The Lake District

We're back from a fantastic week spent walking climbing in The Lake District.  We were very lucky and didn't get the amount of rain that other places had last week.  My husband's father's family originally came from this area, but it was my first visit and I am totally smitten.  We went with our son, who had been asking for this trip for a couple of years.  Our daughter isn't an outdoors girl, so she didn't come with us.

We stayed in a cottage in Chapel Stile  

 and as soon as I had unpacked we stretched our legs with a walk up to Lingmoor.  

That lake in the background is Windermere.

 The next day we decided to walk to Bowfell and go over Crinkle Crags.

 That involved a lot of climbing,

 with a far amount of stops for snacks to keep us going.  I also took a flask of coffee, much to my son's amusement.

 Taking in the view from Crinkle Crags.  I believe that may be Windermere in the background again.

 We managed a spot of caching throughout the holiday, this one on Crinkle Crags.

 Crinkle Crags

 View of The Band - the start of our climb.

 Tuesday - a closer view of Windermere.

 We walked from Rydal Water

 to Rydal Cave, formed by quarrying.

 I think they were waiting for me to fall in! Ha, it didn't happen!

 We continued our walk onto Grasmere

 and a well deserved pint! :)

 Each evening we ended up in a pub.  My husband was very impressed with the pies!  If you are ever in Elterwater we can strongly recommend eating at The Britannia Inn.

Due to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee there were flags everywhere.

Even on our Marmite!

 Back at the cottage and only 3 days into our holiday and it looks like I had wore them out!! ;)

 I let them have a sleep until it was time for our evening climb to the summit of Latterbarrow, where one of the beacons were being lit to celebrate the Jubilee.  From here we could see other beacons in the area - Orrest Head, Old Man of Coniston and Scafell Pike.

 The next day the weather was due to turn slightly wetter, so we went for the big one - Scafell Pike, the highest point in England at 978m/3,209ft.  The day started out dry,

 but the cloud base lowered and visibility was only a few meters.

 We made it!  This was my main goal of the holiday, so we may be a little damp, but we were very happy to have reached to top.  Now all we had to do was get down!  Unfortunately due to the poor visibility we missed our path and took an alternative route down!

We completed our journey in 9 hours - not bad for complete novices, although I am in complete awe of the fell runners we saw.  Of course everywhere we went there were sheep.

Wednesday we had a slightly gentler day out!   Caching at Colwith Force

 and Cathedral Quarry.  

 And no trip to the Lake District would be complete without a visit to see Peter Rabbit.

Here he is in Mr McGregor's garden 

at Hill Top, the home of Beatrix Potter.

In nearby Hawkshead is the Beatrix Potter Gallery, in her husband's law offices, displaying some of her original drawings.

 We could see Latterbarrow from the churchyard at Hawkshead,

 so we decided to climb it again, this time in daylight.

 The amazing view halfway up

 and the view from the beacon site.

 Thursday was wet, but it made for a very atmospheric drive over Wrynose Pass and Hardknott Pass.

Three Shire Stones at Wrynose Pass.

 The remains of the Roman Hardknott Fort.

 Our final walk in The Lake District took us up Stickle Ghyll.

My son clowning around as usual; I have to put up with a lot of this! :)

A very picturesque walk beside the waterfalls to Stickle Tarn 

and onto Harrison Stickle.

We bagged 5 peaks - Lingmoor 196m/1,540ft, Bowfell 902m/2,959ft, Crinkle Crags 859m/2818m, Scafell Pike 978m/3,209ft and Harrison Stickle 736m/2,415ft and we want to go back again some day to do some more.