Lakes ‘21

 A blog to explore our impressions and the results of our road trip to the Lake District in September 2021. It is also a chance to try and kick the writer’s block that haunts me.

Neither of us have been to the Lakes before, so we marked the trip earlier this year as a replacement for a trip to Italy. We bought maps and got the guidebooks out, planning in bits and pieces… not much survived of the plan once we got there, but the process was fun! We’ve always used the world class Ordnance Survey 1:25000 maps for planning and walking, so we did things a little differently this time. For the road trip out and back we went with the OS 1:250,000 North of England road map, outlining the route and stops with highlighters, for the lakes on the road we had a Lakes 100 Map and for walking we used the excellent Harvey Superwalker 1:25000 maps, these contain detailed information for walkers and they’re waterproof as well as being very reasonable in way of price, brilliant!

Finally, Monday 27 September dawned and in a haze of anticipation we loaded up ‘Lottie, finding that the camera backpacks took up more space than the suitcase, on top of the usual comfort and survival gear that I carry in the Defender. We set off in occasional rain and cloud through the Wolds of the East Riding heading towards Thirsk and then Masham for breakfast. The long road across the top of the Dales to Ribblehead showed this place in gloomy and windy mood. We stopped at Ribblehead and donned our walking boots to approach this magnificent viaduct, as we walked the heavens burst soaking us in an instant; back to the ‘Lottie! Somewhat dampened in spirit we drove to Kirby Lonsdale to seek refreshment.

The delightful town of Kirby Lonsdale is sprawled on the side of a valley with beautiful views across the River Lune. Lunch was taken from a tiny doorway at the back of the brewery. Italian street food and excellent coffee refreshed us and the sun made an appearance for a wander through the town and down some ancient and extraordinarily steep, treacherous stairs.

Onwards to Cartmel! The hotel welcomed us and reiterated the warning that there was no chef or restaurant staff… on to the ‘phone to arrange dinner, of which there were no spaces at any eatery in the book. In hunger we swept out to Grange-over-Sands; which on close inspection appeared to be closed! Taking pot-luck in hand we headed to Allithwaite and there found a table in the bar of the Pheasant Inn and the best lamb shank that I’ve tasted in a very long while, luck had indeed served us well; and so to bed!

Tuesday began with an excellent breakfast to fortify us on our travels to Blea Tarn and thence to our accommodation in Toddell. But first, no English person can pass by Cartmel without stopping to buy the best sticky toffee pudding in existence! A pack of local bacon completed our shopping and we drove on North past the racecourse towards Alfred Wainwright’s Lakeland, after a stop in Newby Bridge for fuel… as an aside; although we had arranged our trip to coincide with a so-called fuel crisis, we always managed to find fuel whenever we wanted; even though garages are few and far between in the area, being mostly situated in the outlying towns.

Into the Lake District proper, we drove up through Coniston and caught our first tempting glimpses of lake and fell. We stopped for a wander in the tiny village of Elterwater which spans the River Brathay on its way into Elter Water. A tour through Chapel Stile and coffee stop in the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, some great young people from Liverpool were serving and were given some gentle steering on the making of espresso.

The continuing journey saw us heading over the single track road to Blea Tarn in the drizzle. This is where the awe-inspiring views really started to catch us at every turn. Blea Tarn is lovely and in the rain seemed extra moody, we moved around and captured different aspects of the tarn, tumbling streams and the fells as a backdrop. All too soon it was time to head for Toddell, I’d picked the route to take in Wrynose Pass followed by Hardknott Pass. Hardknott Pass is reputed to be the most difficult to drive in England, Sutton Chimney Bank in the North York Moors is second and we have driven that frequently. ‘Lottie, admirable steed that she is, took all in her stride and didn’t falter in any way, we were able to chuckle at the city lads in their rear-wheel-drive BMWs having to give it up.

Onwards to Toddell through driving rain and navigating by map, we stopped at a tiny local garage in the middle of nowhere for fuel and the friendly attendant gave us all the diesel we needed… and pump service too! We wandered past Wast Water and arrived at Toddell in the late afternoon. A long day on the road, but wonderful just the same. Chris, the Toddell Barn Airbnb owner was there to welcome us and show us over this beautiful barn conversion in the middle of absolute peace and quiet. This was to be our shelter for two nights and very pleasant it was too.

Eating out in Cockermouth was every bit as frustrating as Grange-over-Sands and we ended up with fish & chips, both of us in agreement that fish was better in Hull and that we should have brought Hull Chip Spice with us! We almost dared to ask for a Pattie but feared we’d be chased out of town.

On Wednesday we headed out early towards Buttermere for this was to be the main walking and photography day. The forecast was good, and we found a convenient (and free!) car park near the chapel in Buttermere. Enough room that we could cook bacon & eggs with fried bread, suitable sustenance for the walk ahead. Walking down through the farm towards the lake we encountered a cow and her new-born calf, still wet from birth and the placenta nearby, we were privileged to see it gaining confidence on wobbly legs.

As we rounded the north-western end of the lake, Sour Milk Ghyll could be seen in half spate… the first photographic opportunity came after a scramble over and around a rock. The potential of the beck could be seen, even if it was fairly gentle at the time, the sheer power was evident in the rocks that had been tumbled by previous spates.

As we wandered along the made path around Buttermere it became clear that in avoiding the holiday season and family trips, we had stumbled into the coach holiday season; the path became ever busier with visitors. Even so, we stopped for 20 minutes long lens photography looking east across the lake towards High Snockrigg and Lambing Knott. When we stopped for a brew on the return side of the lake near Crag Wood the path was becoming more of a motorway. My activity with stove for tea and relaxation with a pipe drew a tutting from one pensioner, who, when queried about her attitude, wasn’t prepared to stop and explain her concerns, but toddled off making best speed.

Shortly after our tea stop the path became more rugged for a kilometre or so, at one point taking a tunnel hewn 20 metres through stone and dripping shadow. The remainder of the walk was through woods to the farm in Buttermere and a stop at Syke Farm Tearoom and wonderful pastries, cakes and pies. An 8-kilometre walk on made tracks with only one moderate section was a wonderful introduction and instructional lesson about planning our next trip to the Lakes, advice from Chris at our Airbnb was to visit in late April or early May to avoid the worst of the crowds or in mid to late October… sage advice that we will use in our planning next time.

 Wednesday evening saw us in Cockermouth dining at the wonderful Fermento pizzeria, which was on its first night of dine-in restaurant service after lockdown. It is a super family run pizzeria with delightful service and great pizza, for aficionados of the pizza, it is worth a side trip to eat there!

Thursday saw us cleaning down and heading out before mid-morning. We were heading for Keswick via Honister Pass and past Derwentwater. Just after setting off, we saw the only red squirrel of the trip (spoiler alert!) admittedly it was only backend of red squirrel bouncing along the road before disappearing into a hedge, but a red squirrel nonetheless!

Keswick is definitely a tourist environment, worth a visit for the excellent George Fisher outdoor shop with the superb Darkroom gallery and coffee shop on the top floor mezzanine. There were plenty of quirky shops and it’s worth a visit for those, if only to discover how the other half live in the outdoor world, £175 for a pair of trousers made this honorary Yorkshireman shudder and grip his wallet tightly.

Having called ahead to find that a planned afternoon sailing session was cancelled because of the wind, we made tracks for Aira Force to see if we could spot the red squirrels that the area is renowned for, they’d heard that we were after them with cameras and, of course, they made themselves scarce! It was on to our evening stop at the 1863 restaurant with rooms in Pooley Bridge.

The room was very small, but it was made up for by the excellent meal. We had the taster menu and it was absolutely superb - more than justifying the reviews and the price, we ate Michelin star food and were pleasantly surprised by the bill at the end. This restaurant is well worth a side trip for those who enjoy their food, we brought our own good company.

On Friday our breakfast was hearty, and so we set off for home in good spirits and planning a simple route to join with our route out and follow that to Hull. We stopped at the renowned Tebay services on the M6, which is hosted by a local farmshop serving mainly local produce. This again is well worth the visit, for my money it is the best motorway service are on the British road network! We came away with Cambrian cheese and (Oh, wonder of wonders) mutton! Good Herdwick mutton, it is a meat I’ve longed to find in regular supply for curries and slow cooked roasts, it should be on the regular menu of every British household.

Retracing our route over the Yorkshire Dales, we stopped again in Kirby Lonsdale for coffee and a leg stretch before continuing on to photograph the Ribblehead Viaduct from the western viewpoint and lit by the sun. The layby proved to be very breezy so we didn’t linger, but headed on to Ripon for a late lunch and then home via Malton to unpack and catch up with family (and the laundry).

It was a short trip but packed with activity achieving the aim in the wider scheme if not the plan in detail. But then no plan survives the British weather and other factors. Neither of us have led (or now lead) a lifestyle that is conducive to relaxation and opportunities to “stand and stare…” so this is something that we tried to build in, the photography helps us achieve it and we are learning to get better at it.  Next time I’d like to spend longer with the chance to wild-camp, but just getting away from the crowds will need planning and care. The Lake District is one of the most beautiful places in Britain and therefore attracts the tourists, for those of us that don’t enjoy crowds and commercialised fun it can be difficult to get away in Britain, but here we managed it and if we head onto the lesser known fells we may make more of it, its worth a try for the beauty of this place.

Notes

·      We deliberately went ‘out of season’ to avoid hordes, in reality we hit the season of the coach party, which meant we still couldn’t get away from crowds without better planning and local knowledge;

·      We had to take pot-luck with eating in the evenings because everywhere that was still open had been booked up a long way ahead. Perhaps those coach parties? We did alright using pot-luck though;

·      Every town seemed to be closed on Monday and Tuesday so it was mainly the big supermarkets for vittles’.

New Beginnings

All beginnings start with an ending, in this case my retirement from the the Civil Service. As I let that door close behind me after the last twenty-two years in public service I needed something to occupy my mind. I had an abortive attempt to start a one-man drone survey business, but it became very clear that I am not an entrepreneur! As part of my re-education I had invested in a pair of drones and qualified as a drone pilot; then as lockdown bore down ever more heavily I had the bright idea of buying a camera to improve my photography skills to help with improving the drone photography.

I have had two cameras during my army service… both 35mm compact cameras of decent quality; Rollei and Olympus. They both came to grief in one way or another through service - the Rollei died in a bath of oil and petrol when I was rolled over in a Fox armoured car and ended upside down in the middle of a training area, I was gutted; that lovely camera had seen five years and a tour in Northern Ireland in my company. The Olympus that replaced it died in the mountains on an adventurous training expedition to Corsica. Not long before I left the Army I bought a Pentax SLR with a couple of lenses that taught me something of the exposure triangle and composition, at the cost of one photograph in fifty that were any good. That camera disappeared into the loft some years later with advent of compact digital camera technology that didn’t need much thought with so much automation..

So a love of photography that began in the army was reborn with the 2020 purchase of a Nikon D5500 and an 18-140mm kit lens! I struggled with focus on the camera and was disappointed with it, not that it was a bad camera, just that it didn’t seem to fit with me. A few months later I invested in a D7200 and started to really feel like I was making progress, so much so that I began to focus much more on photography. Combine this experience with the fact that it is so difficult (and expensive) to do anything serious with a drone business and leisure flying is very restricted, I’m sticking to photography and using the drone to photograph where I can.

For the future, I am aiming to create pleasing images for myself, if others like them and would like a print that would be brilliant, I’ll be happy to supply them. And who knows; a calendar, greetings cards, even a book may follow.