Tag: Lake District

Blencathra 09/07/18

One of my all time favourites, I decided it was time to take Evie up Blencathra for a picnic!!

Going up from Scales it’s never an easy start out of the car park going straight uphill. So paused for a cute picture

We got to the summit but Evie was still sleeping so I decided to walk along the saddle to Knowe Crags.

Evie then woke up so we did some tummy time!! This allowed Evie to take in the view!

Took a selfie!!

Then after the picnic headed down via Scales Tarn as it looked so beautiful!

Another gorgeous day for a walk.

High Rigg – 15/06/18

A blustery day meant a low(ish) level walk was desirable, so Lou & me decided on High Rigg.

Parking near the church up St Johns-in-the-vale there is very little up, so it didn’t take long to reach our summit!

There are still lovely views from this peak

Then it’s quite a rocky descent down the far side of the Rigg. So need to be careful underfoot (especially when you can’t see your feet!).

After that it’s a flatish path along the base of the Rigg, although somehow I managed a big trip on the flat section. This then required a stop in a conveniently placed friendly family run cafe to soothe Evie, before heading along the path back to the car.

A glorious October day

We woke to a beautiful sunrise and a forecasted amazing day.

How to make the most of it (apart from drying 3 loads of washing?!).

I decided to get out the bike and Chariot and cycle us to Penrith to get the food shopping and, most importantly, take Evie to Rattle and Drum, a session she seems to love.

Even better, whilst I was enjoying the biking and the colours, she had two good morning sleeps!

Then (after more washing), I met up with Jess and her Osh, and we walked along Haweswater to the Forces.

We had a nice picnic and I believe the bubas enjoy each other’s company, Evie slightly frustrated that she can’t yet walk to chase Osh around. A great place to enjoy the autumn colours and listen to the deer rutting.

Then onwards, we said bye to Jess & Osh and Tim came and met us at Pooley Bridge for an amazing sunset.

He and Evie chilled

I swam (brrrrr – getting cold in there)

And then after a lot of excitement in one day, it was time for home, bath and tea!

Haweswater lakeside path

With just a couple of hours to get some fresh air and not the weather for going up, the path along Haweswater from Burnbanks often hits the spot. And at this time of year the colours are beautiful even when the weather isn’t!

All prepped in warmth and waterproof, we are now very much into using the rucksack

However, I’m finding I need to use different muscles (my glutes +++) to the sling so we are steadily building back up again with distance and inclines. This path is again perfect for that, as it gently undulates with beautiful views.

Today we only went to a bit beyond the forces

Enough to see the tops were in cloud anyway (always makes turning around easier!)

And home for tea as we now need to think about actual food for Evie….. life is moving on too rapidly!

Swimming on a cool & windy autumn day

Summer has definitely cleared of, but the desire to continue swimming in the Lakes hasn’t!

However the days of just going to the lake have gone as now I need to follow in the steps of my friends and organise my swims around my baby. So today this meant going with someone happy to look after Evie whilst I swam, and then swap!

You would think this happy little bundle wouldn’t mind me going for a dip, especially when she had Josie as a doting babysitter!

However, hopefully just a ‘stage’, but apparently she cried for most of the time I swam….

Back to shore and a very quick change (it’s got cold) before consoling an upset Evie whilst trying to warm up.

But once she realised I was back to stay it was all smiles again! We all squeezed in to the much needed pop up wind shelter (I think I need one of these in my life) for a picnic

And it was laughs and giggles once more

Then sadly time for home, what a lovely way to spend a day, getting stupidly cold and catching up with friends!

Knipe Scar- a locals gem

I have been going up Knipe Scar, from Bampton or Bampton Grange, since I was a little girl. It’s a great hill if you want one a small one to do when carrying a baby. It doesn’t take long to get up, yet you know you have done some exercise getting up it, and it has fantastic views from the top.

There are a number of ways to get to the top, but from the knipe road beyond Bampton Grange, this signpost takes you up a guaranteed wet path!

Its a fairly steep ascent towards the top, the path winds through the bracken to the left of the stone wall.

From the top you can see south to the Howgills, across to Haweswater and High Street and over to Blencathra in the distance (Scotland on a very clear day)

Once again Evie bean missed the glorious views!

The limestone scar on top is where you need to be careful that monsters don’t jump out of the cracks as you are playing on them!

There is also a stone circle up here, but didn’t have time on this day to go & see it.

Making it a circuit, you go down the steep side towards Knipe, then cross the Knipe road to the rather fun wibbly wobbly bridge (but be careful of the trolls that live in the pipes!)

Then back along the river to Bampton, which often has beautiful reflections to enjoy as you wander back along it .

Tarn Crag and Sergeant Man – 11/06/18

Meeting up with my Swim-Run pal Alex just outside of Grasmere, we decided to go for a Walk-Swim seeing as currently I’m not running, certainly not with Evie and a rucksack! The first part of the day was a repeat on one of our training runs three summers ago.

We set off up to Easedale Tarn at a considerably slower pace than in previous years. But the Tarn itself just as beautiful as we took it in turns to have a swim and look after Evie. It was such a hot day that we didn’t need to worry about being cold after the swims.

Continued upwards to Codale Tarn for a spot of lunch and another swim, also gorgeous. From here we considered our options and decided to go up to Tarn Crag, as it was the least likely summit to get to again without considerable effort.

Cracking views from here, we decided to keep onwards and do a circle over Sergeant Man as we had plenty of day left. It took a bit longer to traverse over the rough ground than expected and up to Sergeant Man.

However we finally made it. At this point I could happily have kept going except we had a time to get back for.

What we / I hadn’t anticipated was the time it would take me to get down with this load on!

The terrain was tough in sections, some really rocky sections to get down.

Then Evie needed feeding and changing…..

But we finally made it – an epic 7 hour fell day!

Arnison Crag 09/06/18

I was in Patterdale visiting a friend and thought I’d sneak in a cheeky walk whilst there.

Arnison Crag was not the walk I planned to do, I had meant to go up St Sunday Crag (much higher, in hindsight wouldn’t have got there). No matter how many times I looked at the map, it turns out I ended up on the wrong path. I didn’t work this out till later in the evening, asking for confirmation from some of my fell boff friends.

But the path went up (steeply) and the views were good!

It was slightly scrambly to actually sit on the summit (probably wouldn’t think twice about it if I wasn’t carrying a baby on my front).

And as I sat there, the thunder was booming and then I felt something I hadn’t felt in many weeks…. a big fat raindrop!

So Evie’s new piece of kit, the BundleBean, came out and I figured out how to put it on. Thankfully very easily.

Given the turn in the weather I made as rapid a decent as I could and wound my way through some beautiful woods at the bottom.

Which popped you out behind the pub in Patterdale.

Not the walk I planned, but a lovely one. And as it turned out a good one given the weather.

Nab Scar and Heron Pike 08/06/18

I had hoped to get up to Great Rigg today and do a loop. But I set off too late and had also arranged to meet Tim in Grasmere, so I had to settle for a there and back walk.

Setting off up the ridge is a very steep and stepped walk, which went on and on. However, another gorgeous day meant I could just stop and enjoy the foxgloves and the thousands of iridescent blue dragonflies flying around.

Stopping regularly also do enjoy the view as it got increasingly better

And then a nice platform for lunch, where Evie could have a wriggle and we could both feed.

Before continuing on upwards whilst Evie continued her all important sleeping !

Rather nicely, I’d had a text off my friend Salka, who was also in the area, so she chased me up the hill and we strolled on up to reach Heron Pike, the continuation of the ridge.

It was tough to turn around on such an amazing day, but cake was called at Greens Cafe, which do fabulous gluten free cakes. Tim wanted some daddy daughter cuddles and we got to end the day with a refreshing swim in Rydal Water and more blue dragonflies.

Walla Crag – 27/05/18

One of our favourites and a special place to. We parked in the Keswick streets as always, but because it had taken so long to get out the house, and breakfast seemed a long time in the past, we didn’t get beyond the cafe at the bottom of Walla Crag without first justifying an ice-cream before starting the up!!

The up we went, steady away with the climb. Gorgeous view on yet another gorgeous day.

We headed back down Cat Gill, which as a bit of a rocky scramble path, is no mean feat with a baby strapped to your front in a sling! It’s amazing how much we must look at our feet without realising, which meant being super careful.

A respite from the sun walking back through Great Wood and down to the shores of Derwent Water. Or as it was on this day ‘Costa del Derwent’. Having carried my cossie with us, I enjoyed brief swim to cool off.

Refreshed we headed into Keswick to get me an early birthday present. I needed a bigger rucksack to continue with the Wainwrights!