The Lake District
The whole reason for my trip to the Lake District was for a 4 day autumn workshop with Stuart McGlennon. But also to spend a 3 day weekend in the lakes with my friends Paul and Jenny. In between all of that, I spent 2 days in Keswick by myself, exploring all parts of Keswick and Derwentwater. Other than a few rain showers here and there, I was blessed with great weather with beautiful peak autumn colors on display.
The 3 day weekend with Paul and Jenny was spent in Threlkeld which is a small village less than 10 minutes away from Keswick. We drove in from Scotland on a Friday evening, making it there around 10pm. The next morning, we decided to do a bit of hill walking by climbing up Blencathra which was right out the front door of our AirBnb. The peak stands at 868m and is listed as a difficult hike regardless of which of the handful of routes taken. We chose one of the two most difficult routes, there were several areas where we had to scramble, but it wasn’t terrible. In all, the elevation gain was 750m in 3.5 miles to the summit. I started great, slowed in the scrambling sections and was pretty well beat by the time the summit was achieved.
After a lunch of cheese, crackers, avocado, and tomatoes, we headed down one of the walkup routes. Going down a mountain is always harder for me, it’s so taxing on my knees so I thought the route down wasn’t more tiring. Anyway, it was a great hike, that we finished off with a few pints at the Horse and Harrier pub. Then we were back there for dinner that night. Sunday was an awful weather day, sideways rain and high winds. We didn’t leave the AirBnb until dinner, we were all feeling the hike, that or the beer.
On Monday, we walked all around Derwentwater, had lunch, a pint or two at a great craft beer bar, then they dropped me off at my AirBnb in central Keswick. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday exploring the city, Derwentwater, and relaxing. Of course I visited that craft beer bar again, and Crooked River Brewing often. Overall, a great time by myself. I considered renting a car, but decided against it, if i wanted to get to anywhere in the lakes, plenty of buses could get me there.
Thursday evening I transferred to the guest house where my workshop was being held. Was a fantastic workshop which I will speak more about later. And when it was over, I took a train and bus back to St. Andrews. Here are some of my favorite “vacation” photos (non-workshop) from my time in the Lake District.
