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The Lake District 2021
  • Alan Chapman

The Lake District 2021

A 15-day adventure by Alan Read more
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  • Trip start
    October 13, 2021
    Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Waterloo

    October 13, 2021 in England ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    I left Matt in the flat at noon and, following the AA Route Planner, went up to the Euston Road to join the Westway and A4. I took an hour to reach the start of the M40. Continuing on the M42 and the M6 Toll Road, which was quieter, I stopped at services for a break, to have a snack, and to fill up with petrol in case the shortages made it difficult to find petrol further north. I started from London with enough to reach Manchester but not the Lake District.
    I continued on the M6, M56, M60, A56 to reach Talbot Road and the Hilton Garden Inn at 17.30, my room overlooking Old Trafford cricket ground. I dined at the hotel.
    After a sunny start, the weather became cloudier in the Midlands with occasional showers, and there was drizzle in Manchester, typical Old Trafford weather.
    Mileage: 212.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Old Trafford Football Stadium

    October 14, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    It was a five minute walk from the hotel to Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United. The tour of the stadium started at 11.00 and included the stands, the Directors' box, the home team's changing room, the teams' tunnel and dugouts, and the corridors under the stands. After looking around the Museum, I had a fish and chip lunch in the cafe. The total cost was £25.Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Old Trafford Cricket Ground

    October 14, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Back at Old Trafford Cricket Ground, I was escorted by one of the hotel's staff into the Ground in front of the old pavilion. That was as far as I got because Lancashire CCC don't offer tours of the ground like Lords.
    My bedroom overlooking the ground had a balcony with table and chairs and would be a great spot to watch a match. I'd watched the groundsmen watering and sanding the outfield.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Manchester

    October 14, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    After some assistance, I bought a Metrolink Zone 1 and 2 day ticket at Old Trafford station, and travelled a few stops to St Peter's Square in the centre of Manchester.
    I went to the Central Library and saw the beautiful round Reading Room and the well-stocked Music Library. I also went into the Cathedral and Art Gallery and walked the streets, avoiding being knocked down by a Metro tram.
    After a good 3-course pre-theatre Italian meal, I went to the Bridgewater Hall to hear the Halle Orchestra conducted by Delyana Lazorova making her debut as Assistant Conductor in a concert consisting of a piece by the African-American, Florence Price, Barber's Violin Concerto with James Ehnes as soloist, and the New World Symphony by Dvorak. The hall was only half-full.
    I took the Metrolink back to Old Trafford which was a few stops short of the terminus at Altrincham.
    The weather was dry, cloudy and autumnal.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Seatoller

    October 15, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    On a beautiful sunny day, I left the hotel at Old Trafford at 10.00 and drove the short distance to Altrincham on the A56.
    8 Stamford Street where my ancestors, the Ernills, live in the late 19th century, had been redevoloped. However, 14 Kingsway was still the 19th century building. where Samuel Ernill had opened a butcher's in about 1880 with the family, including my grandmother, living above. It was an empty unit now. I spoke to two gentlemen who knew George Ernill who had died in recent years after closing the business, not having a son to take on the business. They said that he hadn't maintained the property or provided proper heating. His daughter and grandchildren live nearby in Downham.
    Driving back down the A56, I travelled on the M60 and M61 before joining the M6. I stopped at the Teebay Services near Jct 39 for lunch; a homemade steak pie and vegetables. The Services had appeared on a TV programme about Lake District businesses and the encouragement of local suppliers. The farm shop was very busy.
    I continued on to the next junction, joining the A66 to Keswick which was also very busy. A B road went the 8 miles down Borrowdale to Seatoller where Glaramara House was situated. I arrived there at 15.00, having been delayed a few minutes by a herd of sheep being brought down the road.
    My single room, although with a double bed, looked out at the fell behind the hotel. Two fell ponies were in the field.
    The briefing for the Explore group was at 18.00. There were 12 in the group; two Fionas, Elizabeth, Sarah, Paula, Louise, Jennifer, Rebecca, Sven, Jeremy, Robert and myself. The leaders, Glaramara staff, were Tom and Dwayne. The group were there for 6 nights and 5 days.
    Dinner was at the hotel, the first of many good meals.
    Mileage: 138.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    High Spy and Cat Bells

    October 16, 2021 in England ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    After a good breakfast, we set out at 9.00 for a steep walk up the fell behind the hotel, passing disused slate mine tunnels, to reach High Spy at 650 metres by lunchtime. After a break for the packed lunch provided by the hotel and facing Castle Crag (290m), we continued across Maiden Moor before descending to the base of Cat Bells. Having walked to the top to get a great view of Derwentwater, with Keswick and Bassenthwaite in the distance, we descended and continued down a steep path to the shore of Derwentwater and then along to a cafe at Lingholm for tea and cake. The walk was about 14 kms. A minibus took us back to the hotel.
    The weather was dry and cloudy with mist drifting around the peak at lunchtime, followed by a glimpse of the sun in the afternoon.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Buttermere

    October 17, 2021 in England ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    On a wet morning, we were taken by minbus over the Honister Pass to a car-park at one end of Buttermere. We split into two groups with the group I joined walking halfway round the lake. When we were due to start climbing uphill to High Crag and Haystacks which were clouded in mist with no prospect of a view from the top, I decided that this wasn't going to be much fun in the rain, so I left the group and walked back around the lake to the hamlet of Buttermere.
    Having missed the bus to Seatoller by 10 minutes with the next arriving in just under two hours, I stayed in a cafe to dry off and have some lunch before catching the bus to Seatoller which went over the Honister Pass.
    The rest of the afternoon was spent in the hotel.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Honister Slate Mine

    October 18, 2021 in England ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

    The forecast was of more rain so I didn't join the group planning to walk up at Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England at 978 metres. Only four of them went up, the rest completing a lower-level walk.
    I drove with Elizabeth to the Honister Slate Mine, the only working slate mine in England, at the top of the Honister Pass which has inclines up and down of 25%. We enjoyed a very informative tour of the mine workings, and I bought my only souvenir of the holiday, a lying-down sheep made of green slate. It would remind me of the slate, which lined many paths, the sheep, and the fact that they lie down in the rain.
    It was still drizzling in the afternoon so I stayed in the hotel reading the papers and starting a Charles Cummings spy thriller.
    I went out for a walk for an hour to the nearby hamlet of Seathwaite and back.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Cockermouth

    October 19, 2021 in England ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    It started as another wet day so, rather than walking, I drove to Cockermouth via the Honister Pass and Buttermere to visit William Wordsworth's childhood home by using my National Trust membership for the first time. The house was laid out as it would have been in the late 18th century. In a shelter in the garden, his poems were being read on a recording.
    After walking down Main Street to see the marks on buildings showing how high the floods in 2009 or 2015 had reached, I decided to drive to the coast because the sun had come out. However, shortly after leaving Cockermouth, the weather closed in and, by the time I reached St Bee's Head, I had the headlights on due to the sea fog. The blustery, drizzly conditions meant that it wasn't a day for the National Trust cliff walk to Whitehaven. So I had a soup and a roll at the beach-front cafe.
    I returned to Seatoller via Whitehaven and Keswick, and spent the afternoon in the hotel.
    Mileage: 79.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Greenup Edge and Grasmere

    October 20, 2021 in England ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    This was the last day with the group and, fortunately, it started off dry and bright so I decided to walk.
    We were driven the short distance to Stonethwaite to start the walk to the top of Greenup Edge (620m) which was like a saddle. The first part of the walk was on the Cumbria Way and the Coast-to-Coast Path.There were a number of streams and bogs to cross. The last section before lunch was quite steep walking up a stone staircase. Once at the top, it got very windy with light rain. but the weather improved in the afternoon as we descended.
    The group split in two with some going higher and walking along a ridge before descending, and crossing Grasmere Common into Grasmere. The rest of us walked down the valley (Easedale?), reaching Grasmere by about 15.00. The walk was 13 kms long.
    Grasmere was quite busy whereas we saw few others on the walk. We had coffees, teas and cakes in a good cafe and art gallery.
    Once back at Seatoller, we said goodbye to Tom and Dwayne.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Aira Force and Ullswater

    October 21, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    Ironically, the weather completely changed for the better as the rest of the group left with frost on the car and a clear blue sky in the morning with a few clouds in the afternoon.
    I drove to Ullswater via Kewwick and the A66. I hadn't realised when booking my additional six nights at Glaramara that there were no roads east of south, only west or north, from Seatoller. So I drove the windy B road to Keswick and the A66 a number of times.
    I went to the National Trust car-park (free for members) at Aira Force on the western side of Ullswater. There was a path going through the forest to the waterfall and the cascades, and it continued up the fell of Gowbarrow (480m) before descending and eventually returning to the car-park, a walk of 4 miles. There were great views of Ullswater from the top.
    Lunch was a Cornish pasty and tea at the National Trust cafe.
    I walked parallel to the road and the lake to Glencoyne Farm for a circular walk of 3 miles through a farm, up a fell, and back through a forest, and then retracing my steps back to Aira Force.
    On the way back to Keswick, I took the road to Castlerigg to see the bronze age stone circle.
    Mileage:44.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Pooley Bridge, Patterdale and Ullswater

    October 22, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Another sunny and dry day so I returned to Ullswater to do some more of the low level walks listed in a book.
    Starting in Pooley Bridge, I did a 5 mile walk along the lakeside, through a bog on to Barton Fell, and then a gradual ascent, past the Wainwright Stone overlooking the lake, past the Cockpit, a bronze age stone circle, and back to Pooley Bridge.
    After a nice smoked salmon salad for lunch at the Secret Garden, I enquired at about taking a ride on the steamer going down the lake, but the return journey was fully-booked. Instead, I drove down the side of the lake to Patterdale to do a 2 mile walk through Glenamara Park. There was a scenic cricket ground at a college near Patterdale.
    On the way back to Seatoller from Keswick, I stopped at the Bowder Stone, a massive rock left by a retreating glacier.
    Mileage: 63.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Crummock Water and Buttermere

    October 23, 2021 in England ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    I drove over the Honister Pass to Buttermere, parking the car. I walked up Rannerdale Knotts (355m) and down Rannerdale to Crummock Water. There was a lakeside path through woods before crossing the outlet of the lake and turning back down the western side of the lake. The weather had turned for the worst with steady rain at time being driven by a blustery wind into my face. Some of the walk was through bogs, crossed by stones in places, but having to find one's own route through the undergrowth elsewhere.
    After 3.5 hours and 9 miles, I arrived back at Buttermere 10 minutes before the time ran out on the car-park ticket. Having paid for another hour, I returned to the cafe visited a week earlier, and had soup, toasted teacakes, hot chocolate and tea fro lunch before driving back to Seatoller.
    Being a weekend, the start of half-term and a low-level walk, there were more people walking than on other days. It's amazing how many people walk in the rain (Mad Dogs and Englishmen) but that's what you have to expect in The Lake District. Many people walk with their dogs; sometimes two or even three.
    There were many more people in the towns and villages than on the walking trails.
    Mileage: 12.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Glaramara House

    October 24, 2021 in England ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    It was a wet morning so I stayed in the hotel reading the papers, doing emails, and having soup for lunch.

    It stopped raining in the afternoon so I was tempted to go to Ashness Bridge and maybe do a walk from there. However, there was a downpour when I got there so I returned to the hotel, read a book, talked to the other guests, and watched the red squirrel eating the food put in a hanging bag for him.
    An Explore group of six arrived in the evening. Explore had put on extra trips after the success of the original programme but they had to be fitted in where the hotel had availability. Unfortunately, the group had a very wet week.
    Mileage: 12.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Ashness Bridge and Wagga Crag

    October 25, 2021 in England ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    It was a dry and sunny morning so I drove the short distance to Ashness Bridge and parked in the National Trust car-park for free. The stone bridge is an old pack-horse bridge, just wide enough for a car to cross.
    The 4.5 mile walk started by ascending the fell and eventually reaching the top of Wagga Crag with excellent views of Keswick, Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite. The walk continued downhill through Great Wood and back to Ashness Bridge.
    I returned to Glaramara House for a soup lunch. and spent the afternoon in the lounge reading a book, the weather having turned showery with rainbows over the fells.
    Mileage: 12.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Dalemain House

    October 26, 2021 in England ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    It was another mixed day with regard to the weather.
    I drove to Keswick and then along the A66 towards Penrith, turning off on a minor road to Dalemain House and Gardens. I'd phoned the previous day and booked the 11am tour of the house. The owners still occupied part of the house but we were able to see some of the rooms, including those dating from Tudor times., as well as a room full of entries into the Marmalade Festivals.
    After walking around the ornamental gardens, I had a soup lunch in what was probably a converted barn, and then bought locally-made apple and brandy marmalade, and jars of Christmas chutney as Christmas presents.
    The afternoon was spent back at Glaramara House.
    Mileage: 50.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Mellor

    October 27, 2021 in England ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    I left Glaramara House at 9.00 for the return journey to London. It had been raining since yesterday afternoon, and the receptionist said that the road to Keswick already had flood warnings so she advised going over the Honister Pass and taking the road to Keswick from Buttermere.
    It was pouring with rain with roads as streams and waterfalls cascading down the sides of the Pass where I encountered no other traffic. It was reported later that the Pass had a foot of rain in a 24-hour period.
    Having waited for a herd of sheep to pass, the third time in my stay in the area, I reached Buttermere and took the road to Keswick, which also went high but not as high as Honister, and then down a winding road before eventually meeting the A66 west of Keswick at 9.45.
    After a toilet stop at the last services on the A66 before the junction with the M6, conditions worsened with rain, wind and poor visibility as the M6 reached Shap at 1,000 feet. The rain had stopped by the time I reached Preston.
    After driving along the M61, another service stop for a call to Mellor, to say that I was on my way, joining the M60, making an unnecessary detour through Stockport, asking for directions in Marple, I eventually reached Mellor Parish Centre at 13.30 to meet the archivist.
    The archivist showed me the records of burials plus a map of the graveyard with the graves numbered to correspond to the written record. The records had also been put on a CD which I purchased as well as making a donation to the church.
    We walked to the church which was on the top of a hill. Archaeologists had excavated part of the site to discover a pre-Roman settlement and medieval hall.
    The burial records indicated that there were about four graves with Ernills, my maternal great great grandfather's surname, and about a dozen with Bradburys, my maternal great great grandmother's maiden name. Having kicked away the moss, we found the grave of Thomas Ernill and Sarah Bradbury which also contains some other relatives. There was a stone flower holder with the name Ernill on its side.
    The church where many Ernills were baptised and married was very interesting with a pre-Norman font, a medieval pulpit, and a modern organ to accompany the choir which had sung at Westminster Abbey during the Abbey choir's summer holiday.    Read more

  • Alan ChapmanThe Lake District 2021Traveler

    Brook Bottom and Waterloo

    October 27, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Turning left out of Church Lane, Mellor, I drive the short distance to 11 Moor End where the family of Elizabeth Bradbury, the wife of Samuel Ernill, my maternal great grandfather, lived in the mid-19th century.
    Continuing through the village of New Mills and a narrow country lane, I reached the hamlet of Brook Bottom where the Ernills lived in the 18th and 19th century. They lived at Cottage No.2, but all the cottages had names, not numbers, now, and a local resident told me that some of the old cottages may have been knocked together to making the modern cottages.
    I had a good lunch at The Fox, a listed pub, which Robinson's, the brewery, had purchased in the late 19th century together with a few adjacent cottages but probably not the one occupied by the Ernills. The staff were putting up their Halloween decorations.
    I left the pub at 16.40 and continued through New Mills to find the A6 and then other A roads across the Derbyshire Dales, through Baslow and Chesterfield, to meet the M1 at the Mansfield junction. The motorway was very busy even in the early evening but gradually quietened as it approached London. After stopping at the last services for petrol and a drink, turning off too early so had to go down the A1 through Highgate and down the Caledonian Road, I eventually got home to Waterloo at 21.30.
    Mileage for the whole day: 338.
    Mileage for the whole trip: 960.    Read more

    Trip end
    October 27, 2021
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