OUR 2014 CAMPING HOLIDAY IN THE LAKE DISTRICT
On Sunday the 17th August 2014 we set off at 0030 hours to drive through the night to Fisherground Campsite in Eskdale which is in the South West of the Lake District, this was to be our home for the next 10 days.
We were not due to check into the campsite until 11am but arrived in Eskdale around 8am, and the weather was awful, with high winds and heavy rain. We drove through Eskdale towards Hard Knott pass and came to the The Woolpack Inn which is a bed and breakfast and whose doors appeared to be open. My wife decided to try her luck and see if they were open to serve passers by a breakfast, we had struck lucky, and were invited in.
Ronnie, Kelly, and I all tucked in to a full cooked breakfast each, while Leyla went for pancakes. After our very much needed and welcomed breakfast we drove down to the campsite and asked if we could set up a bit earlier than we were expected as the rain had stopped and we wanted to set up before it rained again. For a small fee, we were allowed to do so. We got off to a good start, but then the wind and rain returned with a vengence, and this made setting the tent up a challenge, but as you can see from the photo below we didn't do too badly!
We elected to spend the rest of Sunday letting the kids explore the campsite and play in the park which is on the campsite, while I set off to Egremont to find the Co-op to do a food shop.
Monday 18th August was an early start for Ronnie and I as we were off to climb Coniston Old Man which was just under an hours drive from our campsite. Leaving Eskdale around 7am we arrived in Coniston at just before 8am, allowing us to start our walk from near The Sun Inn at 8:12am and aiming to take the Tourist Route up Coniston Old Man.
We had been rewarded for our early start with some lightly clouded skies and bright sunshine which made the uphill walk more bearable as the scenery was very impressive. Ronnie and I stopped for drinks and snacks twice on the way up, and had a deal that we would not do any exploring on the way up but would explore on the way down.
This photo shows Ronnie about two thirds of the way up and heading for the summit:
Having set off early we only saw one other group going up with us, and that was a nice man and his three children who we met up with at the summit and took photos for each other. He took this rather nice photo of Ronnie and I on the summit:
The photo below shows Ronnie stopping off on the way down from the summit to explore the disused quarry and some of the now ruined buildings and machinery.
The data recorded on my Garmin during our walk showing our route, time taken, and elevation can be seen here.
When Ronnie and I returned to the campsite, he and Leyla spent the afternoon playing in the park on the campsite. I had a catch up with my wife Kelly who told me about the walk that her and Leyla had been on around Eskdale during the morning.
Tuesday 19th August saw us having a slightly slower start to the day, but that belied just how busy a day it was to become.
In the morning Ronnie and Leyla spent three hours doing rock climbing in Eskdale with West Lakes Adventure who put on a great session for a group of 10 people. All those on the activity got plenty of climbing time on the rock face, as there were three people climbing at most times. The pictures below show Ronnie and Leyla enjoying their climbing.
Having had a quick lunch after finishing their rock climbing, we jumped in the car and headed for Little Langdale. When we arrived at Little Langdale we parked at the Three Shires Inn, where Kelly would spend the afternoon having a quiet drink or two while reading her kindle as Ronnie, Leyla, and I went for a walk.
Our walk for the afternoon was to the now defunct Cathedral Quarry and the main highlight of the walk, the main chamber known as Cathedral Cave. When you arrive at the quarry there are signs telling you that the area is dangerous and that you enter at your own risk, so with headtorches and hand torches at the ready we went in! The kids loved it, we climbed up to the main chamber and were in awe at the size of the main chamber, before we climbed up to find the now disused mine shafts which were able to explore until we reaced the point at which they are sealed off. Walking down the mine shafts in the pitch black with headtorches on was something the children really enjoyed.
After looking around the caves and mine shafts, we walked back to the Three Shires Inn and joined Kelly for a well earned drink before heading back to the campsite for dinner.
On Wednesday 20th August we were again setting off fairly early, this time for the 1 hour drive to Keswick. I was to drop Ronnie and Kelly in the town for a days shopping while Leyla and I would drive on to Little Town where we would park the car before heading up Catbells.
Leyla and I had been blessed with another good morning in terms of the weather, so set off at a nice gentle pace from Little Town. The path started off quite gentle before getting harder on a hill of rocks and stone. Having taken a couple of drink and snack breaks we made our way to the summit where we enjoyed a packed lunch and had our photos taken.
Having had our lunch, and taken our photos, we made our way gently down to the car and headed into Keswick to join up with Kelly and Ronnie for some tea, cake, and shopping before heading back to the campsite.
The data for our walk up Catbells that was recorded on my Garmin showing our route, time taken, and elevation can be seen here.
On Thursday 21st August we had a slow and gentle start to the day as we had nothing planned or booked for the morning. This was quite fortunate as the weather was pretty horrid Thursday morning, so we let Ronnie and Leyla play on the campsite between the rain showers, or do some colouring in a playing in the tent.
After lunch we were off to Wastwater as Ronnie and Kelly were booked to do Canoeing with West Lakes Adventure from 2pm until 5pm. Having dropped them off for canoeing, Leyla and I shot to Fell View Garage in Eskdale Green as both my rear brake lights needed replacing and I didn't have the tools with me that were required.
Having had the lights repaired we went back to Wastwater and watched the canoeing while also having a little wander and explore around the lake before the weather really got nasty. The wind, rain, and what seemed like hail stones came down in abundance, but this did not ruin the afternoon for Kelly and Ronnie who both thoroughly enjoyed their canoeing session and are now talking about buying a canoe.
Once we were back at the campsite the weather improved massively so we all had dinner, then bought ice creams off the ice cream van, and allowed Ronnie and Leyla to play in the play park on the campsite.
Friday 22nd August saw some very nice weather for most of the day, which was good as we had lots planned again. We were able to have a slow start to the day allowing Ronnie and Leyla to play in the park before we headed down to West Lakes Adventure for our final visit of this holiday as Ronnie and Leyla were booked in to do Archery from 11am until 1230pm. There were only four children booked on to this session, and with 3 targets in use it meant that each child was able to have lots and lots of goes while also receiving lots of friendly help and tips from the instructor.
After a quick lunch at the campsite the four of us headed to Coniston as on Wednesday I had told Leyla she could have a treat if she reached the summit of Catbells and she chose to hire a rowing boat.
When we arrived at Coniston we parked down by Coniston Boating Centre where we enquired about hiring a rowing boat. With Kelly not feeling too good, Ronnie, Leyla, and I hired a rowing boat for two hours and headed out on to Coniston Water. The weather was ok for the most part, although we did get wet when a passing shower came over.
This was a lovely way to spend an afternoon, taking a slow and gentle row around parts of Coniston Water, after which we popped to the Co-op in Coniston to stock up on supplies, and then bought our tea from the fish and chip shop in Coniston before heading back to the campsite.
Saturday 23rd August was an early start for all four of us, setting the alarm for 6.30am. Kelly and Leyla were off to spend the morning visiting the shops of Ambleside while Ronnie and I were to tackle Helvellyn!
Having dropped Kelly and Leyla in Ambleside at just after 8am, Ronnie and I drove on to Wythburn Church by Thirlmere. At 8.50am Ronnie and I set off from the car park for the summit of Helvellyn, the path starts off steep, and doesn't get any easier until about 3/4 of the way to the summit.
Whilst the gradient was steep for most of the way up, I found the paths to be easier to walk on that those of Consiton Old Man earlier in the week. Ronnie and I stopped twice on the way up, once after about 30 minutes, and again after another 30 minutes of walking.
We were not due to check into the campsite until 11am but arrived in Eskdale around 8am, and the weather was awful, with high winds and heavy rain. We drove through Eskdale towards Hard Knott pass and came to the The Woolpack Inn which is a bed and breakfast and whose doors appeared to be open. My wife decided to try her luck and see if they were open to serve passers by a breakfast, we had struck lucky, and were invited in.
Ronnie, Kelly, and I all tucked in to a full cooked breakfast each, while Leyla went for pancakes. After our very much needed and welcomed breakfast we drove down to the campsite and asked if we could set up a bit earlier than we were expected as the rain had stopped and we wanted to set up before it rained again. For a small fee, we were allowed to do so. We got off to a good start, but then the wind and rain returned with a vengence, and this made setting the tent up a challenge, but as you can see from the photo below we didn't do too badly!
We elected to spend the rest of Sunday letting the kids explore the campsite and play in the park which is on the campsite, while I set off to Egremont to find the Co-op to do a food shop.
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| Our tent, not bad seeing as it was set up in dreadful conditions! |
We had been rewarded for our early start with some lightly clouded skies and bright sunshine which made the uphill walk more bearable as the scenery was very impressive. Ronnie and I stopped for drinks and snacks twice on the way up, and had a deal that we would not do any exploring on the way up but would explore on the way down.
This photo shows Ronnie about two thirds of the way up and heading for the summit:
Having set off early we only saw one other group going up with us, and that was a nice man and his three children who we met up with at the summit and took photos for each other. He took this rather nice photo of Ronnie and I on the summit:
The photo below shows Ronnie stopping off on the way down from the summit to explore the disused quarry and some of the now ruined buildings and machinery.
The data recorded on my Garmin during our walk showing our route, time taken, and elevation can be seen here.
When Ronnie and I returned to the campsite, he and Leyla spent the afternoon playing in the park on the campsite. I had a catch up with my wife Kelly who told me about the walk that her and Leyla had been on around Eskdale during the morning.
Tuesday 19th August saw us having a slightly slower start to the day, but that belied just how busy a day it was to become.
In the morning Ronnie and Leyla spent three hours doing rock climbing in Eskdale with West Lakes Adventure who put on a great session for a group of 10 people. All those on the activity got plenty of climbing time on the rock face, as there were three people climbing at most times. The pictures below show Ronnie and Leyla enjoying their climbing.
Having had a quick lunch after finishing their rock climbing, we jumped in the car and headed for Little Langdale. When we arrived at Little Langdale we parked at the Three Shires Inn, where Kelly would spend the afternoon having a quiet drink or two while reading her kindle as Ronnie, Leyla, and I went for a walk.
Our walk for the afternoon was to the now defunct Cathedral Quarry and the main highlight of the walk, the main chamber known as Cathedral Cave. When you arrive at the quarry there are signs telling you that the area is dangerous and that you enter at your own risk, so with headtorches and hand torches at the ready we went in! The kids loved it, we climbed up to the main chamber and were in awe at the size of the main chamber, before we climbed up to find the now disused mine shafts which were able to explore until we reaced the point at which they are sealed off. Walking down the mine shafts in the pitch black with headtorches on was something the children really enjoyed.
Ronnie and Leyla head down into a mine shaft in the above photo. The torches and the flash on my phone do a great job of lighting up the tunnel for the photo as it is actually pitch black in here.
In the photo below you get an idea of the sheer size of the main chamber known as Cathedral Cave as Ronnie and Leyla are photographed having a look around.
After looking around the caves and mine shafts, we walked back to the Three Shires Inn and joined Kelly for a well earned drink before heading back to the campsite for dinner.
On Wednesday 20th August we were again setting off fairly early, this time for the 1 hour drive to Keswick. I was to drop Ronnie and Kelly in the town for a days shopping while Leyla and I would drive on to Little Town where we would park the car before heading up Catbells.
Leyla and I had been blessed with another good morning in terms of the weather, so set off at a nice gentle pace from Little Town. The path started off quite gentle before getting harder on a hill of rocks and stone. Having taken a couple of drink and snack breaks we made our way to the summit where we enjoyed a packed lunch and had our photos taken.
The above photo shows the rocky hill that we had to make our way up, while the photo below shows Leyla and I on the summit.
Having had our lunch, and taken our photos, we made our way gently down to the car and headed into Keswick to join up with Kelly and Ronnie for some tea, cake, and shopping before heading back to the campsite.
The data for our walk up Catbells that was recorded on my Garmin showing our route, time taken, and elevation can be seen here.
On Thursday 21st August we had a slow and gentle start to the day as we had nothing planned or booked for the morning. This was quite fortunate as the weather was pretty horrid Thursday morning, so we let Ronnie and Leyla play on the campsite between the rain showers, or do some colouring in a playing in the tent.
After lunch we were off to Wastwater as Ronnie and Kelly were booked to do Canoeing with West Lakes Adventure from 2pm until 5pm. Having dropped them off for canoeing, Leyla and I shot to Fell View Garage in Eskdale Green as both my rear brake lights needed replacing and I didn't have the tools with me that were required.
Having had the lights repaired we went back to Wastwater and watched the canoeing while also having a little wander and explore around the lake before the weather really got nasty. The wind, rain, and what seemed like hail stones came down in abundance, but this did not ruin the afternoon for Kelly and Ronnie who both thoroughly enjoyed their canoeing session and are now talking about buying a canoe.
The photo above shows the group of canoeists heading off at the start of their session, while the photo below shows the lake lookig towards Wasdale Head after the bad weather had moved in.
Once we were back at the campsite the weather improved massively so we all had dinner, then bought ice creams off the ice cream van, and allowed Ronnie and Leyla to play in the play park on the campsite.
Friday 22nd August saw some very nice weather for most of the day, which was good as we had lots planned again. We were able to have a slow start to the day allowing Ronnie and Leyla to play in the park before we headed down to West Lakes Adventure for our final visit of this holiday as Ronnie and Leyla were booked in to do Archery from 11am until 1230pm. There were only four children booked on to this session, and with 3 targets in use it meant that each child was able to have lots and lots of goes while also receiving lots of friendly help and tips from the instructor.
Both photos show Ronnie and Leyla enjoying their archery session.
After a quick lunch at the campsite the four of us headed to Coniston as on Wednesday I had told Leyla she could have a treat if she reached the summit of Catbells and she chose to hire a rowing boat.
When we arrived at Coniston we parked down by Coniston Boating Centre where we enquired about hiring a rowing boat. With Kelly not feeling too good, Ronnie, Leyla, and I hired a rowing boat for two hours and headed out on to Coniston Water. The weather was ok for the most part, although we did get wet when a passing shower came over.
This was a lovely way to spend an afternoon, taking a slow and gentle row around parts of Coniston Water, after which we popped to the Co-op in Coniston to stock up on supplies, and then bought our tea from the fish and chip shop in Coniston before heading back to the campsite.
Saturday 23rd August was an early start for all four of us, setting the alarm for 6.30am. Kelly and Leyla were off to spend the morning visiting the shops of Ambleside while Ronnie and I were to tackle Helvellyn!
Having dropped Kelly and Leyla in Ambleside at just after 8am, Ronnie and I drove on to Wythburn Church by Thirlmere. At 8.50am Ronnie and I set off from the car park for the summit of Helvellyn, the path starts off steep, and doesn't get any easier until about 3/4 of the way to the summit.
Ronnie heading on up Helvellyn
Whilst the gradient was steep for most of the way up, I found the paths to be easier to walk on that those of Consiton Old Man earlier in the week. Ronnie and I stopped twice on the way up, once after about 30 minutes, and again after another 30 minutes of walking.
Ronnie enjoying the view over Thirlmere during one of our breaks.
Ronnie and I on the summit of Helvellyn, Englands 3rd highest mountain.
When Ronnie and I reached the summit of Helvellyn we were rewarded with magnificent views due to the fine weather. Due to the early start of our walk, there only about half a dozen others on the summit when we got there, one of whom was on his mountain bike having cycled up, and was preparing to cycle down again but before he did so he took the photo above of Ronnie and I.
After taking our photos, Ronnie and I sat against the stone shelter just below the summit cairns and enjoyed a bite to eat and a drink before starting our descent. The descent was a lot easier on the legs, and we enjoyed the views during our drinks breaks, as well as having a couple of conversations with walkers that were heading up to the summit.
When Ronnie and I returned to our car we ate our lunch, and then headed to Ambleside to join Kelly and Leyla in a coffee shop to exchange stories of our mornings, and then have a look around the shops before heading back to our campsite.
You'd think that the mornings walk up Helvellyn and an afternoon around the shops of Ambleside would have worn Ronnie out, but now. He and Leyla enjoyed a lovely evenings weather playing in the park on the campsite as can be seen in the pictures below:
Sunday 24th August saw us visit Muncaster Castle as they had a history week going on, and today it was a "War Of The Roses" day.
Unfortunately Kelly was really not well today, so we left her on the campsite and made our way to Muncaster Castle for 1030am. When we arrived it was still fairly quiet with not many visitors yet present, so we made our way down to where some tents had been set up on a large lawn area. Ronnie headed straight for the armory tent, and due to the quiet start to the morning, he was able to enjoy almost 45 minutes of uninterrupted 1 on 1 tuition on swords, axes, billhooks, and armour from some of the actors:
We enjoyed looking at the armory tent, the chemists tent, the bed chamber, the kitchen, and playing skittles and throwing horse shoes. We then made our way to another large lawned area where we sat down and enjoyed watching some battle re-enactments, and I was surprised at how hard those involved actually went at each other, they weren't holding back!
After watching the actors have their battles, the children were invited onto the lawn to be trained by the captain. The kids really enjoyed this, practicing their marching, and presenting of arms, and wheeling in line, before playing medieval dodge ball.
After this we went and had a look around the owl centre where there were plenty of owls on display for us to look at. We then went back to the tented area where Ronnie and Leyla helped make a Roman mosaic out of card and glue with the people from the Romans In Ravenglass project. Ronnie enjoyed chatting about the Romans with one of the ladies, and was intrigued by the Roman shoes.
Then we went to the lawn area again as there was a magician doing tricks, and there were juggling balls, clubs, and other things for the children to have a go at using, this took up nearly an hour as Ronnie and Leyla tried everything.
We finished our visit by letting Ronnie and Leyla enjoy a husky pulled cart ride:
We spent the evening on the campsite, letting Ronnie and Leyla play in the park with the other children and letting them stay up late as it was a nice evening. We also had another session of toasting marshmallows on the campfire, this was becoming a regular occurrence.
Monday 25th August saw us have a lazy morning on the campsite as we had not pencilled anything in for the morning. At lunchtime we headed off to Bootle for the Black Combe Country Fair. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and spent most of the afternoon there despite the extremely strong winds. We enjoyed watching the whippet racing, the falconry display where the children got to have a bird fly to their hand, the gun dog display, we looked at the vintage vehicles, sampled lots of honey, looked at the craft displays, decorated bisuits, made kites, coloured in a beagle, and went on the bouncy castle, and more.
The two photos below show Ronnie having a Barn Owl fly to his hand, while Leyla is posing with a Harris Hawk that had just flown onto her hand.
After the country fair it was time for what was to be a very windy night on the campsite. The wind really got up, and there were almost continuous gusts of gale force wind which made sleeping in the tent interesting.
Tuesday 26th August, our last day on holiday. Ronnie and I had planned to attempt to reach the summit of Scafell Pike today, but there was still a continuous 30mph wind with regular gusts of 60mph, so Ronnie asked if we could not do it. Instead we went for a walk above Eskdale and Dalegarth, enjoying some stunning scenery:
We finished our walk by walking to the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway station "Dalegarth for Boot". Here we bought our tickets, and travelled to Ravenglass to meet up with Leyla and Kelly who had spent the morning riding on the trains. Having let the children enjoy some play time in the park, as well as treating them to milkshakes and toasted tea cakes Leyla was really pleased to see that we would be riding back to our campsite being pulled by "Thomas" (it was actually the Wroxham Broad but Leyla thinks it was Thomas the tank engine). Both Ronnie and Leyla were lucky enough to experience sitting in the drivers cab whilst in Ravenglass station and talking to the driver about how the train worked.
Then, it was time to spend the afternoon packing up our belongings, and at 5pm we headed out of Eskdale and on our way home to Braintree. All in all a very enjoyable, busy, and fun holiday. Now to save up for and plan next years trip!
Unfortunately Kelly was really not well today, so we left her on the campsite and made our way to Muncaster Castle for 1030am. When we arrived it was still fairly quiet with not many visitors yet present, so we made our way down to where some tents had been set up on a large lawn area. Ronnie headed straight for the armory tent, and due to the quiet start to the morning, he was able to enjoy almost 45 minutes of uninterrupted 1 on 1 tuition on swords, axes, billhooks, and armour from some of the actors:
We enjoyed looking at the armory tent, the chemists tent, the bed chamber, the kitchen, and playing skittles and throwing horse shoes. We then made our way to another large lawned area where we sat down and enjoyed watching some battle re-enactments, and I was surprised at how hard those involved actually went at each other, they weren't holding back!
After watching the actors have their battles, the children were invited onto the lawn to be trained by the captain. The kids really enjoyed this, practicing their marching, and presenting of arms, and wheeling in line, before playing medieval dodge ball.
After this we went and had a look around the owl centre where there were plenty of owls on display for us to look at. We then went back to the tented area where Ronnie and Leyla helped make a Roman mosaic out of card and glue with the people from the Romans In Ravenglass project. Ronnie enjoyed chatting about the Romans with one of the ladies, and was intrigued by the Roman shoes.
Then we went to the lawn area again as there was a magician doing tricks, and there were juggling balls, clubs, and other things for the children to have a go at using, this took up nearly an hour as Ronnie and Leyla tried everything.
We finished our visit by letting Ronnie and Leyla enjoy a husky pulled cart ride:
We spent the evening on the campsite, letting Ronnie and Leyla play in the park with the other children and letting them stay up late as it was a nice evening. We also had another session of toasting marshmallows on the campfire, this was becoming a regular occurrence.
Monday 25th August saw us have a lazy morning on the campsite as we had not pencilled anything in for the morning. At lunchtime we headed off to Bootle for the Black Combe Country Fair. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and spent most of the afternoon there despite the extremely strong winds. We enjoyed watching the whippet racing, the falconry display where the children got to have a bird fly to their hand, the gun dog display, we looked at the vintage vehicles, sampled lots of honey, looked at the craft displays, decorated bisuits, made kites, coloured in a beagle, and went on the bouncy castle, and more.
The two photos below show Ronnie having a Barn Owl fly to his hand, while Leyla is posing with a Harris Hawk that had just flown onto her hand.
After the country fair it was time for what was to be a very windy night on the campsite. The wind really got up, and there were almost continuous gusts of gale force wind which made sleeping in the tent interesting.
Tuesday 26th August, our last day on holiday. Ronnie and I had planned to attempt to reach the summit of Scafell Pike today, but there was still a continuous 30mph wind with regular gusts of 60mph, so Ronnie asked if we could not do it. Instead we went for a walk above Eskdale and Dalegarth, enjoying some stunning scenery:
We finished our walk by walking to the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway station "Dalegarth for Boot". Here we bought our tickets, and travelled to Ravenglass to meet up with Leyla and Kelly who had spent the morning riding on the trains. Having let the children enjoy some play time in the park, as well as treating them to milkshakes and toasted tea cakes Leyla was really pleased to see that we would be riding back to our campsite being pulled by "Thomas" (it was actually the Wroxham Broad but Leyla thinks it was Thomas the tank engine). Both Ronnie and Leyla were lucky enough to experience sitting in the drivers cab whilst in Ravenglass station and talking to the driver about how the train worked.
Above is a photo of Leyla in the cab of Wroxham Broad at Ravenglass station, while below is a picture of the Wroxham Broad at Dalegarth for Boot station.
Then, it was time to spend the afternoon packing up our belongings, and at 5pm we headed out of Eskdale and on our way home to Braintree. All in all a very enjoyable, busy, and fun holiday. Now to save up for and plan next years trip!
posted by Leighton at 5:44 PM
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