Lakeland Lovelies

Morning! had a great weekend in the Lakes, albeit a bit on the short side. Picked up the monster in Manchester at about 11 and stopped in at Stalyvegas Tescos for breakfast. By 1130 we were on the way, and by 1330 we were in the Lakes!

Went straight over to the Grizedale forest, but were too late to hire bikes (1400) so headed up Langdale. Parked at the New Dungeon Ghyll hotel and walked up Stickle Ghyll.

Amazing weather, beautiful sunshine and great visibility...

Got to the top in good time and considered our options. The time was knockin on (about 1600), giving us about an hour and a half of light. It didnt look to be far to whip up the top and then head down langdale pikes, but it did look steep. Everyone else was walking the other direction which didnt help our confidence. Decided to sack it down and on the way were glad we did. We had no provisions and only about a litre of water, started to run out of energy. Quickly recharged in the pub and then drove back to the hotel.

Room was fairly rubbish, but the food was nice and the service was great. Lovely meal and a bottle of wine and we retired early.

Up early on Sunday to frost, but again, totally blue sky! brilliant! Breakfasted and got to Grizedale for 0945. Hired bikes and set off on a mountain bike trail. We covered 17.5km in 2.5 hrs. Had a couple of stops, and bear in mind that one of us hadnt sat on a push bike for 10 years, let alone a mountain bike! Learning curve was steep but successful and noone came a cropper! had a lovely lovely morning, saw some great views and worked off at least half of previous nights tea!

After we returned the bikes we headed to Ambleside for a mooch around and a sandwich (in the Giggling goose). Managed to extract myself from the outdoor shops empty handed and then to Grasmere to buy Gingerbread and have a little walk. Set off home at about 1500. A lovely weekend.