A Very British Bank Holiday

Correct me if I’m wrong but, is there really anything Brits love more than a bank holiday weekend. A whole three days off work and an excuse to get away from it all.  Well that’s if the weather is nice. It’s always a gamble and since this bank holiday just gone was a wash out, I thought I’d get you up to date with how we spent the first May bank holiday with my sister and her partner.

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Pistyll Rhaeadr Waterfalls, Lake Vyrmwy and Barmouth

My birthday really creeped up on me this year – alas, I am now 25 and still not any closer to really knowing the meaning of what it is to be an adult. Thankfully, instead of spending the weekend of my birthday pitying that I am now in fact half way to 50, Troy had organised a weekend in Wales. We have neglected the fact that Wales is (kinda) on our doorstep and we haven’t visited since the notorious Tryfan climb of Easter 2017 … but more of that another time. Continue reading “Pistyll Rhaeadr Waterfalls, Lake Vyrmwy and Barmouth”

Kinder Scout Revisited

This weekend we decided to return to the Peak District, specifically Kinder Scout. Coincidentally this turned out to be the exact weekend that we came to the Peaks last year.  Last years visit turned out to be a real adventure / disaster (depends on your outlook) with a few wrong turns, no map, gale force winds , below freezing temperatures and fading light. However this year we came prepared!

Freezing conditions, 2017

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Christmas getaway in the Lakes: Part Two

As mentioned in our last post, between Christmas and new year we managed to squeeze in a little three day break in Keswick. We love the Lakes, it’s probably our favourite National Park in the UK. There’s something magical in climbing the magnificent peaks here and hiking along paths forged from footsteps long gone by.

For our second hike of the trip we decided to take a little stroll up Cat Bells. We were tired from our longer hike up Skiddaw the previous day, the weather was looking very grim and our reputation of becoming the Lazy Weekenders was seeping through. We chose this 4 mile hike from WalkLakes and set out on the icy roads to Hawse End. Continue reading “Christmas getaway in the Lakes: Part Two”

Christmas getaway in the Lakes: Part One

Between Christmas and the new year we were lucky enough to get a few days away to ourselves. We booked into the Keswick Reach Lodge Retreat which is 10 miles north of Keswick itself. It’s a great base for exploring the North-West Fells and we loved been able to come home to a cosy, warm lodge where we could cook dinner together. We didn’t have the greatest weather towards the end of our stay but managed to pack in two hikes and a couple of visits to Keswick and Ambleside so we weren’t too disheartened.

On our first day we woke up to beautiful blue skies and crisp winter air. We hadn’t yet climbed Skiddaw and thought today was our best day weather-wise to do just this. We like finding routes online as a base for our walks and we found this route over on Walk Lakes which seemed a good starting point. Continue reading “Christmas getaway in the Lakes: Part One”