Devoke Water + Muncaster Castle

The next day we went ahead with our original plan of hiking in Devoke Water and visiting Muncaster Castle in the afternoon. But first we decided to brave the steepest road in England.

The start of the path at Devoke Water

The path was very, very muddy ...

... and we had to make quite a few detours. The views were quite lovely, though.

Halfway we reached the river and couldn't find a way to cross it, so we decided to turn back

S. turned out to be quite the little hiker ...

Muncaster Castle is known for its Owl Trust Center, and is an amazing place to spend the day with kids. We arrived just in time to watch the "Meet the birds" event at 2:30 PM, then visited the castle interior. Afterwards we went for some tea and cake at the little tea room at the back of the owl centre where we met the castle owner Mr. Pennington and had a really nice chat with him. We vowed to come back in the Spring to watch the flowers in bloom.

 

Coniston and its Old Man

On Sunday it was my birthday and what better way to celebrate than by hiking the Old Man of Coniston ?
But first we decided to explore the Coniston Water pier and the nearby Brantwood manor, the home of John Ruskin (i'm ashamed to admit I'd never heard of John Ruskin before, but he was a man of many talents).

:: at the Coniston pier

:: view from the gardens of Brantwood

:: Brantwood manor

:: a very lovely quilt

We then returned home for a quick lunch and someone had to take a nap ...

 

Around 2 PM we finally decided to start our hike up to the Old Man of Coniston. The are several routes up to the summit, but the one we took was this one.

Hike: old Man of Coniston
Distance: 12.4 km
Ascent: 985 m
Time: 5.5 hours

I think it took us about 3.5 hours to go up and 2 hours to come down. We got lost for a while after reaching Dow Crag and missed the path to the right that would take us to the summit, but it was not difficult to get back on track. We were lucky that the weather was nice and the visibility was good, but when we reached the summit it was already getting a little foggy.

:: Goats Water

:: peanut butter sandwich break
:: view of Goats Water climbing up towards Dow Crag

:: yay, we reached the summit !

:: the most amazing views of Coniston and the surrounding lakes

:: the old copper mines

Coniston, Ambleside, Grasmere

When looking for a place to stay in the Lake District I was really confused about which would be the best place to stay. Everyone seemed to agree that Windermere, Bowness and Ambleside (the main villages in the central lakes) were usually too crowded and much too touristy. I saw recommendations for Keswick, but it seemed a bit far north from where we wanted to be. In the end, I chose a cottage in the village of Coniston, which most people suggested was not too busy, but had the necessary amenities (meaning a good pub and a reasonable supermarket) . I used this agency, and was very happy with their service. The cottage - Three Springs - was as cosy as pictured on their website, and provided all we needed for our stay with a 2-year toddler.
We particularly enjoyed the welcome tray, the rustic cottage kitchen, and the nice views from the living room and upstairs main bedroom (from where we could see rabbits in the garden every morning)

Speaking of rabbits, our first stop was the Beatrix Potter Attraction in Bowness. We were waiting for a friend to join us, and thought S. would probably enjoy this while we waited.  We particularly found this notice amusing ...

:: Sara mesmerized by Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle

:: having lunch at Lucy's (Ambleside). Very nice food, highly recommended.

:: Sarah Nelson's famous gingerbread

:: in the Wordsworth garden behind the church at Grasmere

:: Grasmere

:: at Baldry's tearoom (Grasmere). The bottom plaque is particularly true

:: tea and orange drizzle cake

  :: views from Grasmere

:: dinner at the Black Bull Inn in Coniston. Good food, reasonably priced and fantastic beer (according to A.)