Monday 25 September 2017

Summer Adventures | The Lake District


England is really quite a beautiful place if you know where to look, and The Lake District could be called the jewel of the nation. It's a beautiful place any time of year, and I was glad to have the chance to explore it a little a few weeks ago. This was my second visit to the Land of Lakes, the first was 4/5 years ago and was only a day trip so we weren't able to see much other than Lake Windermere and the regular tourist spots.

But this time we stayed in the area for a couple of days and I spent a while researching the best hiking spots and the prettiest lakes. We spent our first day exploring and lake hopping from Ullswater to Basselthwaite, and came across a hiking spot in the woods which led to a range of waterfalls!





Unlike our sunny trip to Trossachs National Park in Scotland last year we visited The Lake District in pretty gloomy weather, but gloomy weather has a charm of its own and we were just glad it wasn't raining! You can never can be sure of dry weather in England, particularly in the north!

The next day we woke early and after a big breakfast drove to the western part of The Lake District, known for its untouched beauty. I had spent the night before researching the best walks in the area and according to this Guardian article Borger Dalr, Borrodale was described by Alfred Wainwright as the "finest square mile in Lakeland," and my God. We were not disappointed.









It was a four mile walk that took us through a picturesque little village, and up and across a hill, which carried us to an absolutely breathtaking view of the lake, and village below. The uphill walk was certainly challenging but I would do it every week if I could. It was a treat climbing through rocks and finding little streams and mini waterfalls travelling down the hill to the lake below. The view we were greeted with at the top made every uncertain step on an unsteady rock completely, utterly worth it.





After our hike up the hill we spent a while splashing about in the gorgeous waterfalls we had passed on our way up. Then, after exploring another lake on ground level (this one might have been my favourite, it was surrounded by endless fields and marsh land and had an almost safari-like feel to it! So surreal) we made our way out of Lakeland.






Hiking/walking trips are my favourite kind of trip, and the best thing about hiking in my opinion (other than the stunning views and exercise of course) is how friendly everyone is at the top of a hill! Every hiker we passed said hi and wished us a good morning and we were more than happy to do the same back! We were one of the few non-white families we saw during our trip and while we did have one unpleasant experience with a racist who was furious at our presence in what he obviously thought to be a 'whites only' holiday space, almost everyone else was perfectly pleasant. However, nothing matches the wonderfully refreshing friendliness we encountered during our trip to Trossachs National Park <3

At first, I thought The Lake District was certainly beautiful, but something about it just didn't match up to the pure magic of the Scottish highlands. But after our hike the second day I decided they were both equally as surreal in different ways. Those who declared the western areas of The Lake District as the most beautiful certainly knew what they were doing.

There's so much more of Lakeland I'd like to explore (particularly the home of Beatrix Potter), and I hope I get the chance to spend another couple of days walking through it someday.

This is the third and final post in my Summer Adventures 2017 series. I have made it my goal these past few summers to spend as much time in the open air as possible, and I find it leaves me feeling refreshed, invigorated, and ready for the long winter months!

Here's to the beginning of Autumn. I  hope it's beautiful in every way possible.
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