Posts Tagged ‘cumbria’

Caravan & Campsites in Keswick

Friday, March 5th, 2010

List of camping and caravan parks in Keswick, in the heart of the English Lake district

High Street

Monday, March 30th, 2009

High Street from Mardale Head, is a challenging walk and in my opinion is one of the best walks I have ever done in the English Lake District. Starting from the free car park at Mardale Head at the top of Haweswater Reservoir, walking up Rough Crag & Eagle Crag which is famous as been the home of the only nesting Golden Eagle in England & Wales. Then the last climb up Long Stile to the summit, with on a clear day you can see fantastic views of the Helvellyn range
Snow on the mountains

New Year in the Lakes

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008

We spent 3 days in the lakes celebrating the New Year with friends. We stayed at our favourite B&B, the Ellergill in Stanger Street in Keswick, over the days we walked around Derwentwater lake and on one of them we ended up walking round the back of Skiddaw to Skiddaw house. One of the my photos is a view looking to Helvellyn with snow on its peak, with the other being Skiddaw house Youth Hostel  which was well know to Alfred Wainwright. Skiddaw house is a century-old cottage, formerly used by shepherds & gamekeepers. It is nearly 1550 feet above sea level and 3 miles from the nearest road. It was opened in May 1991 to provide simple accomodation for  hill walkers & cyclists, and after a period of closure, mainly due to the Foot and Mouth outbreak problem, it has now re-opened to offer the user a unique accommodation experience located in the shadow of Skiddaw

photo of helvellyn

photo of skiddaw house

The Big One – Ben Nevis

Monday, September 24th, 2007

21st September 2007 we traveled for 7 hours to our base at Glen Nevis camping and caravanning site at the foot of Ben Nevis. At 4406ft or 1344m, Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the UK.

Close to Fort William, and the accessibility of the path from Glen Nevis means that tens of thousands of walkers climb Ben Nevis each year. If you decide to join the crowds, remember that this is a serious undertaking and dress for the mountain and not for the valley.

The walk took approx four hours up and three hours down, the weather was again poor and we were all exhausted by the time we had finished and truly deserved our reward at the end. The picture below shows the view up from the camp site although the mountain can not be seen beacuse of poor visabilty.

ben-nevis1

The picture below shows our tents on the site with the start of the asent in the distance.

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The two photos below are of our trip through Glencoe on our way to Fort William and Ben Nevis. The waters which spill from the top of these high mountains and give rise to a series of beautiful waterfalls that gather initially at the Meeting of the Three Waters to form the River Coe. Less than a mile lower down stream, at the very heart of Glencoe, the river widens briefly to form Loch Achtriochtan, a great place to view the entire glen.
ben-nevis3

When you visit the highlands you will be greeted by some outstanding mountain scenery with fantastic views of the Scottish glens & lochs. You will not be disappointed
ben-nevis4

Caravan Holiday day 6 – Buttermere

Friday, September 7th, 2007

Photograph of Butteremere Lake
ButtermereThe last day of our holiday – gutted. We were depressed with the thought of going home, so it was just a short walk around Buttermere lake, the classic combination of lakes and mountains has made this popular with visitors since the beginning of tourism in the English Lake District. A visit to Buttermere is principally for its natural attractions – as the area offers some of the best walking country in Cumbria. There is a path around the perimeter of the lake, and great walks to the summits of Haystacks and Red Pike.

Caravan Holiday day 4 – Wordsworth

Friday, September 7th, 2007

Rest day – Not , our good ladies had arranged a day out visiting Dove Cottage the home for a number of years for William Wordsworth. It was’nt as boring as first seemed, and turned out to be a fascinating insight into Wordsworth, his family and friends. Their is also a Wordsworth Museum in Grassmere with some of the nation’s greatest treasures from the age of Romanticism including original manuscripts, eighteenth and nineteenth century local landscapes, portraits of Wordsworth, his contemporaries and family processions.
dove-cottage
Ann & Paula outside the 400 year old Dove Cottage

Caravan Holiday day 3 – Scarfell Pike

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

The Big One the ! 3206 feet above sea level (Englands highest mountain) lads back at TGS would be proud of us . We started our walk from Seathwaite farm, then crossing Stockley Bridge turning left and following the path to Esk Hause, then onto Scarfell Pike. Visibility was good and the view from the top was a just reward for all of our effort. We returned to Seathwaite farm via the corridor route passing fantastic views of Great Gable and Napes Needle.
scarfell
Photograph taken from the summit of Scarfell Pike

Caravan Holiday day 2 – St. John in the Vale

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

On day two of our holiday we put on our walking boots and had a leisurely stroll to the church of St. John in the Vale then after looking around this lovely old church which can trace its orgins back to the 1500’s we then made our way along to Highrigg and then onto the Kings Head Inn at Thirlspot for our lunch
st-johns
Picture of Amy, Fiona & Ann outside of St. John in the Vale Church

Caravan Holiday day 1 – Castle Crag

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

The last week in August we spent a weeks walking holiday staying in a caravan at Dalebottom Farm, just outside of Keswick. Unlike the rest of this summer the weather was fine most days giving us a chance to do a lot of walking with some fantastic views of the Lake District. Our first day was spent walking from Rosthwaite to the summit of Castle Crag. Caste Crag is a North Western fell and the smallest ‘Wainwright’ in the Pictorial Guides. At just 951 feet high, (the only Wainwright below 1,000 feet) it could be assumed to be an easy climb, particularly as there is a lot of low level walking from the edge of Derwentwater and through the valleys of Borrowdale. However, Castle Crag has steep faces and imposing crags, and a sharp ascent to the grass-covered summit where there are excellent views of the Borrowdale Valley.

After our walk to Castle Crag we returned to our Caravan for a Barbecue to celebrate the birthday of one of our friends, what a great start to our holidays.

keswick
the above photograph was taken from the top of Castle Crag looking to keswick & Skiddaw in the distance

Helvellyn from Thirlspot

Tuesday, August 7th, 2007

photo of Kings Head Inn and caravans at Thirlspot
just back from one nights camping in the lake district. We camped on a small farm next to the Kings Head Inn at Thirlspot near Keswick. We took the old pony route as described in Wainwrights Pictorial Guide book 1. Straight up from the back of the farm to the top of white side which is 2600 feet of ascent. We walked from there along to Lower Man and then onto the top of Helvellyn which is 3118 feet high the 3rd highest peak in the Lake District. The weather was again not kind to us and visabilty was low which spoilt any view from the top but our waterproofs kept us dry. We stopped at the wall shelter at the summit for a rest and our lunch. We then carried on down over Browncove Crags down the staircase route and back along to Thirlspot. This walk took aprox 5 hours to complete from start to finish