Brotherswater; Late August

We finished off the summer with a long weekend in the Lake District. Staying at Sykeside, a beautiful little site just off the Kirkstone Pass, close to Brotherswater Lake.

On Friday night, we dined in after some light ales at the pub on the site. We went with beef ragu & tagliatelle from the collection of freezer fare we have hoarded over the last few weeks.

We awoke on Saturday to a stunning view, which intrigued Pepper. She was most happy with a long lie in and wildlife watching out of the window.

In the afternoon, timing our walk for the sunny part of the day, we went for a group wander around Brotherswater.

We spotted some tufted ducks on the lake, and a beautiful pair of mute swans. it took ages to identify the ducks; I went through goldeneye, scaups and ring necked ducks before my wildlife group helped me out!

Some brief excitement from me as, without my glasses, a large brown bird was sitting on a post in the lake. I thought it was an Osprey, but after zooming in the picture, it’s was a cormorant 😢

After a wander through the village, and a look at the local residents, we returned to the campsite via the stony path around the bottom of the lake.

The weather closed in as we ran to the pub for dinner, before returning to the vans for an early night. The unfortunate tent campers were battered by the heavy rain, some of the tents being casualties; but we were smugly snug and dry!

Unusually, due to the closeness to home, we opted to stay on Sunday night also.

After a solo trail run in the morning, Mark, Pepper and I ventured up the mountain path to the famous priest hole on Dove Crag.

After a beautiful start, the weather took a turn for the worst. We got within 1/2 mile of the location but the final climb was a rocky climb up a waterfall. After the heavy rain, the trickle had turned into a raging torrent. With the horizontal rain in our faces, and the wind howling around us, we reluctantly abandoned the climb and walked back down the path. The views more than made up for the disappointment of not reaching the cave!

The weather brightened up as we made our descent and we had a beautiful burst of blue skies and bright sunshine.

With all of us more than a little soggy, we returned to the van for a beautiful group Sunday lunch and some fabulous wine, before we packed up for an early dart on Monday morning.