Life in the Lakes

What's it really like living up here?  Now is the time of year when millions of folks come and spend their summer hols with us, perhaps pausing to check out cottages and houses in estate agent's windows - but what's it really like living here?  The best way to describe it is it's exactly the same as living anywhere else, except the views are better.

We eat, drink, shop and work to pay the mortgage the same as we did before, but the absolute best part is at the weekends, and on days off, we get to do really cool stuff like we did last weekend...

Friday - Kayaking

I'd bought this as a Christmas pressie for Steve but we thought we'd wait for good weather to use it.  As it turns out the day was a bit grey and blustery but it didn't rain and we had a fantastic time.  We'd organised it through Distant Horizons (who offer all sorts of fab adventures).  They made sure we were well kitted out and, under the safe and watchful eye of Sue we set out across Ullswater.

Photo thanks to Distant Horizons

Photo thanks to Distant Horizons

Much as I loved the day I found it a bit challenging as I have a dodgy back so for the last hour or so, while Steve went through some more safety drills I enjoyed a lovely swim in Ullswater.

Safety drills! (Photo thanks to Distant Horizons)

Enjoying a dip! (Photo thanks to Distant Horizons)

FAB day! (Photo thanks to Distant Horizons)

We were also lucky enough to have a Skoda Yeti to play with the for the weekend, thanks to the lovely folks at Vantage Motors down in Morecambe.  Whenever they loan us a car we like to check out all the lesser used features - in this case we started with it's wetsuit drying potential.  Passed with flying colours!

Saturday - From Everest to Windermere

I've mentioned the Rheged Centre on this blog many times as they have so many fascinating exhibitions and stuff - this time I was catching up on the last days of the Everest exhibition and it was very thought provoking.  In a nutshell an artist by the name of Derek Eland spent a season on the mountain with a bright yellow diary tent where folks of all nationalities recorded their thoughts on postcards before, and after, summit attempts.  The exhibition tours the country so do take a look at his website to see when it might pop up near you.

Me at base camp. Sort of...

Inspired by the exhibition we decided to recreate a little of life on Everest by eschewing a Saturday night slobbed in front of the telly and having a beach BBQ on the banks of Windermere instead (OK, so it's not a lot like Everest, but it is outdoors).  When we picked up the Yeti they told us the rear seats came out, so this seemed as good a time as any to test them.  I think the idea of the seats coming out is so you can fit more in the car, but for us, we found they made perfect beach BBQ seats...

Sunday - time spent with a wonderful Old Man

Thanks to assorted illnesses and injuries (not to mention a chaotic workload) we don't get off up the fells quite as often as everyone imagines we might.  The weather was perfect and the Old Man of Coniston was calling - so who were we to resist.  I particularly love spending time exploring the old quarry workings on the main route up - there's a few interesting bits of history about it here.

We also discovered that even with the back seats in place, you can still fit a lot of kit in the back of the Yeti. (Yes, it is a nice perk to get given a lovely new car to play with occasionally but we have actually bought a car from the fab folks at Vantage and would definitely recommend them.  The Yeti is a very spacious and practical car for anyone who needs to carry around a lot of kit and a lot of people) 😀

COMPETITION TIME!!

For the past couple of weeks I've thoroughly enjoyed reading Nick Baker's new book ReWild - all about what we can do to get back in touch with nature.  Ever wanted to see better at night?  Or improve your wildlife spotting skills?  It's all in here AND I have a copy to give away this weekend.  All you have to do is identify where the 4 pictures below were taken (2 clues 1 - re-read the blog and see where we went and 2 - we live in Grange-over-Sands 😉 )

Email your answers to me: ReWildCompCR@outlook.com and I'll pick a winner at 9pm on Sunday 9th July.

Name the lake (Great for kayaking!)

Name the venue (Great for exhibitions!)

Name the fell (Great for mining!)

Name the prom (Great for coming home to!)

A year in the Lake District (Part 2 Jul - Dec)

And so our journey through the past 12 months in the Lake District continues.  We've tried to do more than just hike the fells (not that there's anything wrong with that!) and during the second half of the year in particular we've tried to learn more about the wildlife.  (And if you missed Part 1 it's here.)

July

The beautiful Ullswater taken from St Sunday Crag.  A wonderful walk and a fabulous place for lovely quartz crystals - just look down when you're on the summit.

Ullswater from St Sunday Crag.

Our next walk was far more humble; a few miles along the river Kent near Kendal, but there was still plenty to see: remains of an old fort, wonderful bridge, sewage works...

River Kent, Kendal

And lastly we visited the wonderful Sizergh Castle.  We don't get out to nearly enough of these places and our new year's resolution is to visit more.  Especially if they have daisies...

Gorgeous daisies at Sizergh Castle.

August

Although we'd been to a few RSPB sites we were now really making an effort to get to grips with learning which birds are which, though the pesky varmints don't often stay still long enough for us to ID them.  Thank goodness for Steve and his camera!

Marsh Harrier over Leighton Moss

We also took advantage of a brief dry spell (!) to try and get to the top of the Howitzer on Helm Crag.  One of us made it, the other chickened out and took the pictures...

Steve on the top of the Howitzer

And then came a lovely sunny bank holiday Monday.  The fells were packed solid with hikers but we found miles and miles of peace and quiet along the lovely Cumbria coastline.

Cartmel Sands, not long before we stopped for 2 essential pints of fluid...

September

Following on from the Olympics a touch of cycling greatness came to Cumbria when the Tour of Britain can zooming through.  Shame about the weather...

A rather soggy Bradley Wiggins...

We also encountered some local wildlife up close when we paused to take some scenic shots at a popular layby next to Coniston.

"Excuse me, would you mind terribly if we came by?"

And then there was the wonderful Easedale Tarn.  It was utterly deserted and we had loads of fun chucking rocks in and playing with the cameras.  The route up wasn't bad either.

Easedale Tarn.

Easedale Tarn & amazing levitating rock!

October

With the beautiful autumn colours in full swing where else to enjoy them than the wonderful Langdale Valley?

Langdale Pikes - not shrouded in mist!

And just behind us was Blea Tarn.

Blea Tarn looking lovely as ever.

We also nipped over the border to Scotland for a fab weekend of hiking, cycling & starry, starry skies.

Delores - all cosy for the night.

November

A busy month for us where we got to see our first starling murmuration.

And we got up close with assorted other small birds.

Coal tit (I think..)

Nuthatch

We also had the first snow of the season so it was straight up the Old Man to play!

There were several clues telling us we weren't alone up there...

And the snow looked pretty impressive from afar too; this was the view from the back of Whitbarrow Scar.

Whitbarrow is wonderfully deserted but has spectacular views.

December

And here we are - the end of the year already.  See what I mean when I say it's flown by?  At the start of the month we skidded our way around the Langdale Pikes.

Gorgeous to look at, treacherous to walk on.

And then we kept it a little lower when we visited Wansfell Pike.

It may have been lower than the Langdales but it was still frozen.

We don't get a lot of hiking in during the second half of the month as we tend to spend as much of it was we can catching up with family.  But the fells will still be waiting for us in January.  Unless of course the Mayans were right all along...

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A VERY HAPPY & SAFE NEW YEAR!