Borrowdale

The staff at Keswick started getting funny about us staying over the bank holiday as they said they had the most popular camp site in the country. We thought otherwise and decided to decamp and head down into Borrowdale so we could be right at the foot of some of the bigger mountains right in the heart of the Lake District. After a little investigation we found a great (basic) little site just outside of Stonetwaite on the road to Seatoller. It was fun setting up, lugging all our stuff including the newly acquired deck chair on the bus only to be dropped off a couple of stops too early. Quickly setting up camp, so Sneha and I could nip back to Keswick to buy all our provisions for the next 5 days. That was quite a job but we did it and did it well. As you can see we had quite a cozy civilized set up. We were very comfortable even when it rained.

Enjoying a yummy egg curry

Dan and Parag set off on their long hike

Views across to Scarfel from Castle Crag

Meditation!

Amy seemed to learn so much during the course of the holiday, she got so much better at walking considering she'd only started a few days earlier and was eager to get on the move.

Dan, Amy and I got the bus over Honister pass to walk over Haystacks and back to the campsite. This is the view from Buttermere just as we were setting off. Haystacks is in the centre.

Nearly there!

At the top

I really enjoyed this hike, the scenery was so varied and we saw so many of the big mountains all in one day. The weather was still fantastic, a little windy, but dry.

We just chilled out on the last day, we had a little feast by the river. Followed by a stroll to Grange, where we had the worst milkshake I have ever had in my life!! We paid good money expecting thick creamy refreshing milkshake... but no, they gave us watery nesquick!!!

We had such a brilliant holiday. We managed to hike loads and the scenery was absolutely spectacular! Amazingly we only had a few rainy days, the Skiddaw attempt, the day Dan and Parag were coming back from their long hike and the day we went home. Amy did incredibly well at sleeping through the night in the tent (I was expecting the worst). We also stayed in brilliant places. I was slightly apprehensive about camping with a baby and with no car but it all worked out very well. It was such a big help having extra pairs of hand and eyes to look after Amy.

Parag looking very pleased with himself after managing to fix his rain cover over the roll mat.

Home at last!