Tea breaks

Today we overslept. Again. Once again we couldn't get warm in the night and then either my watch alarm didn't go off or we slept right through it. Anyway, it was afternoon by the time we were ready to go, and we were both quite annoyed with ourselves.

The sun was blazing so we decided to launch nearby from Fell Foot Park again to avoid any further delay. The wind was quite strong but we managed about an hour and a half's paddling before visiting the National Trust tea room. I must say, we have been very impressed with Fell Foot Park. They are like an anti-barry. There was the previous trip's helpful and money saving warden, yesterday's discreet after hours warden, and then today they were more than happy for us to paddle right up to the tea room and leave our boats outside. It has all paid off as we decided to join the National Trust and buy a second pot of tea. We feel really grown up now.

Afterwards, we had a more relaxing paddle south bound where it is more sheltered, and by sheer coincidence, leads to one of the best beer gardens ever. We stopped for a quick pint before going back to the camp site. Claire had to help a would be hippy with the padlock on the gate, as her manicured nails were too long to open it (the hippy's, not Claire's). On reflection, it probably sums up the ethos of the camp site to perfection.

We're both still annoyed about last night and were a bit worried we were going to be in trouble (or more likely, charged per item) for hanging kayaking gear in the trees to dry out this evening. We seem to have got away with it so far though.

We have packed up and will be setting every alarm we have with us in a bid to get up early and be on Derwent Water by 10am. OK, maybe 11 then.

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Location:Lake Windermere (again)

Pan Cosmo Drama

We woke this morning to clear blue skies and sunshine. Fully expecting the weather to have turned by the time we were ready to get on the water, we headed up the lake to Grasmere and paid a quick trip to the Gingerbread Shop and the Cotswold Rock Bottom store.

I treated myself to some thermal socks and a head torch amongst other things, and Claire bought some very sexy thermal long johns to wear in her sleeping bag.

To our surprise, the weather had not changed when we arrived at Waterhead, right at the top of Lake Windermere. After battling through the traffic, and some car park tactics we finally managed to get a parking space not too far from the lake, and were soon on the water.

The lake is even more picturesque at the top end looking towards the hills, and was, in the main, very peaceful with the exception of a few rowdy canoeists who clearly had no idea what they were doing but unfortunately didn't fall in once.

We returned to the camp site to await the arrival of Rachel and Dave, some Cotswold friends who were coming for a barbecue.
Unfortunately, almost as soon as they had sat down, Barry the campsite manager turned up and informed them that they were on private land and if they wanted to stay they would have to pay £3 each! After explaining that they were not camping, but merely visiting us for a couple of hours, the price went up to £5 each plus £3 for the car. And I don't he'd even spotted Charlie the dog, who no doubt would have incurred some sort of additional fee.
Dave informed him that in that case they wouldn't be staying a moment longer, to which Barry said (in true managers talk) he was sorry they had reacted that way but that he wasn't prepared to give his services away for free.
A short flounce down the hill to the lake and we all had a lovely barbecue overlooking the lake and the hills. We were briefly interrupted by a National Trust warden who took Dave to one side and (we found out afterwards) explained that we shouldn't be there after hours, we were outside the designated barbecue zone, and we shouldn't really be drinking beer. The only part of the conversation we overheard before he left us to it was "you look like responsible types". Thank god all Cumbrians are not the same.

Claire and I were both most unimpressed and slightly embarrassed about Barry's attitude. We've never had that problem before and have had visitors whilst camping previously. We had up until then been very impressed with the camp site although did think it was a bit pricey. But now we don't really feel inclined to come here again. Which is a shame, especially for Barry's bank account.
Fortunately we have spotted a number of other sites on the opposite shore of the lake.

Tomorrow we're planning a long day on the water and hoping for more of the same weather.






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Location:Lake Windermere

Going under

Despite our good intentions to get up early today we were both unable to get out of our sleeping bags, having only just managed to get warm enough by getting up time. I keep forgetting it's still only April and it's quite chilly in the middle of the night. Claire had a dream about a monster outside the tent and I had a very vivid dream about it being the apocalypse. Today.
I should mention that today is our 2nd anniversary of meeting, so we were just hoping that these dreams were not bad omens.

We went over the road to Fell Foot Park which is some National Trust owned land by the lake. We were pleased to note that it had a tea room, although unfortunately did not note what time said tea room closed. The boat launching enquiries hut was closed but to our surprise, a friendly national trust man told us not to bother paying a launching fee, and directed us to a fence to climb over to a suitable launching place. Not normal national trust warden behaviour at all.

The lake was nice and calm and once we'd got over our initial panicky wobbles and remembered to put our skegs down we were able to get around well (skeg = a little fin that helps with steering and not wobbling so much). I kept getting splashed because I wasn't allowed to wear my spray deck (a cover for the bit of the kayak you sit in). This was because I had not yet proved to Claire that I could get out of my boat after capsizing it.

I had bought myself a whole host of neoprene clothing (vest, shorts, shoes and gloves) although after a while came to the conclusion that only the vest and shorts were actually beneficial. The shoes were cutting off my circulation and the gloves were, in a quite contrary way, cooling my hands down. So I had to go back to being a barefoot paddler and face the consequences later.

We paddled for miles (although later discovered it was probably no more than 2 miles), had a quick snack then headed back to make use of the tea shop. Which was closing on our arrival.
We then decided it would be a good time for me to practice getting out of a capsized kayak. Never mind that it's April and the water is, I'm quite certain, sub zero. At least then I could wear my spray deck tomorrow.

I stripped down until I was clad entirely in neoprene and shivering just looking at the water. Claire them made me capsize not once but twice. Once without the spray deck on and once with. Fortunately my numerous experiences changing rubber masks in a hut full of CS smoke at work stood me in good stead for not panicking.
The lake was breathtakingly cold as were the slimy rocks at the shore on my bare feet. I still have a headache some 5 hours later caused by plunging into the icy water.
Anyway, my efforts were not in vain and I am now allowed to use the spray deck.

We got back to the campsite and have now moved into our tipi tent which is very nice apart from the smell of wet tent (always a risk when camping in April), and the lingering but (fortunately) fading smell of stale fags.
On inspection, my big toes were both completely white which explained why I couldn't feel them. After sticking them up Claire's jumper and then in a bowl of warm water they finally recovered.
I am not very happy about this at all as it appears I may have inherited Reynaulds disease from my mother, which is something I am going to have to have words with her about.

We decided a trip to the not-particularly-local pub was in order and have just finished tucking into some Cumbrian style platters washed down with real ale.

Tomorrow we are popping up to Grasmere to stock up on gingerbread and check out the Cotswold rock bottom shop, and then doing some paddling round the top end of Windermere. Hopefully the weather will be a little bit more summery for us.

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Location:In the lake

Great Expectations

Easter Bank Holiday Monday

Fairly typically, last night was the first time in ages I was late finishing work. And all because some people at Alton Towers couldn't behave themselves on the bank holiday. Got to bed about 5am instead of the hoped for 3.30. Big struggle at 11am when Claire came in as instructed to eject me from bed and into the shower and then the car. Eventually left the house at quarter to two.

I was amazed and also quite relieved to find that Claire had somehow managed to lift the two kayaks off the hooks on the garage wall and onto the roof rack all on her own.

We were surprised to find the sun was still shining when we arrived. It was with some trepidation that I drove up to the campsite. From the website www.fellfootwood.com the campsite struck me as being somewhat weird. I think it was the mention of the "pan cosmodrome" on site, and the slightly trippy YouTube videos of the recent hippy poetry nights. I was a bit concerned about potential conflicts of interest . We were met by the campsite boss, Barry, who turned out to be more of an old farmer than an old hippy, and I was relieved to see him clutching a biro rather than a smouldering joint.

The site is a fantastic site. It's on a wooded hillside overlooking Lake Windermere. The pan cosmodrome is just a clearing in the woods where they have the hippy events. Tonight we're staying in our own tent on the upper level of the woods. We can see the lake and the setting sun but no other campers. There are loads of wild creatures around us, and I had to remove a newt from the cans of beer we put in the pond to cool.
Tomorrow we're moving to a tipi tent a bit lower down on the same site.

We've already been to check out the lake and plan to make an early start in the morning in the boats. Hopefully I will be a bit easier to rouse tomorrow.

I'm very excited about testing out my new waterproof camera!

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Location:Fell Foot woods, Lake Windermere