Pendle Hill - a different route

After the previous walk up Ingleborough, we decided to walk closer to home.  Saw a nice route up Pendle Hill in Country Walking magazine and decided to give it a go.  Bit of a dire weather forecast but I am coming to the conclusion that if you took the forecast as gospel you would never go anywhere or do anything.  In the event, it was much better that forecast.  No driving rain and gales..... just the usual Pendle bluster and the odd spot of drizzle.

Lovely grassy footpath from Downham Village

Pendle Hill 

It's a much longer way up than we are used to but a great walk.  You start off low level and pass through some very pretty farmland and woodland and then onto the moorland for a long and steep clamber up to the shelter. For a spot of lunch.

The Pendle Hill Shelter

It's a funny little shelter.  Circular with no roof.  You have to squeeze into it around a large boulder and through a narrow opening.  Definitely not a place for chubbier walkers!

Blustery Pendle - trig point

It got a bit blustery after that so we had to add a few layers and batten down the hatches.  But not what you would call gale force with torrential rain.  In fact on the way down it started to clear up a bit and we were treated to a great view of the top of Lancashire.

Looking down on Lancashire - Yorkshire peaks on the horizon

Got a bit giggly on the way down when we saw this sheep.  It seems to have a really small head.  Much to small for the rest of it!  Bit like the chap with the shrunken head on Betelgeuse!

Pinhead sheep - a new breed???

Mystery Crochet Hooks

Got home today to find a parcel containing 2 gorgeous knitpro symfonie crochet hooks.  Size 4mm and 5mm.

Wonderful. 

Only I have absolutely no idea how they came to arrive here.  There's no note or address or anything with them.

They could be a gift, or a prize or anything.

Thank you whoever sent them! 

Four Finish the Three Peaks

Well we have done the three Yorkshire peaks.  Whernside, Penyghent and now, Ingleborough.  It's not been all at once but it's done.

The weather didn't seem too bad so we packed lots of layers and plenty of pork pies.  After consulting my trusty Wainwright guidebook and a bit of internet research, it was decided to ascend from Clapham.  The fact that there is a truly gorgeous yarn shop there - Beckside Yarns - had nothing to do with my choice of route.  Well it might have influenced me a little bit.  It's well worth a visit if you are passing by at all!

This route is not the usual three peaks route so it meant that it wouldn't be quite as busy.  It was the May Day bank holiday weekend after all.

Unusually we decided to go and return the same way.  Not like us, we much prefer to have a circular route if possible. However, there was lots to see on this route.

Beautiful Clapham Village

From Clapham you take a path up towards the show cave.  There's a voluntary entry fee of 65p for adults and 35p for children.  Well worth it since it goes towards the upkeep of the path.  You walk through the Ingleborough Estate Nature Trail which is really lovely.

Quirky little building on the path.

The weather was lovely too.  Sunny and crisp. Just right for walking. At the end of the trail you come to Ingleborough show cave.  Looks brilliant but we were pressing on.  We had a big hill to climb.

Onwards from the cave, you come to Trow Gill.  A stunning ravine created in the ice age.  Like a smaller Gordale Scar.  You have to scramble up to get out.  Huge fun

Trow Gill

Once up top there is lots of limestone pavement and then a great boggy, moorland expanse and a sweeping approach to Ingleborough.  A real contrast from all the greenery of the nature trail we passed through on the way.

The path to Ingleborough.  Looking back to see Pendle Hill in the distance.

We stopped on Little Ingleborough for some lunch before tackling the staircase footpath to the summit of Ingleborough proper. We could see some ominous cloud approaching and got wrapped up expecting some rain at any moment but we were wrong. What we got was snow!  Lots of snow.  Really big white fluffy snowflakes type of snow.  Almost a blizzard.  But there was still some sunshine around.  Very odd but sooooo much nicer than miserable rain and drizzle.

Also very hard to photograph.  If you look carefully, you can see the snow on this pic of Little Girl on the trig point.

Ingleborough summit - with the snow fizzling out

On top of the world (well on top of Yorkshire at any rate)

While we were at the summit the snow was replaced with sunshine and we headed back down.  On the way back we stopped off to have a look at Gaping Gill - the famous pot hole.  Decided to have a sit down and a snack here.  Nice and sunny at this point and almost impossible to believe we'd just had a load of snow!

Gaping Gill

Back we headed to Trow Gill.  Looking forward to the scramble down.  Some guys had set up a wire across the ravine while we had been up and down Ingleborough so we stopped to have a look at what they were up to.  We watched this chap tightrope walk across the ravine.  Only held on by a "leash". That's what he called the little cable keeping him attached. He fell a couple of times but was able to get back up again fairly easily.  Amazing!

Tightrope across Trow Gill

So high!

So doing the same route both ways was worth it.  We would have missed this event had we gone back another way.

Another grand day out!

Bluebells

Bluebell "carpets" are only found in the British Isles.  Did you know that?  I didn't until quite recently.

Fresh new leaves and a bluebell carpet.  Spring is here!

End of April, time to go and check out the beautiful bluebells at Spring Wood near Whalley.  I've been going ever since I can remember and will have to get a scan of a fab picture of me when I was little wading through oceans of bluebells!

There had been some really horrid rain in the days before we trundled over there so it was a bit muddy and icky in places.  Someone was bound to slip, it was simply unavoidable.  All I can say is thank heavens for modern fabrics.  Quick drying and easy to wash.

Oops... silly me! ended up sitting in the mud...sigh...

The bluebells were very spectacular this year

The annual "Bench Shot"

A little collage of "Bench Shots" over the years.

30 Days of Biking

I didn't really post about this - it's been more of a Twitter thing really but I thought I would just post a sort of summing up here as well.

30 days of biking takes place in the month of April and it's a challenge to get you to ride your bike every day for a month.  Luckily two of the weeks were the Easter school holidays so I was off work at the beginning and we had taken our bikes with us to the Lakes.  Easy start.  This will be a piece of pie I thought.

Once back home and back at work though, it was all a bit more of an effort.  Only some truly dreadful wind and torrential rain made me miss a few days.

Was it worth it?  Yes, riding a bike is a really fun thing to do and you rediscover this fairly quickly.  Will I do it again next year.  Oh yes

Here are my stats

Cycled on 27 of the 30 days (just short of 26 hours in total)

Travelled 205 miles on my bike

Burned off 11274 calories

Four Scramble Up a Waterfall

Bit late posting this.  Life and lots of stuff has been getting in the way but more of that in another post I think.

Easter Sunday and what better activity than a walk.  Off to the Yorkshire Dales, we thought, for a rather lovely circuit around Janet's Foss, Gordale Scar and Malham Cove.  Lots of interesting things to look at and the promise of a climb up a waterfall was just soooo exciting for the girls.

First place we got to was the beautiful Janet's Foss.  Even in very early spring with not much greenery, it is still a gorgeous and magical place.  Most definitely an enchanted place for the fairies we agreed.

Looking for Fairies on the way to Janet's Foss

Janet's Foss - a practically perfect waterfall

After resisting the urge to get into the beautiful pool at Janet's Foss we continued on to Gordale Scar.  A waterfall on another scale really.  Very imposing and impressive.

The scramble up Gordale Scar

I am pleased to report that big girl, little girl, Sallydog, and mummy all managed to get up in one piece.  Time for lunch at the top.  Watched the cloud descend while munching on sandwiches and pork pies.  Then off to walk on the limestone pavements.

Little girl scrambling up like a little mountain goat!

Walking on limestone pavement in the cloud

The cloud came down to the floor after a bit so the approach to Malham Tarn was a bit miserable really. Wet and cold and rather blustery.  We decided to head straight to the Cove instead and on the way down the weather did improve a little.  Everyone and his dog was on the top of the cove it being Easter Sunday and some seriously inappropriate attire on show too. I kid you not, there were people up there in sandals and flip flops.

Despite the crowds, Malham Cove never fails to impress so we finished off the flask of coffee and sat and watched the climbers for a while before heading back to the car and then home. A grand day out.

Climber in action at Malham Cove

Four go home

It was with heavy hearts that we loaded up and got ready to come back home.  We had such a good time in our yurt and getting out and about that it was a real wrench facing reality and coming home again.  We could easily have stayed another week there  and still found lots of things to do.

Full to bursting point car - back home again

Forgot to mention all the cute lambs we saw, the native Herdwick sheep and all of the swans.  We even saw butterflies on the warmer days!  Also spotted but not photographed were deer, woodpeckers, owls, rabbits and lots of other birds, too numerous to name.

Day 7 - Four go cycling in the forest

A return of the lovely weather meant that we could do something properly outdoorsy on our last full day at the yurt.  We decided to go the the wonderful, nearby Grizedale Forest.  Absolutely brilliant place for mountain biking at any level.

Biking girls

Amazingly, we were all back in teeshirts after wrapping up and shivering only the day before.

Checking our route

We had lots of fun mooching around the forest.  The girls again did really well on their bikes and managed some pretty demanding climbs too and whooped their way down some fun downhills.  That's the best thing about big hills; they may be a pain to cycle up but once you are at the top it's so much fun coming down again.

We met up with my parents that evening who were staying at their caravan not too far away.  We went to the Outgate Inn for a delicious meal and a few rather quaffable real ales.

Day 6 - Four recover from the storm

In the morning, I heard that lots of people went off to B&Bs because they were too cold during the night and one poor family had their tent totally trashed by the winds.  They were camped on the lake side in a spot I'd been envious of a couple of days previously - not now though.  The poor family simply left the tent and went home.

Tent trashed by the storm

It was a glorious, sunny day but oh my it was so, so, so, so cold.  Really bitterly cold.  It was still very windy and it was the wind that seemed to slice through you.  Windermere was very choppy and there were proper little waves on the shore.

Icy cold, choppy Lake Windermere

Up on the hills there was lots and lots of snow.  Looked beautiful.

Snowy lakeland 

Compared to lots of other places in the UK we got away with it pretty lightly and most of the snow was gone by the evening.  Just the odd pocket of white in the deeper recesses of the hills.  It was much worse in Derbyshire and Yorkshire.

I was really feeling the cold though and so we didn't get up to a great deal.  Just headed over to Windermere and Bowness for a look around.  Took the car ferry across and headed back around.  Had to pop into the Lakeland store to look at all the fabulous things that I didn't know I needed until I went there.  Very restrained we were though, and only got some chewy liquorice!

Day 5 - Four get caught in the snow

Brr, it was definitely a bit on the chilly side today.  Never mind, we decided to head off to Keswick to have a look around.  Lots of shops there to warm up in. Blimey it was cold, and windy and raining.... or.... gasp!....could it be starting to snow.  Yes, yes it was beginning to snow.

People fleeing from the cold, sleety weather in Keswick

Unsurprisingly, it was relatively quiet in the town.  And it was getting really cold.  We ended up getting a couple of new coats for the girls as they looked frozen and then decided to head to Booth's supermarket to stock up on a few things.  We spotted some bags of coal and decided that it would probably be a good thing to get some in as it was looking increasingly likely to be a stormy night.

On the way back we stopped off in Grasmere to go to the famous Grasmere Gingerbread Shop. It's a tiny little shop and the lady who served me was all dressed up in a victorian outfit complete with mop cap.  It was great except for the fact we had to queue outside in the increasingly heavy snow.  I still can't believe I did that.  the gingerbread is very good though and you should definitely try some if you are ever passing.

Had a quick visit to the Herdy shop too.  Their sign blew off in the night during the storm!  We headed back to the yurt.  Got the coal going in the stove and very cosy we were too.  Coal burns much longer than wood and as it was clear that it was going to be a very, very chilly night we didn't want the fire to go out if possible.  It didn't and we were toasty all night.  The wind really got up and other than around the door, we had relatively few draughts.  The yurt was in a nice sheltered spot so there was very little movement despite some very gusty wind during the night.

Day 4 - Four Go Sailing on Lake Coniston

When we were in the shop on the campsite, we were collared by a very nice National Trust lady who was looking for volunteers to help her try out a new booking and payment website for the Coniston Steam Gondola.  We agreed to help out and 20 minutes of our time earned us a free family ticket! Brilliant.  Don't you just love free stuff!  I know I do.

Now for some unknown reason, it always rains whenever we visit Coniston, and this day was no exception.  Fortunately, it was just the occasional session of light drizzle rather than the torrential downpour of our last visit.  Not bad enough to put us off anyhow.

Lunch at the Green Housekeeper Cafe, another little gem.  Free wifi and a sideline business in ecological household products. I especially liked the vintage cup and saucer I got with my tea.

After a quick look around the shops in Coniston and the emergency purchase of gloves for the girls (the good weather we had enjoyed so far was beginning to turn a lot cooler and there were grumbles and shivers from the girls), we headed off for the lakeside.

Gorgeous old rowing boats on Coniston

Coniston is a lovely lake. Every bit as nice as Windermere, albeit on a smaller scale, but it's much less commercialised here and a bit more simple.  I like it a lot and was really looking forward to our trip on the Steam Gondola

The Steam Gondola steaming to the pier

The trip was brilliant and I highly recommend it if you are ever in the area. The crew are very friendly and informative and real enthusiasts.  There weren't very many passengers on our cruise around the lake so all the children on board were able to clamber up with the captain to steer the boat and (the most fun of all) toot the steam horn a few times.

Very exciting for them all.  The captain gave an interesting commentary with lots of information about the Campbell family, Arthur Ransome (Swallows and Amazons), the various poets and artists that have lived in the area (Ruskin etc) and the history of the boat, the lake and Coniston.  It was a really good trip.

Peel Island - aka Wild Cat Island in the Swallows and Amazons

Ice Creams on the lake shore

Water walking - human sized hamster balls that float.
Not so much walking going on but lots of falling over!

Day 3 - Four go hiking to Hawkshead

The weather was lovely so we decided to follow a bridle path we spotted and head off to Hawkshead.  Girls were up for it as there was the prospect of cake once we got there.

Walking to Hawkshead

Stepping Stones

As you may remember the nation was gripped by a fear of fuel shortages and panic buying of petrol had been a bit of an issue in the day or so before we set off on hols.  It was refreshing to see that even under these ridiculous circumstances people hadn't entirely lost their sense of humour!

Funny signs around Hawkshead

We really enjoyed our walk into Hawkshead.  The bridleway took us as far as Outgate just up the road from the pub ( I later cycled down this bridleway - great fun - and fell off my bike into the river by the stepping stones pictured above!!) After that we thought we would have to walk along the road but there was a path running alongside the road which was great because it's quite a busy road with no pavements.

Once in Hawkshead, we headed for the Sun Cottage Cafe for a spot of lunch.  What a find that place was.  Gorgeous door-stopper sandwiches and the most MASSIVE cakes you have ever seen!  The photo doesn't do them justice.  They must be around 20 inches in diameter and about 8 inches high. HUMUNGOUS... and yummy

Enormous Cakes at the Sun Cottage Cafe in Hawkshead

Day 2 - Four go cycling to Ambleside

We were able to bring all of our bikes on this trip because we weren't bringing camping gear.  Mind you, it was still a real squeeze, I think because we didn't have the roof box on this time.  Or perhaps we are simply not very good at travelling light.

Anyway the girls did really well on their bikes aided by lots of bellowing from us, e.g. Keep pedalling, keep on the left, don't stop suddenly like that, keep going..... etc.  Felt a bit bad about all of this haranguing but it seems to be the norm as every other family cycling group we came across was doing all the same shouty stuff as us!

Stopped for fish and chips at Ambleside Pier.  Every bit as good as we remembered it too.

Day 1 - Four arrive and look around

When we got to the site and unloaded our stuff, we looked around the campsite. We checked out the amazing view from the shore of Lake Windermere.  You can camp right on the lake shore on this site. Imagine waking up to that amazing vista every morning.  Was a bit envious but still happy with our set back woodland spot.

View from the campsite

Sitting on a rock admiring the view above

Four Go Wild in a Yurt

Oh yes we had a simply spiffing time last week.  A wonderful Easter Break in the lovely, lovely Lake District.  As it can get rather chilly at nights this time of year we decided to do something a bit different and so booked the week in a yurt.

Our woodland yurt

We found a yurt on the gorgeous Low Wray Campsite.  The site is owned by the National Trust and is in a fantastic setting on the shores of Lake Windermere.  It's an idyllic, hidden gem of a place and we have been wanting to stay there for ages.  When we spotted the alternative camping options that are available now we didn't half get excited.  There are camping pods, tipis, yurts and even gypsy caravans available for something a bit different.  Our yurt was from the lovely people at Wild in Style who also have the gypsy caravan.

Gypsy Caravan at Low Wray

Bright and cheerful tipis

Look how cosy our yurt is!

The yurt was an 18 ft yurt, so there was plenty of room for the four of us.  There were two very comfy sofa/futons, a table and chairs, small stove for cooking and, best of all, a wood burning stove.  It's very light and airy inside too with a window at the apex.

Our view of the sky

 There was a quirky barbecue outside the yurt that looked like it was made from an old washing machine drum.  Did the job though and we enjoyed making coffee in our coffee pot on it. ( this was the only food/drink related item we had brought with us since everything you might need was already supplied)

Barbecue - making coffee and alternative brazier later on when it got chilly!

As I mentioned earlier, Low Wray is a gorgeous campsite.  It's absolutely fantastic for children.  They can roam around and go wild.  There are a couple of play areas for them and plenty of locations for den building and having a rumpus. There are lots of other children so new best friends are made almost every day.  There were loads of girls around this time which was brilliant for our two.

Making friends and building dens at Low Wray

One of the best things about the site is the space you have.  The woodland section is especially good as everyone is in their own little hollow so it's really quite private.  It's also very quiet - well, by quiet I mean there is no traffic noise, or music or modern noise.  The geese are very noisy at the moment and there are lots of woodpeckers, owls and feral children at different times.  It's not overly lit either so lots of fun going to the loo at night with torches an absolute necessity ( unless the moon is out - don't need a torch then).