The Lakes in June

In a break from the norm, our first visit to the Lakes was right at the end of May this year, instead of our usual March. As we've finished our Wainwright challenge, we wanted a more relaxing week right in the heart of the Lakes, so booked into what was probably one of the most gorgeous cottages we've stayed in. It was old, beautifully decorated, very quiet, comfortable and convenient for walks from the door. What wasn't so gorgeous was the traffic on the M6 which made the journey at least an hour an a half longer, but we relaxed with an evening walk round Ambleside, even finding a new path by the River Brathay.

The next morning, we drove north to Keswick to meet up with our cousins and enjoyed a slightly damp walk up to Castlehead then on over fields with wonderful views to Castlerigg Stone Circle. They hadn't been to the circle before and we'd never walked there from Keswick, and it was a beautiful route. We came back through King Wood to Keswick for lunch and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. We headed back in late afternoon, stopping in Grasmere as we hadn't been for a while which was as lovely as always.

We had a slow morning the next day, walking into Ambleside for coffee and a little browsing, noting small changes since we'd last been. In the afternoon, we drove to just south of Windermere to re-climb three Outlying Fells, mainly because we had no recollection of them in 2017 (we'd been distracted by our very excitable young dog) but also because Bro wanted to record the route. The weather had cleared and it was gloriously warm. clear and sunny. We parked in a layby close to Windermere Golf Club and set off along the Dales Way to Cleabarrow hamlet. The verges were full of wildflowers, the fields full of lambs and it was all so beautiful. The route was flat, following a tiny beck, before a short climb took us up to a magnificent and very photogenic lone Oak Tree with expansive views over Windermere. After a lot of photos, it was only a short pull up to the summit of Nameless School Knott which neither of us really remembered, but it was lovely. Grandsire was next with a simple descent to the Oak Tree, then up to the summit where we spent quite a lot of time enjoying the views and sun. We hadn't planned on going over to School Knott, but it wasn't that far away, although that one we did remember! A cool drink at the lovely Wild Boar rounded off the afternoon nicely.

The next day saw us driving north again to Setmurthy Forest, as we wanted to re-climb two more Outlying Fells we'd done years before in torrential rain and hadn't enjoyed. Bro hadn't really recorded the route that time either and we wanted some decent summit shots for our records. Previously we'd pushed up through the woods and made rather a hash of the route, trying to find shortcuts and inevitably making it longer and harder. This time we followed a forestry track which rose gently up around the edge of the forest giving us lovely views of the northern fells. It was easy, pleasurable and very warm in the sun. A quick deviation off the track up a steeper forest path brought us out to within about fifty feet of Setmurthy Common's summit stones. The views were stunning all around us, from the northern fells to Cockermouth. We carried along the ridge to the second fell, Watch Hill, through ewes and lambs, giving the aggressive looking Texel mothers a wide berth before retracing our steps and slipping back into the forest and picking our way steeply down to re-join the track where we stopped to brew coffee on a handy tree stump.

We debated whether to go to Buttermere the next day as we hadn't been for a long while but, as we'd done quite a lot of driving, we thought we'd go up through Skelghyll Woods to visit Jenkin Crag again. The weather was good and we could start from the cottage. It was lovely walking and we were soon at the viewing point admiring the Windermere views. Instead of going back the same way, we decided to find Stagshaw Garden which we'd often seen signposted, so we took a path down the other side of Stencher Beck and roughly followed a signed tree trail, keeping a look out for the tallest fir tree in Cumbria. The trail led us out of the woods, but there was a lovely wooden gate to our right that led into the Garden. It was a woodland garden, climbing steeply up the hill full of flowering Rhododendrons and a tumbling beck, all of which was very attractive. After exploring, we took another path we've never walked before which brought us out not far from the Ambleside YHA. We called in for a coffee as their little cafe has the most gorgeous views of Lake Windermere.

It was Bro's birthday the following day and we planned to tackle a Wainwright on the eastern shore of Ullswater for all of the same reasons above. The weather had turned and it was raining as we set off, later than planned, trying to make the 10.30 steamer from Glenridding to Howtown. However, the steamers had been cancelled due to the strong winds, so instead we drove to Pooley Bridge and began the walk from there. The rain stopped, the sun appeared and we made good time to the Cockpit Stone Circle - something we'd missed last time - then found a path that climbed gently up through the grass and, dodging a couple of rain showers. We soon came to the summit of Arthur's Pike and enjoyed the lovely views we'd missed the last time as we were in a thick smog cloud, but there was also a freezing wind blowing and it had started raining again. After stopping for a quick drink, we quickly became very cold - I think it was around 7 degrees at that point - so we hurried down to Whinney Crag, a small peak a little lower down which was thankfully out of the wind. The sun came out, we warmed up and the views from there were even better. We made much quicker time on the way back as we were on a defined path, joining part of the Ullswater Way back to Pooley Bridge for a late lunch.

For our final outing, we decided we didn't really want to climb anything much, so we went to Grizedale Forest. It was a lovely sunny day and very quiet, so we had coffee first and a look round the cycle shop before deciding that, as we'd already been up to Carron Crag, we'd follow the white trail on the other side of the visitors centre to a second Grizedale Tarn. We had a mix of sun and a few light showers, but the woods were lovely and the paths easy, but they soon started climbing and we found ourselves going up and up quite steeply! It was lovely though and there were interesting sculptures to find along the way. The tarn was very buried in the forest, but large, covered in water lilies and very pretty, as was the walk back to the visitors centre; very like Scotland in places we thought. We decided to have sandwich lunch in the cafe, before calling in at Tarn Hows on the way back to Ambleside as we were really close and again, hadn't been for ages. Very pretty.

On our way back to the motorway on our way home, we called in at the exquisite Levens Hall, which has the oldest topiary garden in the world. I think it's one of the most beautiful, unique and original houses and gardens we've ever been to. and it was an absolute delight sitting in the gardens in the sun and exploring the stunning house. Once again, the motorway was not so stunning!

All in all, a fantastic week in a beautiful cottage, meeting relatives, lovely walks and revisiting some favourite places. It all went far too quickly, but we're planning our next trip already!

Outdoor Ramblings

‘The greatest adventure is what lies ahead’