Frankie's Weekend: Lake District

Thursday, 20 October 2016

#LakeDistrictSeries: Buttermere - getting away from it all

If you've read my last #LakeDistrictSeries post, you'll know that we were on our way from Keswick Park Run to Buttermere, in hunt of a good walk.

A friend had recommended we head that way and we ended up roughly following this walking route :

http://where2walk.co.uk/lake_district/lake_discoveries/a-walk-round-buttermere/

We started off a little outside of Buttermere (it's a tiny hamlet), about a five minute walk to the main sheep farm and cluster of pubs, and set off for a walk around the lake.

If you're looking for a decent walk that's got flat ground, a few hills, forest, water, sheep, and stunning scenery, this is the one.

We went the wrong way at first and headed towards Crummock water but turned round after about 20 minutes, which added to our total 'hike' time. We were walking from 12pm to 3pm, so it was a pretty decent hike!

About half way, we stumbled across a waterfall and decided to climb it. How incredible is this view from the waterfall? I took this on my iPhone and I'm soo impressed with the quality - I've not edited this at all. Our world is beautiful sometimes!

I cannot explain how beautiful it was - it was serene and really calming. It felt like we were in the Alps or somewhere remote in Scandinavia.

After the climb back down we followed the track round and after twenty minutes or so came to an icecream / sorbet / coffee shack and got a little tub of sorbet (told you before, they love it up here!).

Walking back down the other side of the lake takes you to the water's edge which is beautiful:

We got back to Buttermere village and headed straight to the Bridge Hotel for food and drinks in the sun. A pint of Thatchers, soup and a sandwich later, it was time to head back to the car and set off down to Windermere, for the final stop in our trip...

Buttermere is definitely a perfect walk for those people who don't have 'full on' hiking gear (poles etc). I also think it would make a perfect winter walk route - yes, it was exceptionally beautiful when we went and we were so lucky with the autumn sun, but because there aren't any real hills (along the lake, anyway), it means that bad / wet weather wouldn't put you off. I'd definitely recommend going if you fancy a big walk in the Lakes!

Reunion in Roa Island

A few weeks ago, Roa Island got a bit of a rude awakening when fourteen ex-uni pals turned up in convoy, each with a boot full of booze...

It's a weird old place on the southern most point of the Lake District, with coast to one side and lakes (a twenty minute drive) the other.

This RNLI lifeboat house backed on to the garden. We stayed in Roa Island House for the weekend - if you're planning a big get together in the Lakes with friends or family then it's worth checking it out.

The house is massive. With its own observatory tower(!), backwards ticking clock (and a hot tub mofooo's), it's pretty good for "getting away from it all". Ideally it could've done with another hot tub as it was a bit of a struggle with fourteen people, but after plural prosecco & gins personal space was soon forgotten.....

We didn't lounge about in the hot tub all day, we managed a big walk near Newby Bridge on Saturday, and had a picnic on the er, 'beach' the next.

After exhausting pizzas, barbecues and picky food we ordered caterers in to cook something amazing for us on Sunday evening.

It started out oh-so civilised...

But. as with all good nights, things descended into chaos quite quickly..

We woke to a surprise on the last day of the cleaners hammering on the door and kicking us out.

Hanging our heads in shame at the remnants of the night before, we dragged ourselves off to a lay by on the island and had a breakfast picnic. You can tell how thrilled we all were at this situation:

One of the best weekends I've ever had!

The Lakes

Last week was shit.

I came down with tonsillitis and haven't felt that wiped out in who knows how long.
After a few days of not being able to talk, eating Ben and Jerry's (sore throat remedy, ahem), not parting with my duvet and keeping my eyes glued to Downton Abbey (why have I never watched this before! So much scandal!!), I started to feel a bit better.

Which was good. Because James & I had planned a weekend away in the Lake District for our three year anniversary! Now, before you think I'm going to get all soppy on you, picture this:

I'm wearing joggers, scoffing percy pigs as we trawl up the M6 on Friday eve. It's hardly the picture of star-crossed lovers.

Anyway. We got to Oakbank House late on Friday and went straight up to our room. After a hearty complimentary breakfast the following morning we scampered off down to the lake shore to see what the craic was.

I think it's safe to say Lake Windermere is one of those places that doesn't need the sunshine for you to appreciate its beauty.

We decided to give the big ferry a miss and decided to explore the lake sans captain (aka we rented one of those tiny red motor boats in the photo above.)

It was wet.

But fun! The boat didn't go very fast at all, which was good 'cos you got to see all the little islands and boats moored around the harbour at your own pace.

Which, when I was 'driving', was slow.

It's tradition on holiday to go to the pub before midday in our eyes, so we headed off to the Hole in t'Wall to take shelter from the rain and get a little squiffy by the log fire..

As it was just after 11am, no one else was in the pub. Unperturbed, we nursed our med'cin. On the way out we passed a few fellow pub-goers who looked a little sheepish edging in through its old oak doors before midday. I think our red wine smiles gave them the confidence they needed. Hic.

We pottered around the village trying to decide where to eat that evening...

(FYI Vinegar Jones do amazing chips & mushy peas and Pasty Presto next door claim to sell 'the best Cornish Pasty' - bit ambitious seeing as we're at the other end of the country but James enjoyed his all the same..!)

In the end we settled on Indian. Anyone that knows us two will appreciate that we take Indian dining very seriously.. (not a bad word shall be said about West Didsbury's finest The Great Kathmandu). So we went in with high expectations.

Mela was really, really good. I had a sizzling dish involving spiced mince, chicken tikka, onions and chilli in a rich tomato sauce and James had a pretty decent lamb balti. A bottle of tempranillo later we paid up and moved on to another bar. It didn't quite beat the Great Kathmandu (represent), but it's well worth a visit if you like Indian food - you'll need to book though as we found out (the hard way!)

On Sunday we made friends with the locals:

Now, I've never been a fan of the swan. Elegant, yes. Graceful on water? Sure.
Sneaky bendy-necked creature that would peck you 'till it hurt and laugh (if he could) whilst doing it? Absolutely.

However, these beautiful beasts were on their best behaviour - despite pecking our feet just a little hard (I'm on to you, goosy), it was quite cute.

How menacing does this guy look?

They soon got bored of us when the duck feed ran out, so we put on our walking boots and got stuck into a big-ass country walk.

I just had to take a picture of the walk's official name. It sounds like the title of an X-rated film - I can say that despite the mud, things didn't get as dirty as Cockshott Point...