Our Leaders like to be complemented

Well it stands to reason after all we are only human and when we make your day out a truly memorable experience many of you tell us. Infact this morning Judith who is one of our regulars even sent us a postcard all the way from Montana. So thank you Judith that was very kind. She had bad weather, sleet and snow, well it has not been wonderful here for the last few days. Blowing a gale and pouring down on Monday I seem to remember. She climbed 2500 feet and did 5 miles on her way up towards Crypt Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada. She said it had all the "ingredients", well yes so it seems because the last walk I did with Judith was Esk Pike and I remember her feet got wet crossing the stream at the top of Langstrath. She was going to drive south to Idaho next and then on to Wyoming, what a gad about Judith, I hope you remember to bring the photo album next time your in Keswick.

Meanwhile, I have received some photos from Gaz and Nay who came up Haystacks with me, here they are clearly looking pleased on the top.

Wonderful views that day despite it being a bit murky. We saw hardly any other walkers until we descended Scarth Gap then they all seemed to be coming up that way. We arrived in Buttermere just in time for a quick slurp (tea) before the bus came to pick us up

Judith's photos

Well it has been a busy summer so far and I thought it was high time I posted some photos here. Usually I use photos of hills relevant to the actual walks, but today is different, I thought I would use dogs and transport as a sort of theme to give you a flavour of how Keswick Rambles operates. Afterall, we do try very hard to make sure we are environmentally friendly which means we avoid asking everyone to come in their own car as this only adds to traffic congestion etc. Also, we are very dog friendly both on the walks and in the town pubs and guest houses and our canine friends love it here. So thanks to our star photographer, Judith, I shall attempt to enlighten you in all these matters.

We are fortunate in having a number of regular customers who come every year on the guided walks and this year we welcomed back a couple of these in the shape of Hamish and Angus, who I mentioned in the last post if you remember. Well here they are with their owner.

Next we have a photo of Hamish (black Tibetan terrier) and angelic Angus (golden) in action crossing a stile in style   ha ha!

Our next doggy delicious photo shows our dear little Bella stepping out smartly and demonstrating the fine art of crossing a beck with Pete who also shows how it should be done.....

Of course we not only cross becks and climb over stiles but we also jump onto the Keswick Launch when we set off on our rambles. Here is yours truly boarding the boaty.....

Easy does it and don't fall off the step or there might be a loud splosh.....

We also use the open topped bus when we return from Seatoller and this shows the view as it goes down the Borrowdale valley, note it is a good idea to sit well in from the side or you end up festooned with leaves etc in your hair.......

We had to use the cars a couple of times because we needed to start in more remote areas so just look at this for transport......very stylish ha

We don't have a set of wheels quite like that  :-)  but this little number does help us to wiz clients from Seathwaite to Seatoller for the bus sometimes, and it does save a 25 minute walk....

Judith stayed with Pat and Linda Dent in their lovely guest house called Rivendell on Helvellyn Street and of course it is dog friendly..

Her guide for these particular walks was Pete Armstrong.

It only remains to thank Judith very much for sending in so many photos on a cd, they were all wonderful.
Now you know how we organise a typical day out with Keswick Rambles. Of course there were loads of fells climbed too!

The best guided mountain walks in the English Lake District

This blog was developed by me to showcase Keswick Rambles' commitment to offering the best guided mountain walks in the English Lake District. Given that aim, I intend to develop the blog over the next few days or even weeks to reflect some of the comments which you have kindly given us on our walks. Some of you follow this blog avidly and it is a real compliment to know how much you appreciate my efforts. I cannot promise that the changes will all happen tomorrow but I have taken on board some ideas and other inspiration comes from Blogger who now offer a much better product than they did when I first started using them.

Your comments are very welcome and in the next few weeks I hope to improve the system whereby you can send in your photos and descriptions of our wonderful walks together. The whole idea is to build up a significant number of walks descriptions so that anyone who has not been out with us before can see for themselves what the walks are like.

So keep an eye out, you may be surprised at the result, I have taken the first step which is to significantly increase our Broadband usage so that we can now show far more photographs than our previous allowance gave us. Also, if you like what we do, please tell others. Word of mouth is the best compliment of all but we are not immune to putting links onto this blog with you reciprocating on yours ;-)

kira from Germany sent in this description of a recent walk.

Alison is one of the two new Keswick Rambles' leaders. She started her first walk on Easter Sunday. Though the weather wasn't very promising on Saturday, Sunday started dry and improved steadily to a sunny spring afternoon! There were three of us participating the walk. Andy from York, Rosy from Australia and myself, over from Germany for the Easter weekend. Now there is another Keswick Rambles' dog, Dusk, who accompanied us. We started at the Moot Hall, walked through Fitz Park, crossed Briar Rigg and followed Spooney Green Lane up Latrigg. Soon we passed the gate to the right into the woods and followed the path until we reached a comfortable staircase. We climbed it and walked on through Brundhome woods. The first photo shows Alison and Rosy on this path. Eventually we reached a fence and climbed the stile. Snow!

The second photo shows Dusk there. How much she enjoyed the snow! We reached the top of Latrigg from the back. It was a bit chilly on the top, so the tea from the Bassenthwaite Rotary Club was very welcome. We've had a little break at their stall on top of Latrigg. Onwards to Skiddaw car park, and then we followed the path to the right into Glenderaterra valley.

The next photo shows Glenderaterra beck at the head of the valley. The bridge wasn't there when I was there last time, it's rather new. We followed the muddy path along the fellside of Lonscale fell until we descended into the valley to walk across two bridges over to the other side of the valley.

The next photo shows shows clearly how impressive Lonscale fell looks like from this side, quite different from its smooth surface showing to Keswick. We enjoyed our lunch here before we climbed on to the path leading alongside Blease fell.

The next photo shows Rosy, Andy and Alison looking across the valley to High Rigg.

We passed this impressive waterfall by following the path on to the Blencathra centre, passed it and walked down, across Derwent Folds, into Brundholme woods where we followed the path along River Greta to the hamlet of Forge. We crossed the bridge, followed the road for some time and climbed up to the old railway path which lead us back to Keswick. It was a very enjoyable walk for all of us including Dusk who couldn't get enough walking and playing with sticks. Thank you, Alison, for this wonderful day and good luck for your coming walks!

I was glad to be in the house today

The rain has come down in bucketfuls today, so it was just as well that it was not designated as a walk day, mind you Alan rang the other day and was full of woe that we were not going out today. Well Alan if you are reading this you may be pleased that we saved you a soaking.

I spent some of the day in email wrangling with our previous registrar of our website which I have been trying to wrestle off them so that we can get it going again after Terry pulled the plug...But no luck, I have drawn a blank so far and they say I must go back to the UK company that looks after website domain names, anyway, I won't bore you with any more of this piffle except to say that they don't make it easy. So it is not for want of trying on my part that we don't have a website that I can access as the moment, but I will persevere.

On a happier note, we did receive some rather pleasant photos from Tess so I will post a few.
First up is Ewen, David and Jane on the summit of Clough Head all looking rather smug that they have completed the climb in sunshine.

Next we have the distant view of Skiddaw from Clough Head.



Then Blencathra seen in all her autumn glory decked out in her purple heather, and many a time I have come down those slopes in amongst those lovely flowers. I never tire of seeing heather in bloom and if you want to see some of the best in Lakeland then take a walk up Walla Crag, you will not be disappointed.



Lastly, Tess sends this photo with the comment "Don't we look a happy lot."



Well I must agree that Tess and Ewen do look very happy, so well done to all of you happy hill climbers on Clough Head last Saturday (22nd) in the sunshine.

Recent Walkers photos

We are always pleased to see our happy customers smiling at us from all sorts of peaks and fell tops. Recently, we have had a glut of photos sent in which is great, but I have only chosen a selection today as I will keep some of the scenic shots back for posting later in the year when the walks have finished. It is the best time to look at them then by the comfort of one's fireside etc, when it is snowing outside or similar conditions prevale.


So first off we have a smiling trio down by the stile at the end of their walk with Pete and Bella which took place on 2nd August and was Red Screes to Fairfield and back down to Dunmail Raise, where instead of the bus, they were all picked up by me in the car.

Next we have a rather soggy shot, yes even the camera lens has raindrops all over it if you look carefully. This is the shot on top of High Spy with its large cairn in the background giving a real sense of achievement to the situation. Mike sent in this one and the walk was on the 4th August up Maiden Moor and High Spy.



Lastly we have a walk David led up Pillar on the 8th August with a smiling group on the top with Ewan leaning on the trig point, Nicky, Ivan and David on the right.



And also a piccie taken on the way up with Gable looming above them, so as not to leave out Tess, (on the right of David), who sent in the shots. So thank you all so much for sharing your days out with the rest of us.

weather it's fine or damp?

Sometimes the weather in the Lakes is brilliant and then there are those days we choose to forget.... this must be understood in order to venture out ever again. Our memories should be preferably short when it comes to the damp, dismal, drenched, downpour times: and blissfully long when we remember the balmy, blessed, beautiful and bountiful ones. Ok, so I am trying hard here... but it fits with the piccies I need to post, so how about this one first on Fairfield looking down on a beautiful Grisedale Tarn.

















Next up we have a panoramic vista and who can name all the peaks in the distance?




But lately our wonderful waterproofs have been able to prove they were worth the money, yes Keswick shops triumph again, 'there is no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothing'. Well really, if you believe that..

< With thanks to kira for contributing the pictures.

Great Gable again

A couple more photos here of our expedition up Great Gable sent in by kira. This shot shows us heading up Moses Trod with the Gable north face towering above us.



The next shot is me sitting on top of the stile above the farm at Seathwaite, we had just come down Sour Milk Gill.




I just wanted to encourage anyone who has come on our walks to email their photos to us as we like to see them. I am always happy to include a few in the blog because I set it up initially for us to share our memories together. So please feel free to send in your piccies.