The Lake District
Fells, water and proper walking country, an easy run from the Midlands. A good first trip, and a favourite for a long weekend.
The Lakes are close enough for a long weekend and big enough to feel like a proper escape. Fells in every direction, water at the bottom of each valley, and a pub at the end of most walks.
Enola is happy here. Pitch the awning at a farm site, leave the campervan and walk straight from the door. Mornings are for the tops, afternoons for the water, evenings for the heater and a cup of something warm.
Three nights is plenty for a taste. You will be back.
A shape for the days.
Windermere and settling in
An easy run up the M6 and you are by the water in time for lunch. Settle in by the lake and find your feet, take the launch across to Wray Castle or just walk the shore path until the traffic noise in your head goes quiet.
- The Windermere launch, better than parking in Bowness
- Wray Castle and the west shore path
- First fell views from Orrest Head, twenty minutes up
OvernightA farm site near Troutbeck
01Intended shot · Fenyx parked among the trees at Skelwith Ford, Ambleside Great Langdale
Park under the fells for a day on the tops. The Langdale Pikes look dramatic and walk kindly, and the valley floor has two of the best pubs in the national park for when you come back down.
- Stickle Ghyll up to Stickle Tarn
- The Langdale Pikes for a proper leg stretch
- The Old Dungeon Ghyll hikers bar
OvernightGreat Langdale, under the Pikes
02Intended shot · Windermere Lake 
03Intended shot · Great Langdale, one of the classic glacial valleys of the Lake District. Buttermere and Honister
Over the Honister Pass, steep but short and completely worth it, to a quieter valley and a walk right around the lake. Buttermere is the Lakes with the volume turned down, and the circuit takes a gentle couple of hours.
- Honister Pass and its slate mine
- The full Buttermere circuit, flat and lovely
- Syke Farm ice cream from the herd next door
OvernightButtermere valley
04Intended shot · Looking toward the Fairfield Horseshoe side of the valley.
Before you go
- Mileage
- Around 120 miles inside the park across three days
- Fuel
- Kendal and Keswick are the reliable stops; there is nothing in the high valleys
- Ferries and tolls
- The Windermere ferry is optional, takes campervans and saves the lake loop
- Best months
- April to June, or September once the summer crowds thin
We took Enola up to the Lakes for a week and never once wished we had booked a hotel. Everything was already on board, right down to the little things you would forget. Woke up to Buttermere out the window and just grinned.
Ready for The Lake District?
Enola loves it here. Awning out at a farm site, boots by the door and the kettle on when you come off the fell.