Lake District Part 5

Reflecting on a fantastic week

FRIDAY - THE LAST DAY: GRASMERE & RYDAL WATER

So our week drew to a close as we woke on our final full day. And yes, the sun was still shining - how lucky have we been? For our last day we'd decided to do a circular walk from Grasmere around both Grasmere and Rydal Water. This included a walk part way along the "Coffin Route", a large stony and undualting trail underneath Nab Fell between Ambleside and Grasmere. The Coffin Route was traditionally used to carry the dead from Rydal and Ambleside to St Oswald's Church in Grasmere for a christian burial. That's a fair old way to lug a coffin, but thoughtfully there is a "coffin stone" about half way between Grasmere and Rydal where presumably the coffin bearers could take a well earned rest!

First though as we left Grasmere we past Dove Cottage, yet another of William Wordsworth's previous homes in the area.

Dove Cottage

Signpost for the Coffin Route just outside Grasmere

The Coffin Stone

As we descended off the Coffin Route into Rydal, we were presented with a choice for a refreshment stop, at either Rydal Mount or Rydal Hall. We chose the latter (on advice from my younger brother whose been a regular visit to these parts), but as we were only stopping for a quick coffee either would have sufficed.

Rydal Hall

After a pleasant coffee stop (albeit with a piece of overpriced flapjack), we crossed the A591 and crossed a footbridge over the river Rothay. From here we wound along a wooded footpath before coming out into the open on the banks of Rydal Water. 

Rydal Water

A gravelly beach was athrong with sunbathers and swimmers, and we wound past them and climbed a path towards Rydal Cave. This is an enormous man made cave, dug out though slate quarrying. The water was deep enough and big enough to be carrying a substantial amount of small fish, and again, there were plenty of people here taking advantage of the opportunity to cool down in the shade of the cave.

Rydal Cave panorama

Descending from the path we stopped at he edge of the lake for a picnic, away from the busy area, and watched a pier of common sandpipers calling and flitting around the edges of the water. I'm guessing they had a nest there and didn't like us near them (although we were in fact about 50 yards away!)

After some replenishment we wanted onwards though some more woods before coming to the shores of Grasmere. The path - sometimes a well maintained flat gravelly path, sometimes more reminiscent of a limestone/large cobbled pavement wound around the edge of Grasmere, with the Daffodil Hotel, and Allan Bank coming into view. 

Grasmere with
Allan Bank (left)
Helm Crag (left)
Daffodil Hotel (right)

A short climb off the path took us to Redbank Road, a tricky road that leads you over Loughrigg Fell (not for the faint hearted apparently) which we followed into Grasmere. Just before the village we took advantage of yet another opportunity for a refreshment stop at the rather quaint and pretty rustic Faeryland. The pot offers rowing boat hire, a tea garden (some benches and tables) some Romany artefacts including a proper Romany caravan (although this is private), and as well as coffee, cold drinks and snacks, an anazing selection of 53 different varieties of loose leaf tea, many blended by the owner himself. Apparently his grandmother used to mix tea, and the passion wore off on him. I had a Romany Tea, and I have to say it was very refreshing. My pot gave me three cups and I polished them all off!

At Faeryland

By the time we got "home" we'd walked 7 miles. We certainly needed a quieter evening, and we celebrated the end of our holiday with a meal in the pub across the road, the Inn at Grasmere, before a couple of pints at our "local" for the week, and then it was back to the cottage and packing for our departure the next day.

We had a fabulous week on our first proper visit to the Lakes - well mine anyway. Of course wall to wall sunshine helped - we could have left all our wet weather and colder weather gear at home, but you never can tell - even on sunny days you need to be prepared, especially if you're going walking in the hills.

My take away from the week are as follows:

• Stunning scenery
• It's busy (and that's not in school holiday time)
• Millions of outdoor shops
• Millions of tea rooms, cafes, snack places etc
• Plenty f places to escape the crowds
• No need to climb high if you don't want to
• National Trust membership gives you value
• We'll be back

The best of our Lakes Photo Album (Flickr)

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Lake District Part 4

Ullswater towards Glenridding

THURSDAY - AIRA FORCE OR AIRA TRICKLE?

On our penultimate day the sun was still shining fiercely, with our fleeces, long trousers and raincoats still in the suitcases where they'd been all week. One of our pre-trip plans had been to go to the Aira Force series of waterfalls near Ullswater so we hopped into the car. I'd wanted to drive there over the Kirkstone Pass, the highest pass in the region open to traffic and then loop back past Thirlmere. Unfortunately it was closed the whole week we were there for some roadworks, so it looked like we were stuck with a "there and back" trip on the Thirlmere road (not that that was problematic. It just meant seeing the same bit of road twice). The drive up was lovely as we drove along the Thirlmere road, under the base of Helvellyn with initially distant, but fast closing views of the Skiddaw range.

Once at Aira Force (a National Trust place inevitably, with parking, toilets and a little cafe) we took a gentle stroll up towards the waterfalls. Luckily the path was shaded as it was VERY hot. The several weeks of no rainfall however meant that the waterfalls were little more than a trickle in some places, and not overly spectacular throughout. Never mind - we'd recently visited some decent cascades closer to home in Wales, but at least we'd ticked the box and "done' Aira Force. If we every come back out of summer season, it will be worth another visit.

One of the smaller cascades at Aira Force.

Bridge across the falls at Aira Force

A very short stroll from the car park was Ullswater, so we took a walk down. The views towards Glenridding were fabulous (see top photo in this post), but sadly like so many still waters in the country, there is a significant problem with blue/green algae as the photo below shows. Not a place to go swimming or let your pets or children play in.

Blue/Green Algae at Ullswater

Back in the car as it was still fairly early afternoon, we decided to go to a place called "Surprise View" Back through Kewsick and down the eastern edge of Derwent Water before climbing a (very) single track road steeply to a rough car park (but NT again - saved a fortune on NT entrance and car park fees this week, making full use of our membership). Literally 20 meters or so from the car park brings you to the view below. Glorious views along Derwent Water, towards Keswick and Bassenthwaite Lake beyond, with Skiddaw in the right hand distance of the frame.

Derwent Water and Skiddaw

With views like this it was fairly busy, with some inevitable "instagrammers" posing for ages with their shots, but then what was I doing other than taking some great photos. The difference being I suppose that I was shooting the view not the person.

Then it was back home to Grasmere, and then we wandered once again up to Allan Bank (Wordsworth's old gaff - remember?) to sit and read our books quietly for an hour or so before calling an end to another lovely hot and long day with a nice pint at one of the hostelries in the village.

Allan Bank

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Lake District Part 3

Helm Crag 
(l of centre with a pimple on it)

HELM CRAG DAY - WEDNESDAY

I'd decided that I couldn't come to the Lakes and not climb at least one hill/fell/crag. My knee was holding up (reasonably) well. Anne was looking forward to a morning mooching around Grasmere and its surrounds and having decided Helvellyn was probably a tad too much, I decided to climb Helm Crag, a rocky promontory just outside Grasmere. At 405m it's comfortably less than half Helvellyn's 950m and several of the near fells like Dollywagon Pike at 858m, but it's still a decent climb and should give good views. And it wasn't far - less than one and a quarter miles in a straight line from the front door, although nothing's straight here. With another roasting day forecast, I decided that setting off early was the best plan, and left the cottage at 6.30am with plenty of fluid with me and a frozen bottle of water in my pack also. Despite a couple of unintentional detours (I had three guidebooks/leaflets and each one gave me a different way), I eventually ignored the one that said "...ignore the path on your right..." and went up it.

Yup - that way

It turned out, this was the right way, but it was immediately steep. Well cut stony steps initially turned my mind to Frodo, Sam and Gollum heading into Mordor in Lord of the Rings although I was rather brighter, and there were no orcs in attendance here. I had to stop for a breather a few times, but eventually the path became more of a rocky track before a final scramble to the top of the crag. 

At the summit!
Grasmere behind me

I'd made it up by 7.50am, not bad going for an old git with a dodgy knee. I had the place to myself, and the views were wonderful. Looking back down to Grasmere I could just see lake Windermere peeking out in the distance. To one side I had the valley we'd climbed to Easdale Tarn, and on the other the fells of Seat Sandal, Dollywagon Pike and beyond, Helvellyn. As I sat there an RAF Hawk screamed up the valley towards Thirlmere BELOW me!

I mooched around for a bit, visiting the rock formation a little further along known as the "Howitzer"   an uncanny resemblance to from certain angles. 

Helm Crag summit with Grasmere behind

A distant view of Easdale Tarn
where we'd been on our first day

The "Howitzer"

Grasmere

After about 20 minutes I saw a woman arrive at the top not far away from me - I'd have said in her 50's, with walking poles and pack. We had an amiable chat and I remarked that it was a steep old climb up. She said "Oh it's not too bad. I was going to climb Dollywagon Pike (a mere 858m remember) but I was doing the cool run so I'm just going along this ridge, round the fell and back down". Turns out she was 61and was walking about 8 miles or so, and for here this was an "easy" day - she went out about 3 times a week apparently!

I left her to crack on, but as the day was still young,  and I was feeling good, decided to follow her route along the ridge for a while rather than head back down. The map (a proper OS map now) now showed me there should be a path I could take down into the valley to return. Ambling along the ridge was sublime. I passed two other walkers (a couple) and that was it. The weather was gorgeous, the views immense and all I had for company were buzzards, jackdaws, a few scraggy sheep, a distant pheasant and a few other birds - plus some annoying horse fly type insects who thought my legs looked a bit tasty. I passed prominences on the ridge called Gibson's Knott, Moment Brow and Moment Crag heading for the Pike of Carrs, wondering how these landmarks got their names, when I came to the path down that I was looking for.

There followed a long initially steep but shallowing decent from the rockiness of the crags, into a wide green valley occupied increasingly by sheep, wheatears and vibrant foxgloves. It was as peaceful as anything - or it was until  a number of F15 Strike Eagles came screaming through  - this time above me - but not by much. Seems like this is a regular loop for them, much like the Mach Loop in North Wales. Indeed they'd been a regular occurrence over Grasmere all week, but too quick  and with me in too much cover to catch the. Here though I heard them coming and set myself up to catch them.

On the walk down

Eventually I cam to habitation and a proper road, albeit still a mile or two from the village, and made my way across footpaths to the Travellers Rest where we'd eaten a couple of days before, for a well earned cup of tea. After a 20 minute walk back into Grasmere, it turned out I'd walked almost 10 miles, but I felt pretty pleased with myself, and even better, the knee was still in one piece.

Anne meanwhile had enjoyed herself bumbling around the village taking it easy and paying a visit to the famous gingerbread shop.

After half an hour icing the knee as a precaution, we wanted up a lane to Allan Bank, once an abode of William Wordsworth, now a National Trust  place, where we just sat in the garden overlooking Grasmere for an hour or so, availing ourselves of free tea, and reading a book in some dappled shade. Very grown up like.

That evening, we ate out at our local, Tweedies, where I had an enormous plate of fish and chips washed down with a couple of very nice beers. 

A very pleasant day indeed.

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Lake District Part 2

Windermere with distant Cumbrian hills

ON THE WATER - MONDAY

Well you can't seriously "do" the Lake District without a boat trip on Windermere can you?

We made the short drive into Ambleside from Grasmere (about 10-15 minutes) parking at Waterhead at the northern end of Windermere. We paid for our tickets at a little booth by the pier, taking the "red" offer (a round trip to Bowness-on-Windermere) where we could hop off and then get any red ticketed boat back to Waterhead. 

The views across windermere were fabulous. Less fabulous was the evident scum and algae on the water at the pier. If you weren't aware there is real and valid concern that Windermere's water quality due to sewage means the lake is in danger of dying. Just Google it and you'll be inundated, but here's just one example.  Out in the middle of the lake, this was less evident, but you can't help but see it up close to the shoreline.

Anyway, once out on the water we took the gentle ride on the diesel electric boat Swift down to Bowness - about 5 miles along the 10.5 mile length of Windermere. Boats aplenty adorned the lake along with paddle boarders, kayakers and various wildfowl.

Disembarking at Bowness the sun was doing it's best to roast us, and we headed off to find a cooling iced coffee, which wasn't too hard as the place is festooned with cafes and coffee houses. In all honestly, it was so hot, and so busy we decided not to stay too long, and caught the boat back to Waterhead and Ambleside fairly quickly. The views coming back were even better. 

Tourist boat with the Langdale Pikes behind

Approaching Waterhead with the Fairfield Horseshoe behind

We caught a shuttle (looked and felt like a converted milk float, £2.50pp one way) into Ambleside where we found a spot for lunch at the Giggling Goose cafe. We then walked a few yards and found the rather quirky Bridge house - basically a one up, one down house on a small bridge! We wandered around Ambleside for a bit (lots of outdoor shops and cafes) before calling it a day, walking the mile or so back to Waterhead and picking up the car.

The quirky Bridge House, Ambleside

That evening we'd booked a meal at the Traveller's Rest, a pub about a 20 minute walk along the road from Grasmere. We had a gentle stroll arriving about 30 minutes early for our booking, expecting to have to have a drink before being seated, but were ushered into the small restaurant straight away. It was fairly rustic (think church like pew seats and all used wooden tables), but the food was excellent, the beer exceptional and the service friendly and efficient. The sort of place you'd definitely go back to.

MORE LAKES - TUESDAY

Tuesday dawned like all the days before it. Hot and sunny. We drove towards Coniston before turning off down an increasingly narrow road towards a place called Tarn Hows (why Tarn comes first for once and not Hows Tarn I don't know). Parking at an already filling up National Trust car park, we walked down to the lake. It's an easy walk around on a gravelled and sometimes stony path, and as you come around the far side you get absolutely stunning views of the lake with the fells of the Old Man of Coniston and Wetherlam behind. It took me a good while before I could walk away from such stunning views.

Tarn Hows with the fells of 
The Old Man of Coniston and
Wetherlam behind

We then drove down to a place called Brantwood down more very narrow lanes on the eastern side of Coniston Water, primarily on the recommendation of a few people for it's great cafe, although it's also a house and gardens and the place where poet, artist and writer John Ruskin once lived. We only stopped for the cafe though, and the fruit scones with cream and jam were majestic. From there it was on to Coniston itself, and a walk down to the boating centre on an increasingly hot day. Anne availed herself of the chance to get her feet into the water whilst I took yet more photos of the Old Man of Coniston.

Cooling off in Coniston

After our Coniston visit it was back home, a cool off before nipping out for some drinks - we'd now homes in on Tweedies Bar and Lodge as our "local", not least as it had an enormous beer garden. It did a pretty fabulous range of beers too I might say. A very popular place tools a result.

After dinner we wandered a little more around Grasmere and nipped to St Oswald's Church where William Wordsworth is buried. This is the heart of Wordsworth country and there are at least three places within a mile or two where he lived at various times. 

The grave of William Wordsworth
in Grasmere

So far it's fair to say that we were loving our time in this part of the world. The scenery was of course marvellous, but with the added bonus that you could actually see it, as we'd barely seen a cloud in the sky since we'd arrived.

With my knee feeling rather chipper, (although I was still on the anti-inflammatories and having half an hour icings on it each evening), I'd decided that I was going to attempt to get up a bit (only a little higher), and for Wednesday's excursion I'd set my sights on Helm Crag, a rocky promontory just outside Grasmere, standing at around 405m. Anne had sensibly declined the chance to do this, and was going to wander around Grasmere and do some window shopping and perhaps visit some of the Wordsworth oriented cultural places in the village.

But you're going to have to wait until Part 3 for that...

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Lake District - a new favourite place: Part 1

Tarn Hows with the
Old Man of Coniston (l) and Wetherlam (r) behind

GETTING THERE - FRIDAY

I'm not yet sure how many parts this blog post will run to, but it's likely to be more than 1! There's a lot to catch up on from our week away in Grasmere in mid June, so without further ado...

I've never been to the Lake District. Well, strictly speaking that's not true. We passed through with an overnight stop at Penruddock near Ullswater in about 1971 on our way to Scotland on a touring holiday the first year my parents bought a small caravan. Them, three kids and and two dogs in a small tin can. Anyway, all I saw of the Lakes was a dusky Ullswater for an hour or two before we set off for Scotland the following day. 

Anne has been, but it was a long time ago.

We've talked about going for a few years, but one thing and another - oh, and Covid. Anyway, I overcame my procrastination earlier this year, bugging my younger (but still old) brother about the best places as he's been a regular visitor over the years. He recommended his favourite place, Grasmere. After searching his recommended holiday cottage links we duly found a small cottage, for a reasonable price, slap bang in the middle of the village for a week in the middle of June, hoping for decent weather, although being the lakes, that could still mean snow, rain, gales and flash flooding at any time!

Suitably packed for all eventualities we set off, but as it's a long way, made a slight detour to break the journey overnight at my sister in-law's in Solihull. We met them on the Friday afternoon at Coughton Court National Trust and spent a pleasant afternoon wandering the grounds, and walking along the river. 

Coughton Court, near Redditch

STILL GETTING THERE - SATURDAY

After an early(ish) breakfast we pointed the car north (or rather east) before heading north up the M6 toll and thence to the M6. It was pretty much M6 all the way then until the final 30 mins or so. Again we broke our trip up just after turning off the M6 to visit Sizurgh Castle, another National Trust place. More gentle wanderings, and wa walk up a smallish hill to see a vista of the distant Cumbrian hills that were our eventual destination. 

Sizurgh Castle, near Kendal

Driving up past Windermere and through Ambleside, the traffic was heavy - turns out there was a Lak District Ultra Event going on the Saturday for fitness lunatics - 114km run anyone? Those of a less inclined nature could stick to any one of 14km, 25km or 50km events or some vast open water swimming and cycling craziness. 

Arriving about 30 minutes before our allotted check in time, we found the place ready and waiting. It was lovely. Comfortable, well furnished.....but sadly lacking any outside space to sit. Partly I guess we were to blame for not reading the online info correctly (although it does mention an "outside courtyard" (ie parking area), and it was a shame given the continued outrageously hot forecast. Still the village green was about 20 seconds stroll away.

A view from near the centre of Grasmere

Dumped the bags, had a quick wander around the small (but busy) village - it seems everywhere is busy in the Lakes, and pooped into the nearest hostelry for a thirst quencher (or two).

SUNDAY

We had a sort of plan of the places we wanted to go during our week, but it wasn't fixed in stone. I was recovering from some sort of injury to me knee the week before when it had swollen to almost twice it's normal size after a round of golf to climbing Helvellyn and Scafell wasn't going to happen, although stronger than usual anti-inflammatories had worked their magic.

Anne's not one for steep hills (or any hills for that matter), so gentler ambles were more on our radar. You'll see how that went out of the window in a later post....

With another glorious day in the making, we set off for Easdale Tarn, a relatively short walk on paper, and described in some guides as an easy walk, and in others "not pushchair friendly with some steeper sections). It's basically a follow the path route. Soon out of Grasmere we found the path and followed it for a while before it started ascending. As we rose the views impressed but in the heat the steeper sections meant several stops, and for those used to fairly flat walks, it was a bit of slog (Anne might want to call it something else!). Anyway, we made it. It's clearly a popular place as there were lots of people around. Some swimming, some picnicing , some walking through. We found a quiet spot, had our picnic and took our shoes off and dangles our feet in the wonderfully cool water, whereupon our feet were instantly set upon by myriads of small fish giving us an instant, and free pedicure.. The view up there were spectacular, even though we weren't that high at around 300m. 

Easdale Tarn Panorama

View from Easdale Tarn

Easdale Tarn Fish Pedicure

Luckily the walk back down was MUCH easier than the walk up, although by mid afternoon, very hot indeed and we were glad to get back to the cottage to get refreshed and find some shade. It was a pretty impressive start to our week, and although a good work out, very much worth the effort.

I think that'll do for this first post. Part 2 takes in Windermere, Tarn Hows, Coniston  and some eat and drink recommendations.

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