In 1930 a young man called Alfred Wainright visited the Lake District and fell in love with the area. He later moved to Kendal and devoted his life to mapping the area, writing seven guidebooks. His Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells are a unique mixture of beautiful pen-and-ink sketches, maps and musings and have become the Bibles for anyone who plans to hike in the Lakes. Several years ago, Neil and I were introduced to his famous “fell walks” when we enjoyed watching a TV series called Wainright Walks, in which Julia Bradbury (a British tv personality) replicated several of the famous walks. So one thing I knew we would have to do here was at least one fell walk!
This morning we drove up behind the town to the car park of the Latrigg Fell walk. This is, I’ll admit, one of the lowest fells in the lakes but you have to accept your limits! It didn’t take us terribly long to hike to the top and the views back down over the town and the lake were stunning. I’m afraid photos don’t do it justice.
Our next plan was a scenic drive down to Buttermere . The drive took us up and over two high passes on the way there and back, Newlands Pass ( where we stopped to see a waterfall) and Honister Pass ( where there is a slate mine and museum) The scenery was absolutely stunning! Along the way we passed many, many hikers geared up and toiling up to the heights. I take my hat off to them! I also take my hat off to Neil, driving much of the way was challenging along some very narrow sections with some very tight passes of oncoming cars.
When we arrived back in Keswick we went for a walk down to the lake, past the park that we can see from our hotel. Then we decided we’d have a good pub lunch today and just have a light nibbles dinner on our balcony this evening. Sitting out in the long evening enjoying the view down the lake was a perfect finish to our time in the Lakes.
