And we mean it, literally, adventures IN the Lakes. After a long winter when the ice climbers were in their element, it’s time for some equally hardy folk to plunge into rather cold water.
The Great North Swim this weekend is the flagship event for the increasingly popular open-water swimming, and nowhere has better “facilities” than we do here in the Lakes.
But through the year the tough, who have been carefully acclimatising, enjoy swimming with a fell and mountain backdrop, with or without wetsuits. We’ve seen friends of ours plunge into Stickle Tarn in winter and break the ice with their hands doing breast-stroke, for the benefit of TV cameras. Don’t try THIS at home, was their message.
Most are happy to wait until now, when the water has warmed up. Though remember, our Lakes are filled from mountain streams, and while it might be warm and sunny at the water-side, those streams are coming down from chilly mountain tops.
Want to climb a mountain? We’ve got plenty, just nearby. There’s Loughrigg and Lingmoor, where many of our visiting families take their youngsters for the first experience of hitting the heights. And we have the most famous and identifiable mountain outline, the Langdale Pikes, just a little further along the valley. From here you can even walk up England’s highest, Scafell Pike, in a day.
But if you want to move a little faster, take inspiration from the marathon runners and the fell runners and trail runners. You just need shoes with a good grip, an extra layer if you’re heading up high, and a map and compass – and know how to use them. Fell runners use our hostel as a base to run navigation courses. We have experts on our team who can help you.
And if you fancy a swim, without all the crowds at the Great North, then you can have your own adventure in many of our lakes and tarns. Get some advice and a decent wetsuit from our friends at Swim the Lakes in Ambleside. They also run training sessions, because swimming in open water is a very different experience from free-styling up and down the lanes in a heated pool.
There’s adventures to be had for everyone here in the Lakes, and we’re at the very heart of the action. Fancy coming to stay? Give us a call. 01539437245
