Catching up: part 4 - beautiful Lake District...

I think after this post, I might have finally caught up! Well, more or less - at least I'll be no more than a week or so behind, which is pretty normal for me!

A few weeks ago, on a bit of a whim, my sister and I decided we would have a few days away together. It dawned on us that my 2 weeks off work coincided with the end of her course (she has been doing a PGCE year - change of direction to be a primary teacher after 20 odd years in higher education! Brave move I think!) which gave us a week before her children finished for the summer holidays. We haven't been away together for years - a couple of times together as families when the kids were very small and obviously a lot of years ago when we were children, but otherwise it's never quite fitted in. And she confessed that, other than the odd conference over the years, this was the first time she was going away without her kids - they are 12 and 15!! We have always been close - there is only 11 months between us and she is my 'go to' person when I need someone who will just listen and support without being judgmental or giving ill-considered advice. 

We have both had pretty frantic times of late - she has been studying, lesson planning, assignment writing and surviving teaching practice in addition to all the usual family stresses on a background of a drop in income for a year so she could do her course and the pressure of applying for jobs now; I have been juggling an under-resourced NHS job (way too many unpaid hours), study, project work (should be in work time - ha ha!) and a painful (and expensive!) home situation... 

Sooo.... we were seriously in need of a break! The Lake District has been a part of our lives for the longest time - we had numerous holidays there (with varying degrees of success!) as children. My recollections are primarily of lots of rain, lots of being squashed in the back of cars (there were three of us, and our family car for some time was a Morris 1300 with sticky vinyl seats...!) and never quite going where we wanted to. We never tackled any of the peaks (Dad was scared of heights) and never did any of the touristy bits (my parents were more into antique shops and graveyard history - both of which I sort of get now, but as a family holiday???!). In spite of this, a bit of the Lakes obviously got under our skin and we have both taken our own families back there lots of times. Over the years, I have been lucky enough to walk with people who were not afraid of a challenge (and with lots of walking/climbing experience) and still get a huge buzz from a stiff climb and that amazing feeling of arriving 'at the top'. Maybe it's living in Norfolk for much of my life, where if you go up by 15 metres you've climbed a hill, or maybe the feeling is the same for everyone? I don't know, I just know that the hills feel like my spiritual home (Scotland has a very similar effect on me!) and I can feel my blood pressure dropping when I'm up there!!

Anyway, we jumped at a bargain late booking for 3 nights in a cottage near Penrith, just a short drive from the North Eastern fells and set off with car packed with waterproofs, boots etc determined to walk whatever the weather! We drove up in driving rain and woke the first morning to heavy cloud. Undeterred, having both woken at usual silly o'clock we began walking from Grange, Derwentwater just after 8 am! (how easy is it to get going with no kids/men in tow??!!).

  

The cloud was hanging low over the hills and the skies looked full of rain but we had decided not to try to go up high anyway - my sister hadn't walked for years and, by her own admission, hasn't done any regular exercise for a long time and we were both a bit concerned about her fitness, so we had planned a steady walk through Borrowdale, taking in a couple of tarns and a couple of tea shops!

Looking back towards Derwentwater...

I suppose its because its been so wet, but I don't think I have ever seen so many foxgloves all over the hills - beautiful...

Castle Crag is a little 'peak' at the end of Derwentwater that is so worth the short steep slate-strewn climb for the views over Borrowdale...

and back over Derwentwater...

I did get a bit over-excited and had to race ahead a bit but Katherine is not short on determination (some would say stubbornness, something of a family trait!!) and she was soon joining me...

and capturing the views...

After a little breather, we headed back down towards Rosthwaite (lovely tea shop number 1 there!) and then over towards Watendlath via a lovely wooded path...

I have walked this route a few times before and knew it was steep - it's a bit like a long rocky staircase! But if I'm honest, I had forgotten how long its this steep for! But, we had no time scale and plenty of opportunity to stop and gawp so it didn't matter how steadily we took it. And the heavy rainfall has ensured that the undergrowth and surrounding valleys are looking particularly lush and green.

I thought this looked like a little fairy grotto! Lush moss, feathery ferns and a host of tiny mushrooms...

By the time the path was levelling out a bit the skies were clearing (contrary to the weatherman's pessimism!) and the blue skies were appearing...

A tactical moment of scenery appreciation...

We picnicked at Dock Tarn, sitting in warm sunshine, overlooking this pretty little stretch of water, peppered with water-lillies...

Truly lovely and very peaceful.

The path then heads down to Watendlath tarn and another tea shop stop - with a sunny garden full of cheeky crumb fattened chaffinches.

before following the beck back down past Lodore Falls to Derwentwater...

It took us all day, at a very leisurely pace, but was so restorative. Neither of us really wanted to head back to the cottage so we drove round to Buttermere where we sat and ate ice cream (well mine was pink grapefruit sorbet - delish, but melted too quickly to photograph!) and admired the view in the evening sunshine...

You can't really beat this can you?

The next morning I got up early again for a quick run. Something of a different view from my usual city run route...

Katherine was a bit stiff from the previous day's walk so we decided to restrict the 'up and down' a bit and headed to Ullswater, to take the ferry from Glenridding to Howtown... 

and then walking back along the lowish path along the Lakeside...

We were so lucky with the weather, with just those two sunny days that week and when we drove back through the peak district the next day it was pouring again. 

Apologies for the photo overload, I just needed to relive it a bit before I go back to work tomorrow and couldn't be very selective about the pictures! So worth going, even for just a short period of time and has made me determined to get back there again soon.

Back to reality this week...

Sx