Keswick

17th to 20th March 2023

Another three night trip, this time to Castlerigg Hall, Keswick.

Quite a hard site to get into with little availability after this weekend.  We were surprised to see a superior lake view pitch available and pounced on it before realising that the summer bus timetables don't start until next week and the nearby Crag bar would be shut.  Then we saw the weather forecast....

Friday

We set off quite early with a sparkling van washed by the storage site owner, and there was no traffic so we arrived dead on 1pm.  Fortunately the motor mover worked after poking the wires a bit (we know which ones to poke now) and we were soon pitched up and entertaining a frequent visitor.

The walk into Keswick is about a mile and a quarter down a steep hill, and that is where we headed after setting up.  We had a look in most of the outdoor shops without buying anything, as usual, and tea in one of the many cafes.

Then we visited the Craft Beer shop, the new to us Crafty Baa, the Wainwright Inn, and the usually impossible to get into Dog and Gun, with tapas in Bar eS somewhere in between.  All excellent venues.

The pre booked taxi back to the site at 9.30 was very welcome.  We like Iains Taxis, they accept bookings via Messenger so no phone call necessary!

Saturday

Very murky and misty to start with, these pics of the lake were taken from our pitch.

The worst day weatherwise, according to the forecast.  Undeterred we set off for a relatively easy walk around Sale fell, which is at the top end of Bassenthwaite.  Another Wainwright ticked off.

It did rain a bit to start with but soon brightened up and turned out to be a much better day than expected.

On our way back to the site we stopped off at the Bassenthwaite Lake Station, which is a cafe in three converted railway carriages, complete with engine.  Very expensive, so we just had tea and cake.

In the afternoon we set off to get a bus into Keswick but we got to the bus stop too early, so we walked to the next, then the next and then it wasn't worth getting the bus so we ended up walking all the way.  We didn't stay out long and got a bus back to the site at 6.30 for dinner in the caravan and a night in.

Sunday

Very grey first thing, so much so that we almost abandoned our planned walk up Fleetwith Pike from  Honister slate mine.

So glad we didn't.  It never really brightened up but it didn't rain and we managed our second Wainwright of the weekend.

Later in the afternoon we got a bus into Keswick and did pretty much the same as we did on Friday.  We had a massive charcuterie slate in the Crafty Baa, which was our discovery of the weekend.  Very quirky decor.

Another pre booked taxi back to the site at 9pm and an early night.  Not sure what wore us out more, the walking or the eating and drinking!

Monday

It rained as we were putting everything away and didn't stop until we were almost home.

All in all a very, very good trip...almost 10/10.  A  bit more blue sky would have been nice but we managed to do everything we wanted to and got into all of the places we wanted to.

Coming soon...

Nothing booked but we are hoping to get away again before Easter.