Lake District Camping Trip August 2012

The camping weekend started on Friday the 17th of August. we arrived at a damp campsite (after all it was the middle of the British Summer. After pitching our tent we drove to the end f the valley to Wasdale Head  and sheltered from the weather in the Ritson Bar with some lovely food and a few local cumbrian ales. Although not the cheapest food that we have ever had it was definitely filling and warming. I had the stake pie which lacked a bit of gravy but appart from that no real complaints about the meal.

It was still quite wet and the cloud was quite low on the Saturday morning and therefore a high level walk wasnt really the best of options. We had planned to walk to the top of Lingmell (just across from Scafell Pike) however it was well and truely hidden in the cloud. Therefore we decided that we would take a low level walk long Wast Water along the south side of the water from the campsite to Nether Wasdale. This took us accros the Scree fields below Illgill Head and Winn Rigg. Although quite a wet walk and a little slippy underfoot it was a reaonably pleasent walk. It would of course have been much nicer if it had been dry as footing would have been much easier. Its not a route that we planned for the day and its not one that we will rush to do again as it was slightly slow going and parts of te "path" were not that obvious so you had to pick your way steadily over the large pieces of scree. The route however did finish at the Screes Inn in Netherwasdale where I had a lovely Ale and a beautiful stake sandwich. The staff in the pub were very friendly and I would recomend this pub to anyone in the area for somewhere to go either for food or for a drink.

It dried out that afternoon as did our tent and our wet clothing. We one again visited Ritson Bar for more food and drink having eaten inside we ventured outside to enjoy teh evening sunshine. Ritsons bar like the Screes Inn is very nice I dont think that the staff members where quite so warming as the one in the the Screes however the Ritsons is much buisier than the Screes so I cant hold that against them. The food this evening was lovely and I cant complain about the quality or quantity.

Our second night in the campsite was a bit drier and the tents were packed away fairly dry but still needed hanging on the line when we got home. The campsite wasnt very busy I believe that although they have plenty of room for tents they never fill it so much that you are all squashed together. The facilities are nice with a large toilet, shower and washing area. The campsite by far is not the cheapest I think that we were about £25 per tent per night (4 man tent with 2 adults) plus you still had to pay for the hot water in teh showers. I appreciate that the payment for the showers is because they are trying to be environmentally friendly however I think that having a token system and getting so many free tokens per person per night would be much more sensible.

Two days Walking

We have walked the past two days nothing too adventerious but atleast knocking two wainwrights off the to do list.

On Monday we did Glenridding Dodd. Our pace was very slow under 2 KM an hour but it wasnt a long walk so it didnt really matter. We started and finished at the Travellers rest which was a lovely pub up a narrow lane. we started the wlk from the pub down the footpath back towards the lake (not the planned route but we couldnt find the marked path so I reversed the route). The walk along the lake was lovely aloth the lake was quite high so coldnt get on any of the beaches there. The climb up to the top of the hill was coated in fallen trees that littered the path but the view from the top was work the walk. We had lunch on the top before making our descent back towards the pub. We found a way off but not the one that IO had planned to use but it got us to the pub I suspect that the path on the map has been moved by the locals as there were a few signs saying to footpath. We stopped at the Traelers rest for a lovely a drink. The place was fairly busy with quite a few of the outside tables in use. The pub looked nice and the Ale was nice, will go back.

Yesterday we walked up Hallin Fell on the opposite side on the Lake. Again the weather was nice and we enjoyed some food at the top over looking Ullswater. Near to the plinth on the top there was a fake Olympic torch that was part of a competition being run by the Ullswater Steamers.

The car was fixed, a bit expensive but we have it back and its running much better.

Weather is rather crap today the cloud is low and it quite wet so we have put off walking today in the hope that it clears tomorrow.