2022 – England – Lake District – History, Hikes & Views, Culture + the City of Carlisle

The English Lake District ( the Lakes ) lies in the north-west of England, with the western lowlands of Scotland to the north, the Pennines and Yorkshire to the east. Originally spread across the old counties of Westmoreland and Cumberland, it now sits in the merged new county of Cumbria.

Our stay in the Lakes was based at two locations, the first near Kendal in the southern Lakes. This meant we could explore Lake Windermere, Ambleside and the Langdale valley. Then we have an Airbnb house in the village of Threlkeld that sits on the slopes of Blencathra Mountain near the town of Keswick in the northern Lakes.

The first stay was with old friends who have a “converted local stone cowshed/hay barn”, and the second stay in a modern house we had rented . It was very autumnal, no frosts yet but cool and at times, rather wet – but this is “the Lakes” and it rains here quite a lot!!

History

The past few centuries of history in the Lake District has seen much change:-

• industrial – slate quarries-( one or two left only – many “spoil heaps on the landscape), coal, lead, graphite & copper mining ( a thing of the past)-
• agricultural – sheep hill farms that over the last 1000 years have transformed much of the fells to grass ,( some woodlands cut down for charcoal), interspersed with beautiful dry stone walls – which keep the sheep in place but also clear the land of stone aiding grass growth on relatively poor soils
• tourism – which sees some Lake District village housing being up to 70% as second homes. Here are some pics of examples of history in the Lakes that we have come across in these last few days:-

Hikes

We have managed a number of lovely hikes during this visit. In earlier decades we have climbed many of the major peaks in the Lakes. But this year as we are not perhaps quite as fit as we would like, we did complete some new modest hikes , on 7 of our 11 day visit, and with great views along the way.

Our hikes all needed good walking boots, and decent warm layers plus water proof jackets and trousers, should the weather turn against us but we managed to time most walks so that we barely wore the waterproof trousers.

1. A hike up through Whinlatter Forest just outside of Keswick to get great views down Borrowdale and across to the Helvellyn Range – about 6km and on good forest roads and paths.
2. A 7.7km hike up Rannerdale Knotts for some amazing views across and up the Buttermere Valley , over Haystacks towards Great Gable.
3. Next the old railway track from Keswick to Threlkeld – now long gone – is now an excellent walk/cycleway – we took the bus from Threlkeld to Keswick, and then returned on foot up the old rail trail – about 6km.
4. To the north east of the Lake District and beyond the Buttermere / Crummock Water valley lies Loweswater and we completed a lovely walk there taking in the beech forest of Holme Force and the lake itself – about 6.5km in total
5. Down in Borrowdale there lies Castle Crag, almost splitting the lower valley, with stunning 360 degree views from its former slate quarry summit. The 6.5km loop walk up to it was wonderful, with a farmhouse tea shop at the end of the walk – scone/jam/cream post walk – most satisfying.
6. A final short hike this time partially in the rain was from Ullswater and up Aira Force Waterfall – impressive falls and we sighted two red squirrels ( sorry only one caught on a still photo)- very special.

Arts, Theatre, Museums & Culture in the Lakes

We had not planned any cultural stuff whilst in the Lakes, it just happened!! In Keswick at the – “Theatre on the Lake’ and we saw an excellent production of “Brief Encounters’ – an “in the round” interpretation of Noel Cowards original – quite excellent. A little less formal was a brilliant ‘jam session’ of the Lakeland Fiddlers and Poets at the Duke of Cumberland Pub in Kendal and on another evening we enjoyed a practice session of the ancient art of ‘clog dancing” which looked and apparently was very hard work. There are always museums to visit in the UK, but the Windermere Jetty Museum ( opened in 2019) celebrates the marine craft that has plied its way on the Lake over the years – very modern building beautifully setting off the exhibits – and perfect to visit on a cold wet day, great coffee shop too!!

City of Carlisle

We had to travel to Carlisle, about an hours drive north from our base in Threlkeld, to collect a friend arriving by train from Northumberland. So we decided to make a day of it and explore the city a bit.

Carlisle is bypassed by the M6, so we are usually speeding to or from Scotland and would therefore ignore Carlisle, but we have been missing a little historical treasure! So on arrival we first visited the Cathedral and its precincts. With origins back to the 12th century the Cathedral is built in the beautiful deep red sandstone found locally. The Cathedral has created a “Treasury” in a crypt showing not only valuable antique artifacts from around the Diocese but also a well set out series of storyboards about the history of the Cathedral through the ages .

The storyboards continued through the Cathedral, one for a “John Laing”, caught my eye. Born in Carlisle and descendants of stone masons who had built / worked upon the Cathedral, John went on to found Laing Engineering / Construction – builders of UK motorways / power stations and much more!

The Cathedral is a mix of styles – taking the 12th century base , adding gothic extensions, plus the Italian Renaissance style of painted ceiling. Overall the red sandstone brings all the styles through the centuries beautifully.

We loved our time in and around the Lake District this year – we will be back – too many wonderful memories and much still to be seen and explored.