Captain's Log

Langdales

I woke up and felt that something wasn't right. What was it? Ah, there was no patter of rain on my tent. Could this be true? I'd just been through 48 hours of a continuous wash cycle and felt a bit dizzy from the experience. I poked my head out of the tent door and was delighted. It wasn't exactly sun, but it definitely wasn't rain. I could even see some mountain summits. Wahoo!

I'd pitched on the NT Langdales campsite last night but had arrived just after the reception had closed. I therefore had to wait around a while before they opened at 08:00, so that I could settle up. It cost me a staggering £16 to stay there, but to be fair, the facilities were the best that I came across on the Cumbria Way. 

Despite the day starting dry, I didn't start dry at all. I had to put on my soaking walking gear from yesterday. I wasn't much worried about my tops and trousers, since these would soon dry out quickly, but my socks were soaking and that never bodes well when walking. It was only when I was studying the site map on the side of the campsite's reception cabin that I saw that there had been a drying room. Bugger! I could have made good use of that. There was nothing that could be done now though and so I set off walking. 

Today's Cumbria Way route would continue down the Langdale valley to Elterwater and then head over to Coniston via Tarn Hows. It would be my shortest day on the Cumbria Way.

Chesters By The River

It was a wonderful walk down the Langdale valley. After yesterday's claustrophobic mist and rain, it was great to get open views of the summits again. The path did undulate a bit, but flattened out as I approached the villages of Chapel Stile and then Elterwater. The good weather had brought out the 'potterers' and I joined their throngs as I made my way along the pretty path besides Elter Water. For some reason, the official Cumbria Way path bypasses Skelwith Bridge. This seems an odd choice since there is an excellent café there, Chesters By The River. I'd certainly recommend making the small diversion to Chesters. As a bonus, the diversion also took me past the viewing point for Skelwith Force. There was plenty of water tumbling down it after all the recent rain. At Skelwith Bridge I followed the signs to Chesters and walked through the entrance. I was greeted by a large room containing a plethora of tourist type gifts. I stopped in confusion and the assistant broke the spell by asking if he could help me. 'Sorry, I thought I was walking into a bakery' I told him. 'Ah, you need the café next door' he informed me. I was delighted to find that the building next door did better resemble a bakery.

Chesters By The River isn't exactly cheap, but there again, they thankfully don't subscribe to the shrinkflation marketing model. I bought a vegan sausage roll, a slab of carrot cake and a coffee that set me up well for the rest of the day. I was a full, happy bunny as I set off on the next stage to Tarn Hows.

Tarn Hows

Fuelled by the vegan sausage roll and carrot cake,  I climbed the hill out of Skelwith Bridge and made my way towards Colwith Force. The route taking in the waterfall is noted as an alternative one in the Cicerone Cumbria Way guide. The official route takes a more direct path towards Tarn Hows, through the Tongue Intake Plantation. It is such a small diversion, I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to see Colwith Force. It was mid-summer though, making the vegetation quite thick, and so I didn't get the best view. Even so, it was definitely worth the diversion.

The path climbed through the trees and headed towards the A593. Thankfully I didn't have to walk along the busy road, since there was a footpath that ran along the other side of the accompanying stone wall. After a while, I crossed the road and joined the stone track heading towards Tarn Hows. 

Tarn Hows is a very pretty spot and is actually a man-made lake, formed by the construction of a dam at Low Tarn. Beatrix Potter bought the plot for £15,000 in 1929 (sounds like a bargain to me) and then sold it to the National Trust. I chatted to 5 blokes that were on a 15 mile circular walk, having started from Elterwater. They intended walking to Coniston, having a pint, and then making there way back to the start via Tilberthwaite. A couple of them had done the Cumbria Way before, but had started from the south. I'd meet them again, later in the day, as they searched for the best pub in Coniston.

I took the single track road away from Tarn Hows and then followed paths that went in a more or less direct route towards Coniston. There were fine views across to the Yewdale and Coniston fells.

Just before entering Coniston I came across a grand folly that had been used for accommodating hunting hounds. It looked a little less salubrious inside, but there were some benches if you wanted a seat.

Coniston

I was still full from my Chester's sausage roll and carrot  cake, but I decided that I'd take advantage of the Coniston's village facilities to get some grub, before heading off to the campsite further down the lake. The first place I came to was Food Vibez that seemed to be a bakery-cum-pizza café.  I ordered a veggie pizza and sat in the patioed front area waiting for the goo to be cooked. It felt a curious place. AC/DC's greatest hits boomed out from small speakers.  It seemed a bit out of place for the location. I noticed that the house next door was up for sale by auction. Maybe the seller couldn't find anybody who liked the smell of pizzas and Angus Young guitar solos. The pizza was delivered to me in a cardboard box. I'm not really a pizza connoisseur, but it was good enough for me. It was only as I stepped back on to the pavement and looked over towards the Coniston range that I could see black clouds tumbling over. Crikey, that looked like quite a storm approaching. I'd have to get my skates on to outrun that, although you probably wouldn't run that well with skates on.

Coniston Hall Campsite

The storm clouds chased me to the Coniston Hall campsite. It was an exhausting mile's walk given that my gut was now full of pizza, sausage roll and carrot cake. I'd stopped on this campsite in my early twenties and not had fond memories of it. Even in those days, the facilities seemed rather basic. I did wonder whether it would have changed for the better. The tiny reception shop hadn't changed at all during that period. 'That's £14 for the night' the lady said jovially. She must have registered my incredulity when my eyebrows raised so much that my sun hat fell off the back of my head. 'You also need 50 pence pieces to use the showers' see added with a smile. I think she wanted me to ask me what her exchange rate was for 50 pence pieces, but I'd already figured what the score was by now, and I'd decided that it would be a wet-wipe wash tonight.

I just managed to get the tent up before the rain started coming down. 'Do you know where to get drinking water, mate?' A man and his son had approached and wanted to fill their water container. I'd been on the same quest before I pitched my tent and found no dedicated water points on the site. I pointed him to the wash sinks at the toilet block where I'd filled my water bottles. I assumed the water was potable; there was no sign saying it wasn't. 

There had been some music playing as I'd pitched the tent. I'd assumed it was somebody's car radio. It was only when I laid in my tent, and they'd turned the volume up a notch, that it sounded like some karaoke rapping was going on. 'Aye, aye! This could be a long night' I thought. And it indeed it was a long night. To be honest, I missed out on most of the fun since I was so tired that I fell into a deep sleep around 9pm. I did wake up at 00:30 though with loud music and singalongs as my alarm. It was impossible to get back to sleep. The rave finally ended just before 02:00, although there was still occasional shouting and screaming after that. 

To be fair, the campsites facilities had been cleaned since my first visit in the 80s and there were now working locks on the traps. Even so, I'd guess it will probably be another 40 years before I visit Coniston Hall campsite again.