Samuel Johnson was wrong

I've been travelling a lot for work lately and, last week, I was in London for a couple of days working in a trendy hotel which had lots of quotes around the wall and no visible reception desk (I appreciate it makes the foyer look larger but why on earth do away with a reception desk?  A couple of folks in suits perched at a table tapping away on their laptop could be anyone. Would you like me to go around pestering all of your guests until I find the one who happens to be on reception duties or simply hang around looking lost until someone takes pity on me?  But I digress...)

The quote which dominated the wall in the dining area was this "Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford" - well known words from Samuel Johnson.  He was speaking to his biographer James Boswell, trying to convince him that he wouldn't miss his native Scotland if he moved to the big smoke, but I couldn't help thinking that however leaned the man may have been, he definitely got it wrong with this one.  London is lovely in so many ways but it definitely doesn't have dibs on "all that life can afford" - for starters here are just a few of the things which Cumbria has that London doesn't.

Hills

London has plenty of places named hill but no real, proper, hills.  Primrose Hill is 65m high, Notting Hill isn't even a hill (it's only 36m above sea level) and the highest point in London, Betsom's Hill, is only 215m high and surely only counts as being "in London" on a technicality.  And, have you noticed how so many place names in London (and other cities for that matter), have retained the name of the thing which was flattened in order to make way for whatever is now built on top of them?  Places like Waltham Forest (although there are still a few small parks left), St Martin-in-the-Fields (which is on a busy junction right next to Trafalgar Square and miles from the nearest fields) and Wood Green which, despite having been both woodland and a large green space in the past, is now a "...busy urban activity centre with sizeable shopping area..."  I'm guessing updating those names would be bad for business; "St Martin-in-the-middle-of-a-crossroads" doesn't have the same ring to it.

So, Mr Johnson, London definitely appears to be lacking hills; the soaring peaks of the central Lake District, the comfortable familiarity of the Langdale Pikes and the gorgeous rolling hills around the Duddon Valley for starters...

View from Great Gable

Langdale Pikes

Orrest Head

Duddon Valley

Lakes

There may be a few small lakes in London but anything you can walk around in under an hour without getting your boots muddy doesn't really count in my book.  Up here we have so many lakes they named an entire national park after them "The LAKE District" - in fact they are SO fab that we even got UNESCO World Heritage Status - tell that to Mr Boswell next time you see him.  As a comparison the Serpentine in London covers an area of 16 hectrares while Elterwater, the smallest "lake" in the Lake District, covers 17 hectares.  We are also home to the largest and the deepest lakes in England - Windermere and Wastwater respectively.

Windermere

Wastwater

Grasmere

Peace

When I'm away in London on my travels, this is the thing I miss the most.  There is nowhere in London where I can find true peace and quiet - granted there are some lovely parks and quiet back streets, but at no point can I escape the distant hum of cars or take a deep breath knowing that there is no-one else for miles around.  To be fair, back in 1777, when Samuel Johnson muttered his now infamous words to his friend and biographer James Boswell, London probably did have a lot of really quiet corners (Wood Green was probably still woody and greeny for a start) - but these days it's hard to find true peace there.

Of course on a busy bank holiday it can be hard to find true peace in Cumbria too, but there are still plenty of quiet nooks where you can escape the crowds and the drone of the motor engine and enjoy the tranquillity and solitude that is so hard to find in London.

The Eden Valley

Smardale Gill

Black Combe

Unlike Samuel Johnson, people are not going to be quoting our books in 250 years time but, then again, you never know!  They are full of fab photos and fun facts and we are happy to ship directly and cut out the Amazon middle man.  Click the pic to find out more & order yours.  😀

Click here to find out more

Day 6 - Here comes the rain again

We all know that when you hike in Cumbria there's a good chance you'll get rained on but

today surpassed all expectations. Pretty much from the moment we left Kendal to the point we collapsed into our gorgeous cottage, it threw it down.

I told Karen I'd adapted the route to make it easier in the rain but really it was a carefully engineered ploy to pass Ginger Bakers & nab a piece of their beetroot & berry brownie. Long time followers of this blog will know that my love for this delicacy knows no bounds and I warned Karen that I would cry like a baby if they didn't have any.  There was none on display but in a deft move to prevent my meltdown they produced 2 pieces from the kitchen.  Once we told them about our journey they refused to let us pay. Ginger Bakers may be my favourite people on the planet right now.

Back out into the rain we continued on to Crook where we paused for coffee under a tree. A lovely delivery driver offered us a lift which we puritanically/ idiotically turned down. We would name the company he worked for to give them some kudos but fear it may land him in trouble of the "you're not insured to carry hitchikers" variety.  Still, I enjoyed a spot of history while I slurped my coffee.

Once up onto the fells & following The Dales Way the rain really kicked in.  Karen's Twitter name is @happy_rambler but it's fair to say she was more @lessthanhappy_rambler and @ifthisraindoesntstopsoonIllscream_rambler - proof that too much time down south makes you soft.  She may be smiling in this photo but beneath the jovial exterior she's a seething cauldron of sodden malice.

Finally we made it to Windermere where the wonderful Sally's Cottages had offered us a cottage for the night.  The Hideaway is utterly perfect for us in every way - pristine clean, HUGE bath, toasty warm for drying our clothes and big enough for us to escape each other for a while.  Considering we'd never met before this adventure me & Karen are getting along brilliantly but sometimes it's nice to have your own space so, for example, while I'm sat in the dining room writing this blog, Karen is up in her room plotting my downfall if I drag her over another sodden fell tomorrow.

These are just a few pics of The Hideaway but they don't really do it justice - click on the link below the pics to see more info about it.

Lounge

Lounge

Twin Room

Of course we absolutely HAD to have a soak in the glorious bath and I laughed like a drain when I saw this on the bathroom wall. Karen didn't see the funny side - no idea why... 😁

Tomorrow our plans are a little different so we're just getting everything dry & sorting our rucksacks out - but the joy of having a cottage to ourselves is that I can toast crumpets and pour me a glass of wine (obviously in my Cumbria Crystal glass) while I listen to the rain hammer on the windows - maybe Karen will change her name to @dancingintherain_rambler tomorrow... 😀

As always, PRETTY please (with jam on) take a moment to like & follow our supporters - we really couldn't do this without them. 

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!)