Lake District Holiday Plans

I thought I'd finalised my holiday plans several weeks ago but they've recently been thrown into disarray by a family crisis. Posting details here would be highly inappropriate; suffice to say that S- and I are still alive, fighting fit, very much in love and resolved to make plans for just the two of us.  It does, however, go some way to explaining why I haven't posted here for a while.

Hay Stacks, looking towards Crummock Water in 2014.
Little wonder that I keep coming back to the Lakes. 

Our love affair with the Lake District goes back a long way, before we were even engaged to be married. We spent a week at the old Pontins camp in Lytham St Anne's – separate rooms (of course!) as it was a church do – but soon tired of camp life.  One day we escaped to the Lakes, where it rained incessantly... but we were hooked. Since then we have returned several times and I spent a wonderful week in 1989, Youth Hosteling with the kids. We climbed High Street, Helvellyn, Cat Bells, Great Gable and Scarfell Pike, and by the end of the week I was knackered! It was good fun, though.

Now the Lake District calls us again. We've planned a two-centre 'AirBnB' holiday and are determined to climb a few mountains. High on the list is Coniston Old Man, which I have never climbed, so our first little self-catering cottage will be in Coniston.

Pre-Slimming World tubby Angie aboard the steam yacht Goldola on Coniston Water, 2010. 
Photos like this one make me feel positively skinny.

Weather permitting, I would really love to go up Helvellyn, via Striding Edge. The last time I was there was on that Youth Hosteling holiday but S- had to work and missed the adventure. As we won't be heading for the next Youth Hostel this time, I have plans to descend on Swirral Edge.

Back in 1989 we used a video camera for nearly all our photography. Consequently, we have a lovely record of our children in their teenage years but the photo quality isn't that great – in fact it's miserable. However, here are a few photo-grabbed images from that ascent of Striding Edge.

That's Ullswater in the background

There have been a few fatalities on this ridge, though it remains a popular ascent – it's just very important to take ones time and tread carefully. I certainly felt no danger back in 1989 but how will I feel 30 years on? I definitely won't think of tackling it in high winds but the mountain weather can deteriorate rapidly. Thankfully, though, there is an alternative path that runs 30-40 feet below the ridge, avoiding the challenging sections. 

For the second half of our holiday we will descend to Ulverston. It's only about 7 miles from the lakes and we may venture that way again but I'm keen to explore some of the gentler slopes in Furness and Arnside that have featured on one of my favourite blogs, Beating the Bounds. That will all be new to both of us.