leslieq

Thanks to those who responded to my questions awhile back about hiking in the Lake District. From August 31 - September 13 2017 I spent 9 nights at the HF Holiday house at Derwent Bank and 4 nights at their Monk Coniston house, doing Guided Walking at both. My husband couldn't travel at this time, so I went solo (I live in California). The trip was absolutely fantastic. For those new to HF Holidays, the concept is you stay at one of their houses and choose either self-guided or guided walking from the house. They offer easy, medium and hard walks each day, and the leaders are engaging and super competent. No single supplement is charged. I had a beautiful double room at Derwent Bank just by myself as they ran out of single rooms, and a single room at Monk Coniston. I did pay the double room price, which was very reasonable considering they offered three meals a day and a guided hike each day as well. Meals were wonderful and they accommodated any sort of dietary restrictions needed. Meals are communal, served at large round tables, so you get to know the people staying at your house. They offer social activities after dinner, or you can just hang out in the lounge. I was one of a handful of non-British guests, but everyone was very welcoming and friendly to me.

The cute town of Keswick was a short walk from Derwent Bank and had an outdoor gear store on just about every corner! Anything you might have forgotten was on offer there.

As a Californian, calling what we did "walking" was a strange concept as in my mind we did very little of that in the mountains! It was more climbing, clambering, slipping, scaling, bum-sliding, etc...the terrain in the Lake District is very challenging, as is the weather, which can change from hour to hour. Paths were very rocky, on scree, steep, often boggy and muddy. There were two walks I had wanted to do (Scafell Pike and Catbells) which were too difficult or dangerous due to heavy weather conditions, but I did climb the following Wainwrights: Causey Pike, Walla Crag, Haystacks, Blencathra, Outerside, Latrigg and Bow Fell. Blencathra was done in lovely weather, fortunate as it was my introduction to the sort of clambering and climbing necessary to get to the top of many of these peaks...the steep rocky path disappeared and we basically climbed up sharp rocky points using both hands and feet to get to the top. Bow Fell was done in heavy rain and winds, but with proper wet weather gear it was OK. We used the Climbers Traverse which was a narrow scree path traversing the side of a mountain with a steep cliff up and steep one down on the other side. You REALLY did not want to slip on this one. We also were going to use a large expanse of granite called the Slab, but our leader wisely determined it to be too slippery to use (if you did lose your footing you would probably just slide to your doom). Instead, we clambered through a large boulder field to reach the top. All this was both challenging and exhilarating.

We did take some easier (relatively) walks that involved going through some of the cute Lake District towns such as Ambleside and Hawkshead...and to several beautiful tarns and waterfalls. On one of my free days I walked around Derwent Water, about 10 miles and relatively easy walking. From Monk Coniston I walked to Ruskin's House Brantwood and returned via the Steam Yacht Gondola, a restored Victorian boat acting as a ferry. Both wonderful. On another day an English friend visited and we went to a house and gardens from Derwent Bank.

Hopefully this will not be the last HF Holiday house I visit. There are a number in England, Scotland and Wales, plus a number of overseas trips also offered. I enjoyed every minute and thank those of you who helped me with planning this trip.

Hooameye

Good report but I find the American use of "cute" quite strange.

Keren

Hi leslieq, how were the harder walks categorized? Were they medium, hard?
Thanks for the report.

jamikins

My relatives live in Hawkshead - it is such a beautiful area!

Lovely report!

leslieq

Hooameye, you should know that although we all speak English we use terms in quite different ways! I didn't mean any offense. If I said "traditional" would that have suited better?

jamikins, I have a wonderful memory of the whitewashed buildings and yellow and orange begonias in Hawkshead

Keren - easy, medium and hard walks were described in detail each evening so that you could decide which you wanted to sign up for. The harder walks were due to higher elevations, longer distances, or extra factors such as needed a "head for heights."

schnauzer

Sounds like a good challenge to me!! Were your walks in the hard category? They sound difficult to me. I did a couple of walks with HF in Yorkshire this May and they were easy compared to your experience. I did a medium then dropped back to an easy the second day!! What a wuss!! But I thoroughly enjoyed the concept and would do another when I can.

janisj

Very nice report. Sounds like you had a great time.

>>Hooameye, you should know that although we all speak English we use terms in quite different ways! I didn't mean any offense. If I said "traditional" would that have suited better? <<

At <i>least</i> you didn't use the dreaded Q word (quaint)

'Cute', 'quaint' etc. do tend to grate and sort of 'Disney-fy' real places.

leslieq

janisj haha...OK, no "quaint" from me!

schnauzer Not all of the walks I did were in the Hard category...some were easy, some medium. I think the walks in the Lake District tend to be harder in general due to the mountains and the terrain. How did you like the HF house in Yorkshire? I'm interested in returning to a different house someday.

Jennifer_Travels

Thank for sharing how your walks with HF Holiday went. Glad you had an enjoyable experience - they're on my saved list for future holidays.

schnauzer

Leslieq I stayed at Newfield Hall in Malhamdale. I took the superior room which was well worth the extra five pounds. From memory I did have to pay a single supplement but it wasn't much. My room was recently refurbished and was very comfortable. The whole hall was to be recommended and in a glorious setting.

annhig

thanks for coming back to tell us about your trip, leslieq and your HF experience. You may remember that my DH had been on a couple of HF holidays [in Shropshire and along Hadrian's Wall] and from what he said, the walking was a good deal easier than that you experienced in the Lake District but then that's to be expected really because of the terrain.

I hope you come back another time and experience some other HF centres.

No idea why anyone would take exception to the use by an american of the word "cute' - now if I started using it all the time that would be strange.

tuscanlifeedit

leslieq, thanks for the report. I'm not a hiker but our trip to the Lake District was one of our favorites.

I also remember all the hiking outfitters in Keswick. I bought a pair of socks.