The Lake District is by far one of my favourite places. Though the weather may not always be quite so glorious, the variety of the scenery is second to none and all just a stones throw away from each other.
Back at the start of March, I took a very brief trip up to the Lakes. From Cornwall, it’s around a 7 hour drive, so I broke the journey up by stopping over in Manchester, both before and after, and seeing friends and family.
On the Friday morning we headed up and decided to explore some of the caves and quarries we’ve heard so much about. Our first stop was Cathedral Cave. Parking up at a pull in in Little Langdale, it was just a short walk to the quarry. There are a mixture of different tunnels and caverns, some of which definitely require lighting, so I’d take a torch so you don’t miss out! ‘Cathedral Cave’ is a pretty incredible sight and there is a small quarry pool inside the cavern. Some areas are blocked off for safety, but there is still a lot to see and explore.
The area is owned by the National Trust and they do an incredible job of maintaining it. I think it’s great that this space is open to the public to be able to explore. There is no entrance fee, but if you do want to help support sites like this, then it’s really easy to become a Nation Trust member. I’ve saved an absolute fortune in parking since signing up.
After a brief stop in Rydal for some lunch, we then headed on to Rydal Cave. This is one that I have seen a lot of photos of on instagram and was used pretty recently in the filming of The Witcher. There are two car parks to choose from, both of which are pay and display (White Moss car park and Rydal Water car park). From here, it’s just a short walk to the cave, with signposts showing you the way.
The main cavern is pretty vast and has a set of stepping stones leading into it. There were quite a few people around, so it made it difficult getting photos, so we decided to wander further along the path and came to a second, raised cave. This one took a bit of rock climbing skill (or a helping hand for me) to get into. It looked like there was once a rope attached to a tree to aid people climbing up, but this was no longer in place. This cave did have a small cavern to explore, which again I’d recommend having a head torch for!
Due to the amount of parking available and the popularity of the Rydal cave, this area was much busier than Cathedral Quarry. Though the cavern is pretty spectacular, I feel we should have visited the areas the other way around, as there was much more to see and explore at Cathedral Quarry.
We then headed over to Keswick for the evening and parked up in one of our favourite spots by Derwentwater. We woke to a crisp morning, with snow dusted on top of the mountains, it was beautiful. This was one of those moments that made me realise I was ‘home’. A move to the lakes is definitely on the cards for later this year…watch this space.
Saturday morning was spent taking part in a photoshoot for Shoreline Clothing (you can get 10% off using the code ‘LISA10’) at Loughrigg Tarn. I was very much out of my comfort zone and I’m definitely not a natural, but it was a great laugh and was followed by a very chilly dip in the tarn!
After lunch we did a loop up and over Loughrigg Fell. It was 4km with 230m of ascent, but a relatively steep climb at the start made it hit home just how much of my mountain fitness I’ve lost over the last few months! It’s a short, but very rewarding hike with views out in all directions (if the weather is clear).
I’m definitely not going to let another six months pass by again before I’m back in the lakes, so plans will be made over the next few weeks.
I’m hoping to get at least one multi day hike in this year with Hadrian’s wall being pretty high up on the list of possibilities! Let me know in the comments though if you have any recommendations for good trails to start with.
Lisa Outdoors 
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