Wild Camping in the Lake District

At around the same time as I got the new Classic 350, my son started a new job up in the Lake District, so I'd been planning a journey up there for some time. It's a good few years since I've taken a bike up there but I love the little back roads in the National Park - exactly the sort of place where the Classic is in its element.

We decided to do a spot of wild camping while I was there, so the bike was well loaded up with both camping and walking gear.

I set the satnav for a "fun" route and looked forward to a full day's ride. 

After a couple of hours, we left the urban sprawl behind, heading through Garstang and Lancaster and then the hills of the Lakes started to come into view.

Another couple of hours saw us in Ambleside, where I stopped for a break and some water. 

We left the tourist areas behind, heading out into the small lanes towards Buttermere, but hadn't been going long before I came on a Road Closed sign and a diversion that immediately petered out to nothing! So began a very pleasant 45 minute ramble "following my nose" which was lovely riding but not very effective in terms of making ground! We covered some great forestry roads around the Langdales and Elterwater, before eventually picking up the route again at Grasmere.

From Grasmere we picked up the A591 along the shore of Thirlmere to Keswick before turning along the Derwentwater shore to Borrowdale and then over the very beautiful Honister Pass to my campsite at Syke Farm, Buttermere.

What a lovely site. The car park is separated from the camping area by a stream, giving the camping area a really nice calm atmosphere. This is no regimented flat field, but has tents perched on rocky outcrops and tucked away in little dips. Beautiful.

As I was going to be carting all my camping gear up a mountain the following day, I took my little 1 man "cycle-camping" tent. It cost me £20 from Argos years ago in an end of season sale and has seen me through many adventures. But it was VERY cramped with all of my gear in there!

There was such a nice view over the fells from the site.

Once Andy had finished work for the week, we met up for a meal and a couple of beers at the local pub, before an early night to prepare for the next day's hike.

The weather the next morning was perfect, with a good sunny couple of days arriving bang on cue. We sorted bits in the morning and then set off from Andy's during the afternoon, with our packs feeling very heavy!

From Buttermere we took a steep path up Whiteless Breast to the summit of Whiteless Pike and then continued along a ridge before climbing to the summit of Wandhope. The next climb was to the summit of Crag Hill from where there were amazing views all round us. We then followed the col between Crag Hill and finally climbed the path to the summit of Grasmoor. 

Altogether it took about 3 hours. As we crested Grasmoor, a fantastic panorama opened out in front of us: the Western Lakes; Isle of Man; Solway Forth and Scotland beyond and then the main Lakeland fells.

There was a pretty cold wind up there, but it died down to help with getting the tents erected and we soon had a brew on the go and a big pot of pasta for tea.

As the evening settled, it really got quite cloudy up there, and with that the temperature went down a good few degrees. We ended up in big coats, trying to stay warm. It really felt like the cloud was settled in for the night but then, about 20 minutes or so before sunset, it all lifted and we were treated to the most beautiful sunset that I have seen for a very long time - the photos really don't do it justice at all.

We sat around for a while noshing on some snacks, but then headed for shelter from the cold night and set alarms for just after 5am to try and catch a hopefully equally stunning sunrise. Sadly that was not to be - we glimpsed it through a very brief break in the clouds but then it all settled in again, so we headed back into our tents for another couple of hours sleep.

After a quick brew and some breakfast snack bars, we packed up and were just loading our packs onto our backs as the first of the day's walkers appeared on the horizon. Off we went on the journey back down, leaving not a trace of our presence. That was the first time that I have properly wild camped. It was a very magical experience up there and one I felt privileged to have shared with my son.

The journey down was equally hard in it's own way, trying to maintain control with heavy packs fighting gravity, but a little over 2 hours later we were sat in the cafe at Buttermere with coffee and cake.

After a shower back at Andy's, I headed back to the campsite and pitched my tent there again. Being a creature of habit, I opted for almost exactly the same spot! Being gluttons for punishment, after a late lunch we did a short (flat!) walk over to Crummock Water and skimmed stones in the sun while we put the world to rights for a couple of hours.

On the way back we stopped in at the pub for a couple of well earned pints and again had a fairly early night to recover from our exertions.

And so the next morning I headed for home, after such a lovely couple of days. The weather was amazing - if anything a bit too hot! I headed across Newlands Pass to Keswick and then followed the more direct route back to Ambleside, where I stopped off at the Youth Hostel there to catch up with my nephew over a coffee and bacon barm :-).

Then I started following my nose for a slightly more direct route home, but actually ended up going a bit too direct so that I unintentionally ended up on the motorway for a short while before I came off at Carnforth and picked up the A6.

(I had to reset things at Lancaster as the route wasn't coming up properly.)

I stopped at Glasson Dock for lunch - a place that I had often fancied seeing - and I was delighted to find that there was a gathering of bikes there so had a nice natter with a few like-minded souls over a cup of tea.

And from there, I just cruised home at a gentle pace, arriving back late afternoon.

All in all, a lovely mini-adventure. Great company; lots of magical experiences and memories with my boy; some amazing roads to ride on through the Lakes. What more could I ask for?