Keith's Globe Trotting Blog: Lake District - Hawkshead

So, predominantly a full Winter delay on my blog travails through family commitment (and what s friggin awful wet Winter!)…some escapes to my pad in Mallorca but not what I considered the plan would have been in October.

At last Spring is creeping in, and when I saw the weather forecast (originally 3 pretty decent days, although the third was a washout….useless forecasters 😩).

Was going to camp at Coniston, but the reviews were rather off putting, so decided on one v close to Hawkshead…and a lovely setting it was too! 🥰 (£22pn)

Awoken by an amazing dawn chorus, including cuckoos and curlews. Unfortunately it was 5am….ear plugs in future! 😉

DAY 1

Brought my retro Kona Muni Mula MTB, due to my gravel bike being in service, but as it happened the route I planned on Komoot really needed a full suspension MTB, in fact it needed an E-MTB!

On paper quite nice, Hawkshead up to Tarn Hows…descent into Coniston, then took a lakeside cycle path, well mainly a cycle path. Komoot did warn me that there was over 2 miles of a non cycling segment. However I assumed it was just private or National Trust anti bike section but nooo! It was just impossible to ride…so walked most of it, and one time I tried to speed it up to ride…and hesitated over some rocks and gnarly roots…and went flying sideways….fortunately only with hurt pride. 😉

Eventually switching to the east side of the Lake, and ignoring another Komoot warning (red segment on the route). This equated to some impossible super steep rocky climbs…defo E bike needed if not a trails motorbike! The views though were worthwhile, outstanding above Lake Coniston with the backdrop of the Coniston fells, with views right across more fells.

Riding into Grisedale Forest, at last I hit smooth forest compact fire roads, although really not a fan of being enveloped in nothing but bloody trees. But at least I could ride quick ish and consistently, and soon plummeted down to Hawkshead….completed! Did I enjoy?....overall a tad mixed, I hate having to walk the bike, and certainly really need a more appropriate bike….but recovered with two lovely pints of local Loweswater Gold pale ale….and after a shower and change….rode back into the village for an evening meal and a couple more, this time, Bluebird XB….some great local cask ales.

DAY 2

Irrespective of that very early dawn chorus, the morning was beautiful.🥰 Hike today, so after my standard porridge mix, I planned a well worn route (by me), first scaled as a very young boy with my Dad. One of Wainwrights classic scrambles up South Rake on Dow Crag in the Coniston range via Goats Water. Scaled less flexibly than no doubt my more youthful days, but I still do enjoy a good scramble.

There was hesitation at first, as I wasn’t sure which gulley entrance to scale…the others apparently with sections of “easy” rock climbing….maybe one day with company. Sure enough I went up South Rake, and soon with the excellent views all around. Is that Blackpool Tower!? 🤣

Nice chats on the route, firstly with an elder ish couple on E mountain bikes, telling me their virtues, after I mentioned my struggles the day before…perhaps if I lived in the Lakes, don’t really need that assistance in most other places. On the top of Dow Crag, was a guy with half a house on his back! He was doing a 5 day wild camp. In the Lakes the rules for wild camping are above 600m or the highest wall, and pitch late, disappear early. He enthused about the sunrise at 4.30am….tempting to give it a go, one day?

And on descending the Old Man, which was of course thronged with tourists looking out for, yes, Blackpool Tower, and not the stunning Lakeland vistas. A gripe of Wainwright!

Anyhow passing one of the derelict buildings of the now defunct slate mines, I had a brief chat with a lady about that legacy, and how communities once lived on the mountain side (as she remarked, a topless youth with trainers on, passed us, that’s the Old Man)!

Soon in Coniston, I had a beer in some very familiar pubs then returned to Hawkshead. Deciding that evening to cook my own haute cuisine, noodles with meatballs and gravy. Eat your hearts out Frenchies!

DAY 3

The forecast was grim today, very wet – in fact retrospective learning later that Honister Pass had 2 months of rain in 24 hours. 😳

I packed up just as it started spitting, and headed alongside one of the lesser well known Lakes, Esthwaite Water….and passed a cafe in a converted boat house, perfecto! I did a little lakeside walk with some twitching (ospreys breed locally) and awaited 9am for the cafe to open. Feeling replete, I headed down the coast via Arnside, then the RSPB reserve at Leighton Moss….Hest Bank and a miserable Morecambe, by now it was pouring, so straight back to Sheffield.