So last weekend I ventured out on another #WMGT trip to the Lake District. If you haven’t read about my first adventure to Snowdonia you can read it here on Conquering My Anxiety & Hiking Mount Snowdon. I started my adventure catching the train from Maidenhead to Bristol Parkway and met up with Melissa and Lottie (who I met at the last trip) and we drove from Bristol to the Lake District and our hostel which was the YHA Ambleside which had an amazing view of Lake Windermere and the staff there were so helpful with anything we needed.

THE JOURNEY 

Our journey started off okay and we was making time until we hit quite a lot of traffic. And even witnessed a police chase along the motorway. But we finally arrived in The Lakes with rain and winds after a 5 hour journey. But we weren’t the last to arrive which was actually a good feeling compared to last time. Checked in with Mollie and had a nice introduction to the group before heading to dinner which was a yummy hot cooked meal of veggie sausages and mash potato with veggies on the side. Then we learnt about what we would be doing on the Saturday which was our water sports day before heading to bed and meeting our final room mate which was the lovely Veronica (originally from Aus) who was on the first trip.

We had a very early wake up call to get ready. And have breakfast and group photos before hitting the road to the water sports. We had a yummy cooked breakfast which we could choose what we wanted. Before having group photos in front of Lake Windermere. And then set out to the car park for our water sports. The rain started to come down whilst we had our brief of what we were doing. Which was the whole group being split into 2, half doing kayaking. And the other half doing stand up paddle boarding before meeting each other on a small island. To create fires, have toasted marshmallows and hot drinks before swapping activities for the way back to land.

MEETING LOTTIE AND MELISSA

I paired up with Lottie for the kayaking which we did really well, we then landed on the mini island and the guides started a fire for us to warm up by and to also toast our marshmallows and make a warm brew. We hung out, chatted and took lots of photos together. After we had our re-fuel we headed back towards land by switching activities, on the way back we did stand up paddle boarding, although most of our group stayed on our knees and no one managed to fall in compared to the other groups so we was all very happy about that as the water was very very cold. Once we hit dry land we all got changed and headed back to the hostel to have a warm shower and all got changed.

We then all took a little trip to Grasmere as we had heard about a famous gingerbread shop. And we all bought a little something before heading back to the hostel. Some of us walked to the local village to do some shopping which we checked out this really cute shop called Herby Jacks. I bought a gorgeous beanie hat that I wore on my hike. We then had our last hot meals which I had a very spicy veggie curry which was yummy and Mollie then cut a cake she had brought with her which was so delicious and we also got to choose our 2 bottles of Herbal Essences goodies. We hung out for a bit with people in the group and got to know a lot of them before hitting the hay before another early morning.

DAY TWO

Another early morning wake up for breakfast. We all got ready for our hike and packed our bags ready to check out. We all headed our own way to the meeting car park. But we hit a bit of a dead end. When the road we were meant to take was closed due to roadworks. And after much delegation we managed to find a way around it by avoided the route recommended by the sat nav and finally got passed the road we were meant to take and hit a very foggy road through country lanes and lots of sheep before finally arriving at the meeting car park.

HIKING THE FELLS

Then we met our guides for the walk. Who gave us a little run down of the route we would be taking. Before we all headed off on our long hike. We reached about half way of our previously planned route before the guides decided to change the route. To make it longer and harder and the weather was getting worse with very strong winds and lots of rain. Quite a bit of the group got split up before we managed to meet up again. Before stopping for a lunch break. The route was actually a lot harder than I expected. And I have to admit it was actually harder than Snowdon and that’s saying something.

FLAT ON MY ASS

The weather made it harder and also the very uneven and slippery ground was horrible. I ended up on my arse on a massive rock which was really painful. And probably twisted my ankle many times. We still hadn’t reached the end of the route and we were already giving up and running out of energy. But we kept going until we reached the very end. And was so pleased to finally reach the meet up point. Which was a small cafe opposite the car park to grab a hot drink and some food. Before making our separate ways home.

THE DREADFUL JOURNEY HOME

I think we headed off home at around 5pm and we instantly hit traffic as soon as we left the Lakes. We actually ended up bumping into some of the girls from our group in a lay by who needed water for their engine which we helped them get a little to help them on their way and joined the hoards of traffic which continued onto the M6/M5 for ages which resulted in me missing my 10pm train home so I asked if I could stay at one of the girls houses and travel back the next morning which was ok with them.

After 2 road closures, lots of traffic, a long wait for ‘fast food’ and over 10 hours traveling in the car we managed to get to Bristol and Lottie’s house at 2:15am!!!! We were absolutely exhausted and feeling very run down but we managed to get some rest and I headed back home on Monday lunch time.

Have you ever been to the Lake District before? Would you travel there?