Allcock Tarn and Nab Scar - a Lake District National Park guided walk - 3 July 2015

Hi there dear blog reader.  Thanks for taking the time to read my blog - It's been a while since I put pen to paper, metaphorically speaking, but I'm raring to go again.  

The reason for the absence is due to losing my camera while on a walk the day after this one but as you can probably guess, the camera has turned up. This is great because it means I now have the photographs I'd taken and can get on and show you them.  It's not so great because I'd already splashed out on a new camera which couldn't be returned as I'd used it, but hey ho, you can never have too many cameras and it means the Hubster can take one with him when he's at work in Suriname and hopefully be a guest poster on here sometime.  

Notice the jaunty angle of my hat! 

This was a guided walk led by voluntary Lake District National Park rangers and I'd highly recommend them as the leaders generally have a good knowledge of the local history and are very informative. They're ideal for lone walkers, visitors to the area or if you're not an accomplished map reader.  Some walks are free and some you have to pay £5. The only problem, in my opinion, is that sometimes there can be a lot of people on the walks and if you're like me and don't like walking in big groups then they might not be for you.  This walk had around 15 people on it so wasn't too bad but I have heard of walks with over 30 people attending.

Howtown to Glenridding - another nice low level walk, or was it??? - 12 June 2015

Back over in Cumbria for the weekend again, we decided to walk along the Ullswater lakeside path from Howtown to Glenridding, the opposite direction from our last lakeside walk here (Howtown to Pooley Bridge).

We were originally going to park in Glenridding but the parking costs are higher there than in Patterdale so we drove there and parked opposite the Patterdale Hotel where it was only £4.50 for the day - if we'd got there a bit earlier there is a small area of free parking in front of a little hall but as usual we were no early birds so didn't catch the worm!  

This section of the path is quite different to the walk towards Pooley Bridge - it's much rockier and although not steep, is quite undulating and uneven and at times it was a bit hard on the old knees! 

Just off the ferry and starting our bimble along the lakeside

A different approach to Nethermost Pike and Dollywagon Pike - 7 June 2015

The Motley Crew - L to R Dave, Barbara, One Girl, The Hubster, Lisa, Graham

Doggy Crew - L to R One Girl's Dog (Heidi), Alfie and Izzy

Our caravan neighbours, Lisa and Graham, are very keen and experienced walkers and have already done all the "Wainwrights".  They have decided that they want to do a lot of them again but approaching them by a different route than is usually taken so when they asked us if we wanted to join them on a walk that Sunday up Nethermost Pike - 891 m (2920 ft) and Dollywagon Pike - 858 m (2810 ft)  we naturally said yes.  

Howtown to Pooley Bridge - a nice low level walk - 5 June 2015

As the Hubster had only been home a week and hadn't done any kind of exercise in the last 9 weeks (due to working on a very small boat with no exercise faciltiies), we decided our first walk should be a short, easy one to ease him back into walking gently, so we chose a walk from Howtown to Pooley Bridge which I had done previously with my friend Carol.

Rannerdale Knotts and a million Bluebells - Sunday 24 May 2015

This late May bank holiday weekend was a particularly good one for me walking wise.  On the Saturday I'd taken part in a guided walk up Ullock Pike which was lead by voluntary Lake District National Park rangers.  It was the most fantastic ridge walk but quite strenuous and to say I was stiff when I woke up on the Sunday was an understatement, but I'd already arranged to meet friends Caroline and Susan with their wonderful trailhounds, Zach and Pandy, to go on a nice, easy walk at Buttermere so I had no excuse to sit around and feel sorry for myself.