The Best of the Lakes Part 2

The second day at the Great Langdale campsite saw us leave the bikes and pick up the ice axe for a walk exploring Crinkle Crags at the head of the valley. It dawned on us as we looked at the view and the weather forecast that the view maybe not as great from the top but still conditions were good!

The walk in was flat and felt like you were in an amphitheater of snow capped lakeland fells! Our route took us across Oxendale beck and around Great Knott and onto explore the crinkles! Slippery under foot meant concentration was required at all times but that was difficult with such a stunning panorama!

It was not long before we were in the cloud and relied on bearings and our navigation to traverse Crinkle Crags. Visibility varied along the route and it was easy to see how people get lost and in trouble in this environment!

Playing for the camera!! 

After lunch it was time to find our exit before Bowfell and head back to the campsite! Luckily our catching feature was Bowfell itself as the path was not going to be easy to find in these conditions even though it was by the 3 tarns! So as we started to ascend we realised we had found Bowfell!! Re- tracing our footsteps we soon found the path and were already discussing the much needed cup of tea!

The walk back to the valley was down what they call The Band descending to Stool End. The route dropped us onto our original path and it was not long before the kettle was on and we were discussing enthusiastically how great the weekend had been and how lucky we were to have all this on our door step!

The Best of the Lakes Part 1

After a tough winter week of work there is nothing better than planning the weekends adventures! With so much to choose from we decided to head to Great Langdale for the weekend. Instead of travelling in each day we decided to base ourselves at the National Trust Campsite.

The campsite was quiet and had a spectacular view in every direction. The splattering of snow also helped the winter feeling in the Lakes. The plan was to have a lakeland blast on the bikes and then walk Crinkle Crags the next day.






A short typical lakeland ride would take us on a bridleway from Great Langdale over to Elterwater. The route was quite busy for this time of year with walkers who walked smugly past as we fixed a rare puncture!

The bridleway has plenty to keep you interested and the views at this time of year were stunning. Once at Elterwater we headed for Loughrigg Fell. Unfortunately like many of the paths in the Lakes this has been sanitised and what once was a challenging climb is now quite easy to spin up! However with views like you get off the fell and a cracking descent to Ambleside we should not really complain!

The descent to Ambleside has everything and is one that always puts a smile on your face when you reach the tarmac road. Turning left at the bottom we headed back around to take in the views down to Rydal water from Loughrigg terrace. We were not disappointed.

The ride back to Great Langdale was a short spin along the road. For an afternoon winter blast this was a cracking ride with some of the best views the lakes have to offer! It was soon time to crank up the gas fire and thaw out the feet!