Another Swim/Walk Adventure

Lots of stresses and strains have been going on behind the scenes recently, and wild swimming has been one of the few distractions.

Last week David and I had a day off mid week and so we planned a swim adventure. The tarn in question was Hayeswater, Hartsop, which had been a reservoir up until 2005. The dam was removed in 2014 and the tarn was returned to it’s natural state.

We parked at a free car park in Hartsop, but donated to the village school as a thank you. We followed the left hand stony path which ran steeply along Hayeswater Gill, before crossing a bridge and continuing the path on the right hand side. Further up we then crossed another bridge to the left hand side of the tarn. The walk took about one hour. At a shingle beach we made camp and I accessed the mild 16°C water which had an abundance of minnows darting about the shallows. The swim was peaceful and remote and we didn’t see any other people until I had climbed out of the water. David got Buzz up and managed to capture some wonderful scenery. It was indeed balm for a stressed out mind.

Have you walked in this area of Patterdale? What were your observations?

Thanks for reading,

Christine x

A Small Measure of Peace

For the Jubilee bank holiday weekend, David and I managed to take a day out to the Lake District. I decided to revisit Brothers Water, the last time I was there was in 2017, and I was rather tired during my swim there after a mammoth five hour hike earlier that day. So, this time I planned on a more leisurely visit.

Brothers Water

We managed to dodge the bank holiday crowds but not for long. We arrived at Cow Bridge car park at 9am and already the area was filling up with cars and people. We luckily got a parking space and took a slow meandering walk along the shore of Brothers Water while listening to birds singing in the nearby woods. We only saw a handful of people during our walk. Luckily we didn’t have many spectators when I headed into the water either.

Wild swimming in Brothers Water

We spent about 2 hours at Brothers Water. The temperature was 12 degrees and I swam for about 20 minutes, while David took Buzz (drone) into the air for an extended fly. There were a few fish about but not many. We made camp on a small spit of land further up from my 2017 swim location and it was a far superior experience. Water access was a suggestion I found in Suzanna Cruickshank’s Swimming Wild in the Lake District.

Have you visited this small lake? Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks for reading,

Christine x

Swimming in November

Finally, I have managed to push the boundary back in terms of how long my wild swimming season lasts for. In recent years I have been wanting to see how I cope in colder temperatures. This year, I had a week off work in November, so I booked a two nights stay in our favourite Lake District B&B, Hermiston. The plan was to do a couple of swims, but where? I have sadly swam in all the accessible lakes/tarns in The Lake District and now have to gather fitness and resources to go further inland and up mountains!

Luckily, the Eskdale Valley, west of the Lakes, was a destination we had not visited before and the area seemed to be less frequented by tourists. Correct me if I am wrong! So during our stay, I planned on doing two swims. The first was Blea Tarn (the last of the three) and the second Devoke Water.

Blea Tarn:

There are three Blea Tarns, the first in the picturesque Langdale Valley, the second in Watendlath and the third in Eskdale. Eskdale’s Blea Tarn can be accessed via Beckfoot, a train station on the Ravenglass and Eskdale 15″ gauge Railway. David and I were going to park up in the station at Dalegarth but we managed to find off road parking right opposite the Beckfoot platform.

Beckfoot Crossing

After donning our backpacks, we crossed the train track and headed through a gate towards the hillside beyond. The walk only took 30 minutes, it was steep in places but not too strenuous. At the top I thought we would find Blea Water looking resplendent but we had to traipse over sphagnum moss a little further inland before the tarn appeared.

Blea Tarn

On the day the weather wasn’t very inviting, a mean wind whipped across the tarn and cloud drifted over the hills. After the restrictive swim season that was 2020, I have been desperate to just get into the water and swim. So, we quickly made camp and I stripped to my swimsuit; strapped Doughnut, my tow float to my waist and new GoPro to my chest and I was ready for a dip in chilly waters!

I had prepared myself for cold waters, but in fact Llynnau Mymbyr was much colder! I managed a 15 minute swim in Blea Tarn, though I could have swam for longer. I was weary of not being cold water aclimatised, so I stayed close to shore and had a short swim. The wind kept splashing water in my face while I gazed at the mist enshrouded hills around me. Mentally, I didn’t enjoy the swim as much as I should have, but I am glad I have managed to tick this tarn from the swim map!

Getting dry back on land was a chore with a cold wind and rain falling steadily. I think it took me as long to get dry and dressed as I did swimming! But wrapped up warmly afterwards, we headed back down the hill towards the car.

Devoke Water:

Much like during the swim at Blea Tarn the day before, the weather for the Devoke water swim was very inclement! In fact the wind was more blustery and whipped up white horses on the water!

As Devoke Water is in the same region of the Lakes as Blea Tarn, the journey from Braithwaite took just over an hour. We found roadside parking a 20 minute walk from the tarn and followed the sign post towards Devoke Water. I knew this tarn would be less popular than any other tarn I had swam in but I had thought I would have seen people on our swim/walk. However, it was just David and I who traipsed the unremarkable path towards the tarn, then tramped though marshy, wet land to a windy swim.

Devoke Water

We made camp and I took to the waters with the same enthusiasm and a little bit of nervousness I have for all of my swims. Despite the wind being raucous and throwing water into my face, I really enjoyed this swim, the wind was cold but the water wasn’t so bad. I swam for about 15-20 minutes! The scenery around Devoke Water is as bleak as it gets but occasionally there were shafts of sunlight piercing through the clouds. It’s definitely a tarn I would visit again.

Have you visited any of these tarns?

Thanks for reading,

Christine xx

Touring the Trossachs – Day One.

David and I have been back home for a week now after having had a wonderful week away to Scotland’s Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. During the holiday, we had some wonderful weather, which makes me think that having to cancel the same holiday last October was a good thing, though at the time it didn’t feel such a positive. Thankfully we managed to book for the same place as was first planned and everything came together perfectly. This is what we got up to on day one of our Scotland 2021 holiday!

Loch Venechar

Our Monday morning began by finishing packing our suitcases and then loading up the car with all our supplies for the week ahead. We left Artie in the care of my mum and embarked on our four hour plus journey north. We hit the M6 at 10am, passing The Lake District before the long slog through the lowlands of Scotland. We stopped off for lunch at Gretna Green Services which was busy with holidaymakers. Our journey passed Glasgow and Stirling before we drew close to our destination for the next four nights, Callander and the shores of Loch Venachar.

We arrived at East Lodge, Cabin on the Loch at the scheduled 3pm. We let ourselves in and quickly orientated ourselves. The cabin has bi-folding doors which opens to a wonderful north-west view of Loch Venachar, and mountains Ben Venue and Ben Ledi. One of my wishes was to stay at a cabin overlooking water and mountains and finally, now I had.

After resting from the long journey, David and I headed towards the rocky, sandy beach for my first swim of the holiday! I’d packed 12 swim suits for this swim holiday, and Loch Venachar was to be my first swim of many that week!

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  loch venachar swim

Loch Venechar not only welcomed David and I holidaying in 2021, but was also visited in 1869 by Queen Victoria and her children. The loch is reported to be the home of an each-uisge or water horse (kelpie). Sometime in the 1800’s, fifteen children were playing near the loch and were enticed by the kelpie into the water to their deaths. There is a wood on the north side of the loch called The Wood of Woe. Sadly during my many swims in Loch Venachar, I did not spy the each-uisge, during sunrise, noon or night.

After my swim, we headed back to the cabin to relax. While I had a shower, David spent time photographing the visiting birds on the feeders before we settled down and had dinner, of M&S pizza and salad and watched the sunset.

An early night beckoned as we had three swim planned the next day!

Have you holidayed in the Trossachs?

Thanks for reading,

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2021 – Day Sixteen.

Day 16: Gaining inspiration from last year’s 30 Days Wild, Wednesdays will be RAW days, meaning Random Acts of Wildness. In this series I’ll be using The Wildlife Trusts’ 30 Days Wild app, and the 365 Days Wild book to help choose the day’s theme.

Today’s RAW is, explore a wild place. 

Recently I took Riley for a walk to a local cemetery, one I hadn’t visited in such a long time and yet it’s not far from home. Toxteth Park Cemetery was opened 9th June 1856 and is grade II listed. The cemetery is also a location of Commonwealth Graves with 274 service personnel interred, the majority from the First World War. We took an hour long, leisurely walk around the cemetery with mum alongside and looked at some of the headstones we passed. There were rich families from Victorian Liverpool resting alongside orphans and modern day Liverpudlians. Social history was clearly evident with inscriptions of children not living passed a year, highlighting the plight of high child mortality in Victorian Britain. There was even one grave of a man who had died in an explosion on the RMS Mauretania.

Toxteth Park Cemetery

A Cat!

Riley

Toxteth Park Cemetery

Dog roses

War Grave

 

But we were there looking for signs of wildlife. There were many bees flying between the headstones and the odd grey squirrel jumping about, but it was the bird life that was abundant. We saw wood pigeons, starlings, sparrows and a thrush. At one stage even a black backed gull wandered along the pathways. 

Have you visited an unusual spot looking for wildlife?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine xx

A Perfect Day

It’s a sad day today.

I live in a region of England that has been put under stricter Covid-19 restrictions, meaning that only travel from the region is for work and not recreation.

Thankfully, on Tuesday David had a day off work and we managed to escape to The Lake District for a day out. We brought our gentle giant of a border collie, Riley along with us.

The day started before the sunrise. We drove for 2.5 hours up the M6, taking a stop at Lancaster services for a comfort break. The destination of the day was Buttermere. As we drove past the neighbouring lake Crummock Water, David stopped at a lay-by. The surface of the water was so still it was like a mirror. We got out of the car and headed towards the peaceful, quiet shores of Crummock Water. David got Buzz, his drone out and I ran around with Riley.

The village of Buttermere is much busier. The National Trust car park fills up quickly but luckily there were still a few parking spaces left on our arrival. We paid £6 for four hours, you could pay with coins or by card. We donned our walking boots and rucksacks before taking the short walk towards the lake.

Like Crummock, the water of Buttermere was perfectly still. In all my visits to the lake I’ve never seen it so calm. The sun had burned off the remaining mist and a warm day was ahead of us. It was a very surprising day weather wise. I’d planned on it being a cool autumnal day but in reality there was no wind, the sun was warm and it felt like another last gasp from summer. It was a perfect day!

Following many other people, we took the northern path which passes the lone tree and has wonderful views of Fleetwith Pike and Haystacks. We made camp (Camp Riley) at a wide pebbly beach. Before we had lunch, I was going to have a swim, with the hope that Riley would come into the water with me. However the shore sloped steeply into the water and Riley was a little tentative. Not wanting to frighten him, I left him on the shore with David, who had taken Buzz into the air once again, to the amusement of passers-by.

The water was glorious! It wasn’t as cold as I’d expected. Indeed I’d swam in Buttermere previously when the water was much colder! You can read that post, here. I swam for about 15 minutes, but I could have stayed in for longer. It was so lovely. However Riley was getting stressed that he couldn’t reach one of his humans, so I waded out so he could run me around the shoreline in my swimsuit. The sun was so warm I didn’t even get cold nor have difficulty getting dressed, which is a novelty.

Once we had picnicked, we packed up and headed slowly back to the car. It had been a beautiful day. Riley seemed to have enjoyed himself and I’d got a swim in one of my favourite lakes. It’s a day I shall remember and smile at for a very long time.

Have you ever had a perfect day out?

Thanks for your support,

Christine x

Mud, Sweat and Tears

We’ve just come back from a short weekend break to the Lake District for David’s birthday. It was a mixed bag of experiences over the course of three days, here’s what we got up to.

Blencathra

Day One:
Realisation dawned on me that the Lakes at present are swollen with people who would normally vacate abroad but due to Covid restrictions are staying closer to home. I’d planned on a few wild swims during our stay-cation and chose areas of Lakeland which were a bit less popular. Our destination for the day was Tewet Tarn which boasted wondrous views of Blencathra and Skiddaw.

All through the wet journey north I had worried about parking as Tewet Tarn is situated between Castlerigg and St John’s in the Vale, with limited off road parking. Our wonderful hosts Phil and Helen from Hermiston Guest House in Braithwaite, sent us a detailed map of accessible parking which we found with relative ease.

The walk to Tewet Tarn took 10 minutes from roadside parking. On arrival we discovered there was little in the way of good access points into the water. We tried to walk around the tarn but the land soon became marshy. We back tracked and made camp on a small section of shore. The swim in Tewet Tarn set the tone for the rest of the weekend. The tarn was shallow and murky. It wasn’t a pleasant swim but at least I can add the tarn to my swim map.

Tewet Tarn Swim

Swim Map

We were not at Tewet Tarn long, about an hour I’d say. With still two hours before check-in we looked for somewhere else to spend the time. At first we were going to head into a busy Keswick and look for new walking boots as mine are split, but in a change of heart, we headed towards a Wildlife Trusts’ nature reserve Eycott Hill near Berrier. We spent a leisurely hour walking the path past wildflower meadows and mossy wetlands towards Eycott Hill viewpoint. Bird life was quiet but we did see some butterflies.

Eycott Hill

Tortoiseshell Butterfly

Wildflower Meadow

Volcanic Formations

A note on our guest house and Covid-19 safety guidelines: our hosts were very informative as to what changes had been made. On arrival guests could wear face masks and were informed of the hygiene procedures. On entrance guests were asked to use gel to clean their hands. There was also gel to be used before entering the breakfast room of a morning where staggered breakfast times had been implemented. There was also a one way system for guests leaving during breakfast times to adhere to social distancing rules. We felt safe during our stay and guests respected each other.

Rosthwaite Round Walk

Day Two:
The day started with promise, we drove the 20 minutes to Rosthwaite and paid £7.50 for all day parking in the National Trust car park there. Our destination was Dock Tarn via Watendlath. I had hoped to have found a walk similar to Alcock Tarn in Grasmere, however the walk from Rosthwaite to Watendlath took us one and a half hours with another hours walk to Dock Tarn. Sunshine and showers dogged us all through our walk. The path towards Dock Tarn was treacherous under foot, with slippery, mud chocked stones. During the hours walk I slipped about four times, once landing painfully on my hip. I sat and cried, through shock more than anything. It wasn’t a great day!

Dock Tarn

By the time we got to the tarn we were soaked in mud, sweat and tears!

Much like Tewet Tarn there wasn’t good access to the water. There was only one small beach not big enough to put my picnic blanket down, so I got changed standing up, which was a balancing act! Dock Tarn looked picturesque covered in water lilies but there wasn’t much water that wasn’t covered in lilies or reeds. Sadly, once again the swim was disappointing. The tarn was shallow and swimming through lilies and reeds made me feel queasy. Their stems wrapped around Wilson (underwater camera), that I have attached to my torso, which stopped me swimming. It was pretty scary actually. Luckily I was just floating over the silty bed so I could stand and get out of the water pretty easily. It wasn’t a pleasant swim so I cut it short after 10 minutes. The whole swim/walk seemed a wasted day and I hardly took any photos of my swim.

Dock Tarn Swim

We grabbed a quick bite to eat and then decided to complete the whole walk and continued en route down through an ancient oak forest called Lingy End, gingerly slipping over a steep pitched path which took another two hours to traverse. When we did eventually get back to the car the showers stopped and the sun came out. Dock Tarn isn’t a swim I would suggest to other wild swimmers.

Blea Water Walk

Day Three:
I wasn’t sure we would get parking at Mardale Head car park, Haweswater as we left the guest house after 9am. The journey from Braithwaite is about an hour, along narrow, hair-raising roads. We got to the car park at 10am and luckily there were a few parking spaces left. We hiked our heavy rucksacks up a path for a further hour towards our destination for the day, Blea Water.

Blea Water

Blea Water is the Lake District’s deepest tarn at 63 metres. It is a glacial corrie, and was also known as Bley Water from Old Norse meaning dark blue. The path to Blea Water at first wasn’t too bad but as the path disappeared into marshy sphagnum our already wet boots were soaked in mud again. The walk wasn’t as bad as the previous days struggle to Dock Tarn and we got to the steep sides of Blea Water with no drama. There is little in the way of shore-line at Blea Water but by the dammed east end, we found a little shingle beach where we could set up camp and I could access the water from.

Blea Water Swim

Blea Water was the best swim of the weekend! I actually got in a decent 20+ minute swim, in water that wasn’t too cold. I enjoyed floating on my back while looking up at the ridge line. Even David managed to give Buzz, our new drone a little stretch of his blades. Though our camp wasn’t far from the path we were not bothered by walkers. Overall it was a positive swim and I am glad we took the walk there.

So there you have our exploits over the past weekend. Video of swims to follow.

Have you been to any of the tarns mentioned above? What is your favourite body of water?

Thanks for reading,

Christine xx

30 Days Wild 2020 – Day Twenty-eight.

Day 28: For today’s 30 Days Wild, David and I, with Riley in tow took a three mile meander around Port Sunlight River Park. The weather was showery, with a light breeze. The sun was warm but not warm enough to coax butterflies from their shelter. On arrival we spotted a kestrel hunting, house martins flew over the lake and we sat and rested while listening to skylarks nesting in the scrub. I even saw a new plant, St John’s Wort which a bumblebee was enjoying.

Teasle

House Martin

Vipers-bugloss

What’s your favourite place to go nature spotting?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2020 – Day Twelve.

Day 12: Today’s 30 Days Wild is going to be a ladybird hunt. Right or wrong I prefer to call them ladybugs!! On my daily walk with Riley we follow a path close to a railway line. At present the embankment is full of nettles and I’ve seen shinning red against the greenery, lots of ladybugs. Native or not (harlequin) I’ve decided to take a count of how many ladybugs I see on my walk.

On today’s walk I spotted a grand total of 24 ladybugs, a mixture of native and harlequin. In one section of the walk there were an abundance of ladybird larvae. They do seem to like nettles and knapweed.

Ladybird

Ladybird lifesycle

Halequin Ladybird

Native Ladybirds

Ladybird larvae

Halequin Ladybird

It looks like the photos I have captured are all harlequin ladybugs, however I have seen some two, seven spot and 16 spot ladybirds during my count. I find it quite hard to tell native ladybirds from harlequins. Maybe the white eyes are a give away?

There are around 40 native ladybirds in the UK. Their redness is a sign to predators that they bitter tasting, they also exude a liquid that detracts birds and ants. Adults hibernate in winter. Their larvae are voracious aphid eaters.

Harlequin ladybirds are from Asia and arrived in the UK in 2004. They are more prevalent in towns, hence seeing more in a local park. They are larger than the native ladybird and out compete natives in prey and will eat other ladybird’s eggs and larvae.

Have you seen any ladybirds where you live?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

#walk1000miles 2019

Welcome to my third #walk1000miles post!

2019 has been the third year I’ve participated in the initiative by Country Walking Magazine. For the past 12 months, I’ve been busy counting my miles daily and tallying my weekly totals. I’ve counted workouts on the cross-trainer, walks to work, exercising the family dog, Riley and of course holidays and days out with David!

My overall mileage for 2019 has been a wonderful 1,979 miles. Beating my 2018 total, by 108 miles and my 2017 mileage by a whopping 663 miles!

As in 2018‘s post, I’ve split the year into seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter, and give the miles for each of the three months. It will be good to see how different my mileage accumulates over the year and how it differs per season and against previous years totals.

So without further ado, let’s begin with my favourite season of all, spring!

Spring: (March, April and May)

The theme of this years #walk1000miles has been walks with friends and family. David and I also joined the RSPB which saw us taking trips to Leighton Moss and Burton Mere. All these new adventures meant I completed my 500 miles by March!

Selfie

Feeding a Great Tit

Wedding

Wild Swimming

Thornton Force

David and Riley

Total miles for spring = 495

Summer: (June, July and August)

Although we didn’t have as fair a summer in 2019 as in the previous year, my miles did increase due to better walking conditions and I reached 1000 miles on June 25th. My friend Jennifer came to visit the UK for a second time and we went hiking in Snowdonia and swam in llyns Bochlwyd and Idwal.

The Bee Centre

Blea Tarn

Family dinner

Popular Hawk Moth – David Evans

Climbing up that big hill!

Painted Lady Butterfly

Total miles for summer= 461.

Autumn: (September, October and November)

It seemed as the year progressed my mileage actually declined! Even though I had trips away to the Lake District and Snowdonia this quarter, my miles walked were pretty poor by my standards. I think I swapped the miles for wild swims as I took quite a few in September and October! 

Gremlin the badger

Grasmere from Grey Crag

Glaslyn

Windermere

Total miles for autumn= 457 miles.

Winter: (December, January and February)

I kick started my 2019 #walk1000miles on New Years Day, with a 10 mile walk around Derwentwater and Kewsick with Riley in tow. In December David and I took an expensive city break to New York City! Walking 73 miles in five days which greatly aided my annual mileage.

Low Brandlehow Jetty

RSPB

The Bull

Brooklyn Bridge

The Rockefeller Christmas Tree

Total miles for winter = 566 miles.

Annual Total = 1,979 miles!

Achieving #walk1000miles in a year is greatly satisfying. My certificate and medal have pride of place on my gym’s wall. However, I had hoped to make the 2000 mile mark and gain wonder woman status, but alas I’ve not reached that milestone. Short by only 21 miles. 

#walk1000miles has a wonderful, supportive Facebook group. Through participation in this group my name was among the many others on the We Did 1000 Miles page of the January 2020 edition of Country walking Magazine and I also featured in the Do it for Happiness section of the pull out magazine from the February 2020 edition.

Name

For Happiness

Llyn Idwal walk

I was also proud to have my picture of the Llyn Idwal walk printed in the September 2019 edition.

I’ve signed up again for the 2020 challenge, however I won’t be aiming for 2000 miles. I’ve decided to just see how far I can walk in a year and not push it. Walking is such an easy, free activity, much underrated if you ask me. I will continue walking the miles I do and see how I go. How about you? Do you feel inspired to give the challenge a go?

If you fancy signing up, click the link below and join me and thousands more, walking that little bit more than we did last year!

https://www.walk1000miles.co.uk/

Thanks for reading, Christine x