Castlerigg

Another weekend and another adventure in our campervan. It was our longest weekend away as we stayed at Castlerigg Hall campsite Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. We also tried out our new posh inflatable tent awning, which amazingly stayed up through the winds of storm Kathleen.

Castlerigg Hall campsite was very friendly with immaculate toilets and showers. Definitely a popular spot, with views across Derwentwater and onto Catbells. The Catbells light festival was the main reason for our trip. Unfortunately, it was cancelled due to the storm, which was the right decision. It has been rescheduled for the summer and we’ve booked a spot at Castlerigg Farm campsite, as Castlerigg Hall campsite was already fully booked.

Anyway, Friday morning the weather was mostly rain free, so we walked into Keswick. Gordon wanted to make friends with some cows.

Keswick wasn’t too busy, but with a break in the weather we opted to walk up to the top of the nearest Wainwright, namely Latrigg, one of the smaller fells. Being an idiot, I mapped the shortest route to the top, which appeared to be almost vertical. The view from the top wasn’t too bad, as we were just below the clouds.

We took the easier route back down, sensibly, returning to the campsite to dry off. The campsite had a mobile pizza van on a Friday night, which was a good alternative to cooking. That evening was wild in the van, with the wind and rain howling. We survived, albeit with very little sleep. The people in the campervan nearest to us had decided to take down their awning, we probably should have done the same as we had to dry it out when we were home.

Saturday morning was dry and sunny. The forecast wasn’t great. However, it was pleasant enough for me to run into Keswick to join in with Keswick parkrun, which was celebrating their tenth anniversary. The run director also mentioned that the previous weekend, Easter Saturday, there had been over 500 runners and walkers. Hats off the volunteers. My advice would be to avoid the Lake District at Easter, if you can.

After a shower the three of us returned to Keswick, which was far busier. We bought some snacks for Gordon and had a coffee and cake in a very pleasant little dog friendly cafe. Gordon was too friendly and far too excited, so we sat outside, just as it started raining.

That evening, the weather was even wilder, if possible. The funny thing was that down in Keswick you wouldn’t have known that there was a storm at all it was so calm. After another restless night worrying if the whole van was going to blow away, we packed up and headed home.

This was our first three nighter and once again we learned a lot. We learned that we needed better tent pegs to hammer the awning into the hard standing pitch. We also learnt that the awning wasn’t too difficult to put up or take down, even in the wind, although we will probably won’t use it every time.

Here’s to our next weekend away, wherever it is.

13 Valleys Ultra

In partnership with the Lake District National Park, the 13 Valleys Ultra is an epic adventure in the stunning landscape of the Lake District National Park, with four distances to chose from.

13 Valleys celebrates the 13 unique valleys of the Lake District National Park which are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site status, by linking them all together. You can choose between one trail distance: 2 Valleys (21km) and three ultra distances: 5 Valleys (55km), 7 Valleys (110km) and 13 Valleys (180km). Each of them will take you through spectacular trail running around the magnificent lakes and valleys of the Lake District. (Taken directly from the website).

My lovely wife, Helen, sent me a link to this particular ultra, and I have entered the 5 Valleys distance with an early bird discount. For me, this race seems perfect. The 7 and 13 Valleys are way too long for me, and the 2 Valleys wouldn’t be enough of a challenge.

The route for the 5 Valleys starts in Ambleside and finishes in Keswick. Almost half of the route me and Helen have walked or run in the past, which should make navigation easier. However, the 5 Valleys distance is fully waymarked, and the GPS route can be downloaded, which I will do.

From Ambleside, the route heads to Troutbeck, skirting Wansfell. From there the route follows a well used trail all the way to Thornthwaite. Last year we walked up that fell, but for this race the route to the top and down from the top are different from what I’ve done in the past. Until the route drops into Hartsop, there is a 7 km section that will be new to me, followed by another 3 km that I’ve also never done. However, there is a 20 km section from Glenridding to Threlkeld that I’ve also never done. Over the course of the summer I will hopefully attempt this main section.

As the name of the race suggests, the route doesn’t always traverse the highest points or the fell summits. High Street and The Knott are just two Wainwrights where the official route misses by less than 100 m. I don’t suppose that anyone would mind if I was to run a little extra, although I would expect by race day that me and Helen will have “bagged” those two pesky Wainwrights.

The race is at the end of September, giving me eight full months to train. I have to say that I am incredibly excited by this race. The distance of 55 km will be challenging, as will the hills, although, as I said, the elevation could easily have been a lot more, with it “only” being 2300 m.

If you’re interested, the official website is https://www.13valleysultra.com/. I don’t know when the early bird discount will end, or when entries have to be in by. I also don’t know how popular the event is. The Lap, another ultra run/walk in the Lakes, sells out in a couple of weeks, so for me, this is the perfect alternative race as I was too slow to enter the run around Windermere.

Anyway, if you have entered, I’ll see you there, or possibly in the Valleys reckoning the route over the summer.

Walla Crag

On the last morning of our three day break in the lakes, after another hearty breakfast, we decided on a short walk before driving home. Only a mile or two up the road from the hotel was a National Trust carpark perfectly suited for a walk around Walla Crag. I like National Trust carparks because I’m a life member so I can park for free (insert smiley face emoji).

The route that I’d plotted on my Garmin was only three miles and was supposed to be a low level walk. This is low level for the lake district. We set off an immediately spotted a sign pointing towards the easy gradient up to the top of the crag. As you can see from the photo below, this most definitely wasn’t my definition of an easy gradient.

However, there were some amazing views across Derwentwater.

Eventually we reached the top of the crag, which was covered in snow. The views across the other side weren’t as good as there was plenty of low lying cloud obscuring the views across to Great Dodd, Stybarrow Dodd and Helvellyn. We also spotted a trio of small Fell Ponies, before starting to walk gently back around the far side of the crag.

As our route slowly turned from the north east to the north west we then given cloudy views across Keswick and Skiddaw. We then passed a woman running up the hill that we were slowly walking down. Once upon a time, many years ago, me and Helen could have run up a hill this steep. Although, at my best I would never have been able to keep up with Helen on the way back down, she is an absolute demon at descending.

This route was quite popular as we passed a number of other walkers and runners as we crossed a small frozen stream and down a slippery farm track.

The last part of the walk went through Great Wood, even though it wasn’t very large.

Back at the carpark and I handed my ticket to a couple who were eyeing up the instructions on the parking meter. Apologies to the National Trust if they are reading this.

Our short break in the lakes had been a much needed respite from work and everything else, and our three walks had all been excellent. I would thoroughly recommend staying at the Mary Mount hotel as well. Helen has given it a stellar review.

High Seat and Bleaberry Fell

Like many people I had some annual leave from work that I needed to take before the end of the year. The week before Christmas already had a number of people off, so I took last week. Not wanting to just sit around all day, we booked two nights away at the excellent Mary Mount Hotel near Keswick, overlooking Helen’s favourite Fell, Catbells.

We decided to go for a walk close to the hotel before checking in. I had a quick look on Garmin routes and created what I hoped would be a pleasant walk. It turned out to be a fantastic walk. I still sometimes struggle to get my head around the fact that I can create a route on an App on my phone, and then synchronize it with my watch, giving me a route, with map, to follow.

We parked up in a small carpark and walked up a narrow icy road towards Ashness Bridge, where we headed onto a footpath. The first section was steep and continued up for ages, until it started to level out a little, with stunning views back over Derwentwater and Catbells.

We slowly continued to climb, avoiding more icy sections, stopping for photos, including this selfie taken by my beautiful wife.

We soon reached the top of High Seat, with views across Thirlmere and Helvellyn. The photos that we took just didn’t do it justice, so you’ll have to make do with my silly face.

We briefly chatted to a runner, who was enjoying running over the frozen bogs, before we headed down towards Bleaberry Fell. This section was very easy walking, with a number of other people out enjoying the clear views, and only a very small rise to the summit. We also felt that it was safe for Nelly to be allowed off her lead for a while. She’s getting old and doesn’t run off as far as she used to. She also wasn’t in the slightest bit interested in the view.

From the top of Bleaberry Fell we could see all of Keswick, Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake.

The descent down from the fell was fairly steep and icy in places, but then it levelled out again as we turned south back towards the car. However, there was a nasty sting in the tail, as the final section of path before we joined the road was again very steep and covered in ice. We all nearly fell over a number of times and we were happy to see Ashness Bridge once again.

I have to say that it was one of the best walks we’d been on, especially as it had been a last minute route decision. It was helped by the stunning conditions, which even though it was very cold, the views were some of the best we’re ever likely to see. Final distance was just over 9km, with 600m of climbing. Not an easy walk, but incredibly rewarding.

Keswick Parkrun

We have just returned from an amazing long weekend camping near Ambleside. The weather was stunning and there was a tarn next to the campsite which was perfect for swimming (Blog to follow very soon). It seemed a shame not to do a parkrun while we were there, and as we’d done Rothay parkrun in Ambleside at the start of the year, the only other parkrun that I’d not done nearby was Keswick.

The start was a few minutes walk away from the town centre, next to the swimming pool. There was plenty of parking, but it only took coins. Fortunately we found a small road with one space left with free parking. We had a little walk before the start, and Helen nearly had her legs taken out from under her when a runner went one side and his dog the other. Could have been much worse, although the runner didn’t seem to think that it was a problem and without even a ‘sorry’ he ran off.

A few minutes to 9 and the runners were directed to the start line, fastest runners first, for the out and back run along a disused railway line. The last passenger train left the station in March 1972.

The route was hillier than expected, with a steady incline all the way to the turn around point. The route was incredibly picturesque, with bridges and a tunnel, as well as an old man counting each runner as they past him. After the turn I picked up the pace a little, as did everyone else. I then also had an altercation with a man and a dog. The runner had an extendable lead which he had attached to his waist, and his dog was young and very excitable. I wasn’t the only runner to almost be tripped up by them.

As I neared the finish, my lovely wife cheered me on, although Nelly our Pointer didn’t seem too impressed. It wasn’t a parkrun route for her. I came in 32nd overall in a time of 21:48, which wasn’t too bad. The barcode scanner thought that I would be first in my age group. Way too slow for that. First in my age group was almost four minutes ahead of me. I must also thank my beautiful wife for looking after Nelly while I ran.

The three of us then had a walk into Keswick. On the way there was a small field with baby rabbits. Nelly was very interested in the baby rabbits. The baby rabbits weren’t worried about Nelly in the slightest.

In Keswick we found some much needed coffee, inhaled scrambled eggs, had a look at the lake and bought a small bottle of artisan spiced rum. A brilliant first morning of our little escape.

Blencathra

Yesterday I wrote about our little walk up Skiddaw last Saturday (read about it here), and as we were in the Lakes for two days, this blog is all about the Sunday.

After a great nights sleep in The Kings Arms Hotel, and an equally great breakfast we loaded up the car and headed off for a shorter walk from Goosewell Farm over Low Rigg. Unfortunately the road up to the farm was closed, so our back up plan was to walk some of Blencathra. I love how Alfred Wainwright didn’t really like the name Saddleback, so he used the ancient Cumbrian name of Blencathra instead. So many other people also preferred this name that on OS maps the hill is known as Saddleback or Blencathra.

We didn’t really have enough time to do a full loop, as I had to get back to Lancaster to take a shirt that didn’t fit back to M&S. I was at a work meeting in London the next day and wanted to look smart, hence buying a new shirt. I digress. We parked at the lower car park in Threlkeld, which was already full, and walked up over a trip trapping troll bridge on our way to Gategill. The path up Hall’s Fell looked easy to follow and we could see plenty of other walkers up in the distance.

The route was steep but manageable, until we neared Hall’s Fell Ridge, described as one of the finest routes up Blencathra. If we had done a little more research we would have read about an experienced walker who fell to his death only last year. There was one very exposed section near to start of the ridge which I’m not afraid to admit, scared the hell out of me. It reminded me of that time as a child when my Dad took me and my older sister to St. Paul’s Cathedral with the intention of going to the top. At the time it wasn’t open to the public, but my Dad knew someone who gave him the key. Up and up we climbed until we reached a metal walkway, which to my little seven year old eyes looked at least a million feet in the air. This added to the fact that the walkway was a metal grill and I could see through it, meant that there was no way on Earth that I was walking across it. My Dad couldn’t leave me so we all had to walk back down, much to the annoyance of my sister.

The walk back down Hall’s Fell was almost as hard as going up. You can see in the photo below how steep it was.

When we almost at the bottom a large group of walkers passed us on the way up. Rather them than me, and if Hall’s Fell Ridge is bad then the even worse Sharp Edge must be terrifying. Nelly was also happy to be back off the ridge, with a field devoid of sheep to have a quick scamper.

Of course, much like the previous day’s walk up Skiddaw, we’ll have to come back, although the longer loop via Blease Fell and Scales Fell will be the route we’ll take.

Oh, and I did change my shirt, Helen trimmed my beard, and I looked incredibly smart in old London town.

Skiddaw Little Man

I think me and my beautiful wife have been to the Lake District more times in the last three weeks than in the last three years, as we were there again at the weekend (Read about our recent adventures here, here and here). We cancelled a weekend away in Chester due to a possible closure of the M6, and instead grabbed a late deal away in a hotel in the middle of Keswick.

On the Saturday morning we set off nice and early and were in the Skiddaw car park by 10 am, which was already full. Cold but bright sunshine, perfect weather for a good long walk up one of the most iconic hills in the area. You can see from the photo below of the shepherds monument how nice the day was.

This is the Lake District, in January, and as we climbed higher we climbed into clouds. The wind blew harder as we climbed above the snow line. Despite how deserted it looks in the photo below, there were loads of people around. The path up is very easy to follow, and if we’d been off piste we would have turned around. There are plans for large maps in all of the car parks that people use for long walks, pointing out difficult or easy routes, in an aim to reduce the number of calls to mountain rescue.

We’re off to Iceland in a few weeks, so this was a perfect opportunity to test out our new thermals and walking boots. I’m pleased to say that both passed with flying colours. Warm and toasty all day, as was Nelly in her smart Barbour style jacket. She’s a bit of a softie and started to whimper a little as we reached the last section up to the top of Skiddaw.

The summit was cold and windy, so after a brief photo we hurried on down. We’d looked at the map before and decided to take a track off to the east which should bring us out at Skiddaw House, the highest hostel in Britain and 3.5 miles from the nearest road.

Unfortunately we managed to miss it, and where we were expecting to continue straight ahead was a very steep drop. The path we were on turned south until we joined a larger path which we surmised was the Cumbria Way. This section was amazing, with views across to Keswick and the hills beyond and easy walking. In no time we were back at the car park having done a very hilly 5 and a half mile walk.

Once we had checked into our hotel we studied the maps to try and work out where we had gone wrong, but it wasn’t until we were home and had uploaded our walk to Strava that the penny dropped. We’d actually climbed Skiddaw Little Man and not Skiddaw Big Man. The route that we had proposed would have added another 2 or 3 miles, but the conditions further on and higher up would have been much worse, so by luck we had done a really good, but safe walk. It also means that we’ll have to come back in the summer, maybe running some of it, or at least running the downhill sections.

After a shower we headed out in Keswick town to find some food. Every pub was packed, and every pub was also full of our four legged friends. It’s great to see that every pub and cafe, and many of the hotels have no problem allowing dogs. Back at the hotel we had another drink and started talking to an older couple who had two German Short Haired Pointers, who were larger than Nelly and very well behaved. We taken Nelly up to our room, but brought her down so that a fuss could be made of her. She is the best dog in the world.