Blogs from Lake District, Cumbria, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 6

Today is our last full day here, and after two rather hard ones coloured by the excellent weather which keeps the lakes full, we need a quieter one! It is sunny and wonderfully clear but the temperature has gone down further to around 6C, which means the fell tops definitely are freezing... (meteorology lesson no. 94 - temperature falls at the rate of approximately 2C per 1000 feet (it's called the dry adiabatic lapse rate, nice hmmm?), so a 3000 foot peak would be 6C lower than at sea level. So there). We drive down to Ambleside pier and get the 0950 motor launch to Bowness-on-Windermere, 30 minutes sailing. Somewhere here is the B&B to which my Dad brought us the first time we ever came up here, about 40 years ago. Maybe the shops change ... read more

After another fry up breakfast, we say good bye to Mike And Anna as they head home to Dorset after being out for nearly two weeks. Islay had been a disappointment in terms of salmon fishing because there was no water, too dry. Well the Lakes certainly made up for that in terms of wetness, but we hope their first visit here will not be their last. I could publish loads of pix to prove it can be fabulous! Today we are going to try a bit of real fell walking on familiar territory. We take the packed lunch and emergency rations (hip flask) and drive up to the car park on the Walna Scar Road above Coniston village. This is the best launch point from which to tackle the Old Man. As we boot up, ... read more

Today's forecast is pretty ghastly so a fry up breakfast is required. We get in the motor with all our gear and drive up to Keswick and down into Borrowdale. Our target is the Honister Pass and Buttermere. The agenda depends upon actual conditions. So, actually it is wind-blown rain the likes of which I have seldom seen up here, and we are looking for shelter! We stop at the Honister Slate Mine, on the pass itself. The pictures do not convey the strength of the wind not the amount of water travelling horizontally through the pass! The Slate Mine is very interesting and after coffee, shop perusal (including a failure by Mr & Mrs Hudson to agree on upper or lower case for the proposed custom slate house name!!), we go on the mine tour. ... read more

Hanno would usually plan out of town trips to make sure we don’t just stay in bed and get bored in our apartments during the weekends, and Cathryn had to be dragged along (driving for us.aw!). They would usually take us out of Manchester on the weekends to show us how beautiful the rest of England is! I’ve been hearing about Lake District from my colleagues who have been planning to go and from the people in the office who constantly warn us about its rainy weather. Sheep … sheep … sheep more sheep and neatly trimmed country side grass. Driving around country side would always involve sheep and our amusement over the short grass. If you wonder why I’ve been mentioning about our amusement to it, is because in the Philippines, if you go to ... read more

Bev Wilmshurst - my friend from NZ - decided to mix drinking with hiking to celebrate his 30th, and what better place to do that than in the Lakes District. And with Ryan having lived there for a year, it didn't take much convincing to get me back up there. Bev booked three adjoining cottages near the small village of Broughton-in-Furness for the occasion, which proved perfect for the 11 of us who headed there from London and Scotland. On the Friday after work I trained up to Banbury where four of us met and drove the remaining way up. We arrived at about 11, and Bev didn't know I was coming so it was cool to surprise him! That evening we chilled out with a few beers, and it was just as well we didn't ... read more