miniature bottles of Whiskey and crisps...bliss!
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| The Boys Making A Guest appearance |
We headed back on to the windy path where we actually noticed the views around us that we didn't on our way up, since we were on a mission! We eventually picked up the stepping stones that lead us straight back down to Honister Slate Mine. We passed the three people we met up on Haystacks who were trying to get hold of the mans wife on the phone to ask if she could come and pick them up from Honister Slate Mine but couldn't get a signal on his phone. We all checked ours and we didn't either, but Mr F suggested going to the hostel just by the Slate Mine to use their payphone.
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| The Views We Missed On The Way Up To Haystacks |
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| Looking Back On Our Day |
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| Figures Made of Slate At The Mine |
We headed straight to The Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Keswick for our trusty Wetherspoon meal. We were all a little worse for wear and hobbled amongst all the people who were there watching the world cup footie. It was fish Thursday so Mr & Mrs S got fish n chips along with Mr F, whilst Mrs F ordered steak and jacket potato which she regretted as it wasn't very nice. The warm chocolate brownie and ice cream certainly made up for it though!
From there we headed back to the cottage just down the road where we began operation pack up, ready for the long journey back to London the next morning. We planned to stop off at Blackburn on the way back to see Mrs F's Dad which is always really nice and it breaks up the long journey a bit too. But before we done any of that, we had the very important business of filling in the final part of our Wainwright tick list...
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| Marking Off The Final Three Mountains With The Red Pen... |
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| ...And Entering In The Dates Completed |
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| Our Completed 214 Wainwright Tick List!! |
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| Celebratory Drinks With Dinner |
The next morning came and as per usual, we divided up what food was left and said our farewells at the cottage. Mr & Mrs S were going to go into Keswick first to get a few bits but changed their minds and decided to head straight back to London. We were in Blackburn by 10am for breakfast, a very delicious bacon and egg sandwich courtesy of Mrs F's Dad. We stayed until just gone midday then headed for London. It's always lovely to stop off at Blackburn to see each other, if only for a couple of hours. We were home by 4pm and was a strange feeling to know that this time, we had come home having no more Wainwrights left. What now you ask? Wales!!
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| Our Rather Lush Breakfast 😋 |
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| Cuddles Sitting In The Front |
VERDICT OF THE LAKE DISTRICT IN JUNE 2018
Mr F:
Mrs F: Well, what can I say...6 and a half years ago we came to the Lakes the day after we were Baptised to celebrate our union with God, not realising for one moment that we would be completely consumed by it's natural beauty and what it has to offer...The Wainwrights!! It has been our sole mission for every bit of annual leave and some weekends to make the long 5 hour car journey from London to get them ticked off one by one. There have certainly been good and bad days, tears of joy and tears of pain and despair, magnificent views and views not worth making the trip for, long days, short days, short walks out, long walks out, big mountains and little fells and then there's the weather; sun, cloud, rain, wind, gales, hailstones, blizzards, snow, ice, sleet, hot days, cold days, freezing days...you can't say we haven't fully experienced the Lakes in all it has to offer! I always knew that it would be a bitter-sweet moment to finally finish them all. We always knew that Haystacks would be our final one as it was Wainwright's favour and final resting place and just made our way around the map ticking off all the ones around it. I never thought that I would love doing something so much that involved so much effort, exertion, dedication and putting our bodies threw the mill, but I've found a third love and passion in my life (next to God and Mr F!) I've found such a happy place to escape and know that each and every time I go to the Lakes, it instantly makes me happy. My most memorable moments other than the day we finished, are so many to mention. But I'll never forget the time we were stuck on top of Bowfell and had to call mountain rescue! The weekend we were part of the Great Gable Remembrance Service, the long 11 and half hour day with Mr & Mrs S to Scafell & Scafell Pike due to my knee injury, the day we were chased by a feral horse, our long 4 mile walk back over the boulder field along the bottom of Wastwater, the day that Mrs F & Mrs S were bitten by ticks, Mr F's birthday barbeque by Mr & Mrs S's tent by Windermere Lake ...I could go on and on. We've always managed to stay in great cottages in great locations too. For me, my not so favourite one has to be our very first one with the upside down living over by Stanton Bridge as it didn't feel quite as cosy as I had hoped. My favourite has to be Joan's Cottage, closely followed by Quarry Hill Stables. I loved how Joan's Cottage was in the middle of Whinlatter Forest and we walked straight out from the cottage each day and Quarry Hill Stables was in such a beautiful surrounding and the living area upstairs was really cosy with great views all around. I also really loved our cottage over by Dean, just the two of us which was really cosy and in such a beautiful part of the Lakes. Part of what has helped to make this a really enjoyable experience and adventure is having our best friends along side us throughout a lot of it and the memories we've made together. To have friends who are at the same level of capability and willingness as us is awesome, but to share it all together with our God who we all know and love and dedicate each day to Him has been incredible. I am quite sad that our time ticking off the Wainwrights has come to an end, but that's not to say we won't be returning. Mr & Mrs S still have quite a bit to do and we'll certainly be helping them to get them done. Our next adventure now is Wales with 15 mountains over 3,000, having done five of them already and a lot more others scattered around, is something to look forward to...we've even got a tick list for those ones too!! I say it all the time in my verdicts from our Lake District trips but cannot say it enough...the Lake District will forever hold a very special place in my heart for so many reasons; the stunning beauty, the memories, the adventures, the friendship, the sense of being with the Lord...it's just an all round amazing place to be 😊
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