3 Peaks in 3 Weeks - Volume 3 - Heading North

 Well the first week is up and one peak down. Not too bad. Unfortunately we have a time frame to be home by and so we needed to prioritise where we were going to head next. Going north was always the idea but do we have long enough to camp for a few days in the Lake District? Get a good look at Scafell Pike and tick another peak off our list? 

Well the short answer is no. Our tent is actually far too big for what we need. It is a 6 man tent for only 3 people and one of them is small. Tent manufacturers make tents and give them a guide on how big they are by saying how many people fit. 2 man, 3 man, 4 man etc. To my experience this is literal. How many adults can fit laying down shoulder to shoulder, not including any sleeping mat, bags or equipment That's the "man" description. As such my rule of thumb, and piece of advice to anyone who wants to buy a new tent, is to always buy a tent with 2 more "men" than you need. So if three people are travelling, especially for more than a weekend, then get a 5 man tent or more. This allows for a comfortable sleeping situation, room for equipment, clothing and general more comfortable experience.

But our Coleman Vail 6L tent is listed as a 6 man tent, it has a large bedroom area with three doors, a large living room type area with two external doors and a porch that anyone would happily have a rocking chair under. But because of its size it does take a lot of time and effort to put up and back down again. For one night, it is just not practical. Especially when you consider it isn't just the tent itself, but the most comfy bedroom set up as well. Comfort brings effort though. Our mattresses are amazing, but the bedroom takes 30 minutes to pack away fully, not to mention a bunch of energy.

So, all of this means that we couldn't afford to spend much time and so couldn't camp in the Lake District. We settled on an overnight stopover instead with a route to this stop going passed Scafell Pike so that we get to see it. 

 My husband was in charge on this one. He found a B&B in a small hamlet just outside Keswick. Knotts View Guest House was a beautiful, charming 18th Century cottage which has been run as a guest house for 4 generations. It was full of old world charm, character and lovely hosts. I would recommend a visit there any time. 

But first we had to get there. The route took us through the beautiful North Wales countryside and on to Wrexham. We only really know this place because of the Disney+ series "Welcome to Wrexham", but it was lovely to see the football stadium and the pub next door called The Turf made famous by the show (well now it's famous  famous to everyone else and not just the Wrexham fans who have know about it for far, far longer). After a pitstop in the local McDonald's, it was on to the motorway bypassing Manchester and Liverpool and on to Windermere. 

There is a reason Windermere is so popular. It is so beautiful! I don't have any photos though as I was driving when we went through it. Hubby isn't the biggest camera user and if he did whip my camera out, I managed to re-format the SD card on my camera and destroy pretty much everything for 10 days. Windermere and Ambleside are two gorgeous looking places, both on Lake Windermere and utterly charming. They were stupidly busy though. I wonder if going outside of the school holidays will make a visit bareable? 

It was wonderful being back among mountains again because motorway driving is so horrid. While driving through Windermere and Ambleside we thought we got a peak of Scafell Pike. Again, sorry no pictures but hubby is confident it was the right one. This one was just barely but we're happy to take it as a win and put it on the list of places we'd love to go back to when time allows again. 2 peaks down, 1 to go. 

Onward through very narrow, winding roads passed lakes and rivers on the way to Stonethwaite where we were going to stay for the night. We arrived at the guest house and checked in smoothly got our things in the room, settled in  and went for a delicious dinner in the pub opposite. The food was delicious, but lots of people were turned away because they hadn't booked a table. Our hostess was very upfront with this when we booked the room and we were lucky they had room for us but there were a lot of disappointed hikers that night. After dinner we headed out for a stroll down the lane towards a waterfall. We found some beautiful scenery, some speckled sheep and a closed down National Trust campsite. It was a lovely evening indeed. 

Back to the guest house with no phone signal and no TV (I was very disappointed because the Olympics were on and I was missing it being in yhe tent) but the WiFi was excellent and the room had lots of PLUGS! We charged everything up, used the showers and some laundry detergent to do a rudimentary wash of our clothes which we were running a bit low on. The next morning we were treated to a lovely breakfast and after signing the visitor book we packed up we set off with a long motorway journey ahead. 

But the local sheep had other ideas. We were going down the single lane track just outside the guest house and then a wall of noise hit us. It was the familiar baas of many, many sheep. Then we saw them. The gorgeous, bounding, wooley balls of well over 100 sheep bouncing down the street in front of us. There was no way we were going to get through and they couldn't get past us and so we had to back up and let them by. It was such a sweet sight seeing all of their confused but determined faces coming at us. Following them was the shepherd and his dogs on an ATV so our choice to back up was definitely the right one. Another false start on our journey but at least this time it wasn't me.

We were heading to Scotland and of course a trip that far north is not complete without a visit to Hadrian's Wall. This was a wall built during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian's reign and began in 122 AD. Originally reported to be 12 meters high, only small sections remain in good condition and it is now much lower than the original as the stones were repurposed to build houses and walls locally once the Romans had gone. Still well worth a visit as it is beautiful history given how cold it all is and to still be standing. 

  

This was a quick detour and soon it was onward again and onto the motorway. Motorways were built to get places fast. Most of them are boring cut throughs to just make the journey as easy and simple as possible and they are also boooorrrriiinnnggg to drive. But the M74, the road between the Lakes and Glasgow, was stunning. Beautiful open sections of sweeping road with gorgeous views on either side. I was missing the mountains but the fields and hills going on for miles in this part of the world were some of the best sections of motorway driving I have ever done and would happily do again. 

Glasgow's motorway network was another matter entirely. It was a spaghettified mess. I had to grip the steering wheel and really pay close attention to Google Maps because it was nightmare fuel. I still went wrong and felt very uncomfortable with the amount of exits to navigate and lanes to keep in check with. I had no idea where I was half the time and the other half was spent working out where I needed to go next. I would never wish to do that journey again as long as I live. I probably will though. 

After navigating that disaster we were almost there, our heading: Loch Lomond. But that is for next time. 

Until next time

xx