Cumbria is a long way to go for a weekend, especially when you get stuck in traffic jams and roadworks and general Friday evening M6 fun.

We were relatively short on time, and the weather was doing its usual thing for January/the Lakes (ie rain), so took the dog for a walk all the way around Buttermere.

It would have been nice to get up a bit higher, but it would have been rubbish with the cloud and wind.  Anyway, the scenery at lake level isn't bad:

Starting at the National Trust car park, our walk was just under 8km, and took less... continue reading »

My time off work over Christmas was mostly spent up north.

It's been a bit damp up there for the last month or so, resulting in horrendous flooding and a variety of road closures.  Not ideal really, and it's very sad to see ruined ovens/fridges/debris stacked up outside people's houses.

Our plans for a gentle boxing day walk all the way around Buttermere were ruined by the weather, and instead we popped into Keswick and briefly wandered around Derwentwater.

We got a little further than Friar's Crag, and then the path turned into a large puddle. By this point we were fed up... continue reading »