So...July, that was a write-off for us! The issue was
that we (mostly the Little Chaps through school) got pinged so many times in the "pingdemic" that we just didn't get away and up to our usual fun and games anywhere near as much as intended. The new plan was to more than make up for that with a week in the Lake District.
Borrowdale was our destination for the week with the intention of exploring the valley with the Little Chaps. Maybe we could be Students of Adventure for the week and follow the Professor of Adventure's teachings of just enjoying the outdoors once again. FYI, Millican Dalton a.k.a. the Professor of Adventure gave up a career in insurance in London to live in a cave in Borrowdale and to enjoy his life. His U.S.P. as a Mountain Guide was multi-activity holidays which sounds exactly what we are after. We'll make do with our tent but we are more than happy to continue his search for adventure.
The only slight issue was that the weather forecast was not what you might call excellent, quite definitely a British Summer! We would just have to see what we could get up to before the weather broke. Read on to see what we got up to...
Day 1 left to right: Sourmilk Ghyll; easy lower section; getting steeper; view from the top
Day1, Sunday: We couldn't get on a campsite until Sunday so we drove up on Sunday morning, aiming to get on the site around lunchtime. We stayed at the excellently-placed Chapel House farm, just outside Rosthwaite. This is a very basic site (no electric, not even phone signal - not complaining about that on a holiday!) but combined with the valley bus service, we hoped to do most of our activities without having to drive. In this spirit we walked up to Seathwaite in the afternoon to tackle our first objective for the week - Sourmilk Ghyll scramble. An excellent start to the week (although a risky one as a wet boot would have made someone's week a bit less fun!). Despite there being a lot of water for August, there were no wet feet and the route was great fun. Always escapeable to the side so no fear of getting stuck or having to reverse but in the event this was not needed as the scrambling is straightforward. We all had a great time, remembering how to climb outdoors and enjoying the odd concept of climbing in a river. A good introductory route to the week - Little Chap #2 is always slow to get going so we spent the first 10 minutes holding hands and scrambling over boulders together, the next 10 minutes with me close by and then we were off. Little Chap #1 just got on with it and delighted in climbing up more tricky sections before pointing out to Mummy how she could go the easy way!
Route details here - Sourmilk Ghyll
Day 2 left to right; family moving together; steeper slabs near the top (optional!); view down the ridge; "I can see the ice cream van from here."
Day 2, Monday: This day did involve a drive as we headed back out of the valley to take on Blencathra and the "interesting" way to the summit via Sharp Edge. Little Chap #1 was so
excited that he stormed off in front, overtaking a lot of people in his enthusiasm to get to the start of the ridge. Little Chap #2 was just happy to be avoiding the busy, "boring" route that most people were taking! We roped up for the scramble - in many ways overkill as it is very straightforward and a lot of people gave us some strange looks as we roped together. However, this really allowed us to just stand back and let the Little Chaps find their own way, learning to read the rock and move where they thought best without us needing to be right on top of them to catch them if they were to fall (the sides are steep!).The only downside was for me who had to carry our rope in (our 60m alpine rope which is rather a lot of rope and rather heavy!). Just an excuse to go toy shopping! Not the longest hill day in terms of distance but definitely the most height the Little Chaps have climbed in the UK and a quick visit to Keswick for ice cream and a new rope was well deserved.
Route details here - Blencathra & Sharp Edge
Day 3 left to right: walking in along the quiet (empty and awesome!) valley; chimney squeeze (for Mummy & Daddy!); cave balcony view; great rock on the upper ridge (I'm aware of the less than perfect rope management!)
Day 3, Tuesday: Continuing the scrambling vibe, we made the short walk up the valley to Dove Nest crag. My life was definitely easier as a quick visit to NeedleSports (always get great advice in there) resulted in a half rope which much reduced my pack weight! An excellent day exploring some of the caves (you need to enjoy chimney climbs and a couple of squeezes for this one - we did!). We had great fun in the caves, scrambling up to some unexpected balconies providing some very different views of the valley. Descending the route was easier than expected (possibly easier than climbing it!) and we returned to the start point to then head up the ridge. The ridge route is a 3* classic and the rock was excellent. Plenty of route choices that made it interesting for us all and one of those days that just flies past because you are all having so much fun. Little Chap #1 was in charge of the map all day today which was really nice to see his interest and confidence grow. He'll be planning all of the routes soon! A short cross country (no path) section over to Tarn at Leaves where we re-joined the path and headed down to camp.
Route details here - Dove's Nest scrambles
Day 4: feeling in the centre of the Lakes, views to North (great view of Blencathra from Monday), South and East
Day 4, Wednesday: Normally, we would have stuck a rest day in here but the weather forecast suggested this would be the last great day. We'd been lucky so far and decided to push on for one more day. Our plan was to climb up towards Watendlath and then walk down the fells on the East side of the valley and then catch the bus back up the valley. The walk element of the day went brilliantly. A popular route so the paths were obvious (Little Chap #1 took the map again) and we had some great views from what feels like the middle of the Lake District - only the southern fells of Coniston and Dow were out of sight. Walking down the ridge was easy going on good paths - loads of shorter loop options possible along here. However, a burst water main (I think) rather spoiled the return journey with buses unable to get out of Keswick. This left us 10km+ away from the campsite at the end of the day! Daddy set off running for the car but Mummy (possibly aided by a couple of upset boys at the roadside) managed to blag a lift which helped (and meant I only ran half way where I stopped to await a pick up) and the only loss was our pub dinner reservation so we had extra cake after a slightly late tea.
Here's the route - East of Derwent Water
Day 5, Thursday: this was a rest day as we woke up to low cloud and rain that pretty much covered all the Lake District valleys. We headed out to the coast to Maryport. A wander around the harbour area before visiting the excellent Roman Museum. This really captured the imagination of the Little Chaps as we learned about the furthest extent of the Roman Empire. This is not somewhere we had visited before - pre-little-chaps rest days in the Lakes were not a thing - but it was well worth the visit.
Day 6 left to right: Millican Dalton's cave; testing our waterproofs along Derwent Water; most exciting (and driest!) part of the day for the Little Chaps!
Day 6: Friday: still wet, really wet, when we woke up but at least it was a clearing forecast. We also figured that it was going to be our last big walking day so getting a bit wet wouldn't be the end of the world. The buses were running again so we headed down the West side of the valley, staying low out of the worst of the weather. We all agreed that as skin is waterproof, a bit of rain would not deter us from having an adventure. This route passed by Millican Dalton's cave on the way to Keswick which provided a long discussion about bushcraft etc (definitely going to need to brush up those skills). We arrived in Keswick a little soggy but with something great to look forward to. Little Chap #2 enjoyed one of his best bits of the holiday as we returned by bus, bagging the best seat on the bus (not, as I believe, the back seat where the cool kids sit but upstairs at the front for the view).
This was the route - West of Derwent Water (low level)
Day 7, Saturday: still rubbish weather in the mountains so we headed to the coast again. This time we went to St Bee's, the start of the Coast to Coast walk, and wandered along the cliff tops towards the lighthouse. Not much wildlife to be seen today but we saw plenty of people setting off on their own adventure across the country to Robin Hood's Bay.
In summary, an excellent week that made the most of the weather cards that we were dealt. The Little Chaps are happy to have made a start on their Wainwrights chart (provided by Grandma last Christmas), most importantly by the "exciting" route where possible. We are really pleased that the Little Chaps have lost none of their passion or stamina for the outdoors despite being cooped up at home for so long and we can't wait to get out a bit more regularly now. "Where next?" was the obvious question in the car on the way home...
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