Im Off on an Adventure!!!! (Hiking in the Lake District)

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Last weekend I went on a weekend trip to the Lake District to go hiking! It was quite the experience! We got stuck in so much traffic on the way there, what should have been a three hour drive turned into a five hour one! On top of that we got lost and ended up driving down a bunch of really tiny tractor roads in a huge van and having to reverse out of them in the pitch black. Eventually we made it to where we were staying, which was a barn built in the 17^th century that had been updated to house hikers. It was in the middle of a farmer’s field and there were sheep everywhere! It also was technically not in the Lake District.

It was REALLY COLD and the only heat came from space heaters. We had to pay for electricity so the power went out while we were all asleep which meant the heat went off in the middle of the night.

The next day when we got up everyone was drinking a lot of tea to try and get warm! I put on three layers of clothing. I was using my rucksack for the first time so I was really excited about that! We started out and the weather was not too bad, just cloudy and windy. Public foot paths in the UK often go through private property, so we were literally walking through people’s animal pastures, past their barns, and all over their property in general. As my mother so eloquently put it, if you tried that on an American farm you would probably get shot!

Cows love to stare at people, and these were very curious as to why all these people were walking by their pen

Sheep not so much, they run away from you if you get anywhere near them.

I really loved the how the green moss looked against the stone. Stone walls were EVERYWHERE, and some were easily over six feet tall!

So we started up this decently sized hill (605 meters tall, so roughly 2,000 feet)…..and that is when the rain started. I have been out in some fairly atrocious weather, but this was without a doubt the worst weather I have ever been hiking in. On top of how cold it was (low 40s), the rain, we also experienced gale force wind. Needless to say it was a struggle getting up that hill. Many people had a lot of difficulties with it. Every once and a while the rain let off and we had a rest, but then it would start up again. We had some pretty awesome views on the way up though!

The grass was literally this green.

This one is probably my favorite picture I took the entire weekend!

Do not be deceived, that blue sky was never over our heads

Note the puddles of water at the bottom of the picture.

Unfortunately once we reached the top we could not see anything because of the clouds. By this point everyone was pretty much soaked to the bone. We made our way down the hill again and to a little village called Ravenstonedale. Ravenstonedale was one of the many villages we walked through that day. These were legit villages. All the buildings were stone and each one had maybe 10-20 buildings in each one. It was also interesting that all the houses had names instead of house numbers. No grocery stores, maybe a post office, and always a pub.

We stopped at the pub in Ravenstonedale and warmed up in there for a while. I never really warmed up because I was so cold, but I did have a massive hot chocolate. I looked like absolute crap but the guy who made my hot chocolate was still very nice and eager to please, which made me feel better. The locals were also super friendly, and I was loathe to leave the place and walk the hour it would take us to get back to the barn.

We eventually did though, and once we all got back we stripped off our soaking clothes and began the process of attempting to dry them. A group went to find a store to buy more food while another group went into the kitchen to cook dinner. I was part of the group that sat in the dining room snuggled up together and drinking tea :D. By keeping the door to the living room closed we eventually managed to get it toasty warm. Dinner was delicious and I went to bed much warmer than I had woken up.

The next day we actually went to the Lake District! Yay! AND WE SAW A LAKE! We went to Haweswater, which looked more like Scotland than England. It was truly gorgeous and I was so excited to be there! It did not rain very much, which I was thankful for, but the wind was truly intense. There were some parts walking around the lake where you could lean into it and it would hold you up!

(The above picture features me nearly getting knocked over by the wind)

Haweswater was one of those places that stirs your imagination and makes you feel connected to the earth around you. It really made all the difficulties of the first day worthwhile.

When it was raining it came down in sheets, and the wind was constantly blowing the water across the lake.

However when it wasn't raining it was quite stunning!

Still wasn't warm enough to not wear my hat though!

In Birmingham everything is still pretty green, here it actually looked like autumn!

The water was stunningly blue! I wish we had had enough time to walk around the entire lake.

Haweswater actually is a reservoir. It used to be a smaller lake with several villages around it. Like with the many reservoirs in upstate NY, however, at some point the government decided those towns needed to be wiped out to make way for a system to bring water to more populated places. There were still some remains of one of the villages visible. Seeing them made me wonder what they looked like when they were inhabited, and what living in this amazing place must have been like.

Eventually we finished our hike and headed back to Birmingham….which took another five hours because of traffic. I was so exhausted when I got home I slept for twelve hours. (Having not taken a shower all weekend that was my first priority). It was an exciting trip and one I am probably going to remember forever, if just for being so cold and so wet for so long J