These are the ingredients for the perfect adventure when you’ve had a lifelong love affair with the Lake District: An eight-day hostel to hostel challenge, three mates, a jam-packed rucksack, April weather and iconic destinations such as Coniston, Eskdale, Wasdale, Black Sail, Ennerdale, Buttermere, Borrowdale and Grasmere. Driving up from the south ahead of our trek my expectations were fuelled by childhood holiday memories of rain, climbing the old man of Coniston with my dad, rain, Grasmere sports day, rain, swimming in the river on The Langdale Estate, breaking down on Hardknott Pass, rain, the view from the top of Great Gable and occasional sunshine.
Diary Notes
Day One…Coniston to Eskdale
Overnight at Hawkshead Youth Hostel, drive and park in Coniston, walk to Eskdale.
A very steep hill out of Coniston to get the heart pumping, bets on which of our party would be the first faller (Paul), the joy of teaching one of our party how to use his “bladder”, a wonderful feeling going through Hardknott Woods, (such an iconic name), the steep descent into Eskdale, trouble with my dodgy iliotibial band, being greeted by geese as we found our hostel and hitting the local pub, The George (great choice of beer). Leeds lost!
Day Two…Eskdale to Wasdale
Stunning weather, beautiful climb despite being pulled out of the mud by Chas, the burliest of my fellow walkers, tarns and geese, steep climb with a view back towards Scafell Pike. Painful walk down with the knee to wonderful Wasdale Youth Hostel but relief and a warm welcome from the Brummie/County Durham team running it, stunning wood panelled building and Wainwright beer.
Day Three…Wasdale to Black Sail
Starting the day by blowing the electrics because one member of the team had asked for a fresh toaster for his gluten free bread. They were very kind about it. A full English with plenty of sausages, some of which we saved for our lunch. After getting stuck on some scree, we decided to walk along the road to Wasdale Head, an amazing walk up a deserted valley and a scramble down to the iconic Black Sail Youth Hostel. The knee seemed to be improving, we had beers in the sun, lovely chat with Aaron who runs the hostel, a lovely lad with a thirst for the Lakes and deep knowledge of the area. The only thing on the menu was…sausages. We named this our sausage day.
Day Four…Black Sail to Ennerdale
We had an early start and skipped up to the top of Pillar with a much-improved knee. Stretched my fear of heights with several high scrambles and big drops but the top of Pillar was biblical. Great weather for the best view in the Lake District: Isle of Man, Solway Firth, Snowdon, Great Gable, Skiddaw, Helvellyn, Scafell etc. What a place for lunch. On our way to Ennerdale we found ourselves on a tiny ledge looking down a vertical drop into the Wasdale Valley, utter terror but we made it to safety. It was a long, “gnarly” trip down to Ennerdale Hostel to reunite with the others who’d had a rest day. Paul, the artist, had sketched some wonderful images of the trip which we all found utterly mesmerising. A tasty meal of macaroni cheese and waffles washed down with two pints of craft blonde ale were the perfect end to a day that stretched me in several ways.
Day Five…Ennerdale to Buttermere
Chaotic morning when 4 mature men behaved like kids – breaking the tea urn, losing paint brushes, and displaying no order or logic when packing up our rucksacks. Heading up towards the top of Red Pike, two decided to duck out and find a calmer route to Buttermere. Two of us fought the vicious wind and made it to the summit. It was quite unnerving as neither of us felt stable, the wind toppling us over with our heavy packs. We decided against the longer route via Haystacks and took a safer path. On the way down my phone came back to life after a long time without service and I found out that my daughter had landed her dream job as a refugee support worker. A tasty fish supper, sticky toffee pudding and a couple of pints of local ale in The Buttermere Court Hotel was what I thought would be the end of another wonderful day in the Lakes. What I hadn’t bargained for was what awaited me in the common room later. I stumbled upon the St Helen’s Ramblers quiz night, was happily coerced into a team, played a blinder (if I say so myself) and we won!
Day Six…Buttermere to Borrowdale
I felt like a celebrity at breakfast as my quiz teammates lauded me for extracting from the back of my brain the name Bernie Clifton. They should have known it as he was born in St Helens. A rainy morning started with a little confusion over the best technique of wearing both gaiters and over trousers. We then found ourselves caught up in a sea of spaniels trying to navigate our way around Buttermere. It’s a monthly walk for the local Spaniel lovers’ group and we got slightly tangled up in it. A long up and down to Borrowdale via the Honister Pass with a long descent into one of my favourite hostels. My evening consisted of the pleasure of two pints of Loweswater Gold, the joy/relief of popping a couple of monster blisters and the agony of food envy as the others tucked into some enormous pizzas and I wolfed down a much smaller katsu curry.
Day Seven…Borrowdale to Grasmere
Off through the tiny hamlet of Borrowdale, a kind, helpful stone path led us up towards the heavens. Long, slow but super climb took us towards a lunar landscape for our lunch stop. Food envy raged again whilst the others tucked into their left-over jumbo-sized pizzas from the previous night. Dropping down towards the end of the day felt like leaving one room in the lakes and entering another – leaving the wild remoteness and heading into the busy, touristy vibe. Fields of lambs greeted us as we approached Grasmere. Guess what we all ate in the pub that night? Wainwright beer and several bags of crisps to recover in the YHA, then to Tilly’s in town for lamb, cheese board and sticky toffee pudding. Was going to go for a solo stroll to re-live childhood memories but the blisters thought differently.
Day Eight…Grasmere to Coniston
Emotional childhood memory day. Out of Grasmere and up and over past my dad’s favourite view of the Langdale Pikes. Down into the Langdale Estate, easy jaunt through Elterwater and a coffee stop at Skelwith Bridge. Used to swim in the river here as a child and savour the 1970’s ice creams from a hut by the water. Our last pull of the adventure took us through the woods and into Coniston. Our last night was spent in The Crown Pub with far too many cold crisp ales, a feast of belly pork, apple pie, corny jokes, shared highlights from the past 8 days followed by a limp back to Coniston Youth Hostel.