Ever since we have been back in England we have been wanting to do a multi day hike. We had ear marked the Lake District as a possible destination for this but I was always a little apprehensive of doing the full hike and camp experience due to the weather. Tim found an awesome article in one of his hiking magazines about a 7 day peak to pub route in the Lake District where you got to stay in some amazing old pubs along the way instead of pitching a tent. We were always going to go through the Lake District but hadn’t planned anything as we were a little unsure of how the weather was going to be in October. But we both kind of just bit the bullet and said if we were going to be staying in pubs at night surely it wouldn’t matter so much as to what the weather was like? There were a lot of companies that were offering these hikes but as you had to pay for their services they never publicised their walking routes. So after a lot of joining walking routes together on several of our walking apps we had a 4 day route and had booked our pub lodgings along the way. We had to make some adjustments due to availability but thought we had a pretty good plan with hopefully some spectacular scenery along the way.
We were starting in Buttermere so after a quick night somewhere in between the Peak and Lake District to do our washing and dry our annex we set off for the Lake District. Last time we had driven through many years ago we didn’t actually see anything as the fog was so thick and the start of our trip this time was pretty much the same! But fortunately the weather cleared up and we were treated to some spectacular views as we hit Windermere lake.
We were flabbergasted as to how busy it was considering it was definitely not peak season but luckily found a car park in the centre and stopped off for some last minute ordinance map buying and sat and had some lunch. The town reminded us a little of a ski village with its beautiful old buildings and outdoor sports store shops on every corner.
We set off again and had a wonderful hour of spectacular views and then the added bonus of traversing through some single lane country roads down the side of a valley until we hit Buttermere.
We lucked out with our accomodation which was the Buttermere Court hotel with views over the lake. The weather was so nice we decided on a short hike to the lake which was so stunning. We wound through woods where we spotted deer onto a picturesque lake where we spent a good half an hour skipping stones.
With our fingers crossed that we would get the same weather over the next 4 days but not expecting it we went back to the hotel and enjoyed a lovely dinner and dessert to fuel us for our hiking adventure. There is a village in the Lake District called Cartmel which is famous for sticky date pudding and that was what was being served for dessert so I couldn’t say no. It was the best sticky date pudding I have ever eaten. S