A long Easter weekend walking and relaxing away from the chaos of city life, staying in a luxury boutique hotel surrounded by the most beautiful scenery England has to offer, we are of course visiting the much-loved Lake District.
After a long drive from London, roughly 5 hours with a quick motorway stop, we arrived at Cedar Manor our home for the next few nights. A beautiful and elegantly decorated hotel with a small number of rooms and personal service. The hosts Caroline and Jonathan could not do enough and were always waiting to hear about our day’s adventures and give advice for the next. The rooms had a very stately feel with four poster king size beds and pretty views over the Lake.
Cedar Manor Hotel
The hotel offers amazing fine dining for both breakfast and dinner. We enjoyed the delicious breakfast every morning, which came as part of the room booking. A superb selection of food from local Cumberland sausages and fresh farm eggs to home made jams and berry compote. The hotel was perfectly located within 30 minutes walking distance from Bowness Bay and 10 minutes from Windermere. It truly was an amazing place to spend the weekend, relaxing after long days out hiking and exploring.
Lake Windermere
Day 1: Scafell Pike
After a hearty English breakfast we set off for day one; a 6 hour round trip to the top of Scafell Pike. Being our first mountain expedition, we were not sure what to expect and if we had bought the right clothing but off we went with enthusiasm. The route we had chosen was from Borrowdale, around 8-9 miles return and an hours drive from the hotel. It was recommended as one of the prettiest ascents with best scenery en-route. The longest route is from Langdale about 13 miles return and the shortest from Wasdale 4-5 miles return. We found the Walk the Lakes website very helpful. Also worth noting that all routes can be climbed without a guide.
Scafell Pike Hike from Borrowdale
Admittedly not being as well prepared as most, with no map of how to actually get up the mountain, we followed a small group that were starting the hike at the same time. Following the crowd is not something to be relied upon however, as during the hike we hardly saw anyone and at times felt completely alone on the mountain with only the piles of rocks (apparently called Cairn’s) to lead our way. At times when we did encounter other hikers, most of them seeming to be pros speeding up the mountain, they were always happy to reassure us we were on the right path.
Scafell Pike Hike
The hike itself was incredible. The scenery was absolutely beautiful with the contrast of brutal hills and tranquil lakes in the landscape. The inquisitive sheep we encountered along the way also made the trip interesting. The view was immense and we were blessed with sunshine on the ascent which made the pictures look great but meant we had to strip down a few layers of clothing. As we got higher the wind picked up and the clouds came in so visibility got worse and it felt a lot colder. By the time we did the final scramble to the very top we were amidst a snow storm. This was really some of the strangest weather I have experienced in the space of 6 hours; such extremes on what in relation to the world is a fairly small mountain.
Scafell Pike
The descent down was relatively straight forward, having now felt like we had familiarised ourselves with the mountain. 3 hours up and 3 hours down, the hike was complete. We were feeling extremely proud of ourselves, so returned to our hotel for some respite before heading into town for a nice meal to finish the day and congratulate ourselves.
Day 2: Scafell Pike
On the second day we took a leisurely drive around the valley of Great Langdale and headed into the pretty and very popular village of Elterwater. We were planning to do a hike there but it was so busy and no free parking spots we decided to move on. Not far from there we passed Grasmere village and stopped off to visit the famous Gingerbread shop. We spotted the long queue before we saw the shop, a 17th century cottage that was a lot smaller than expected given it was known for selling the “world’s best gingerbread” since 1854. The gingerbread was delicious so it certainly lived up to the hype.
Grasmere Village
Our next stop was Ulswater Lake, recommended by the hotel owners as one of their favourite lakes. We walked up to the Aira Force Waterfall first, a small waterfall in comparison to ones we had seen recently in Iceland but albeit a natural beauty.
Aira Force Waterfall
We then had a packed lunch by the lakeside, sitting on the harbour looking out to the gorgeous mountain views. The sunshine came out just in time so that was a bonus. We considered hopping on a boat to the other side of the lake but as it was getting late we decided to head back to the hotel with a quick stop off at the village of Glenridding at the south side of Ulswater lake.
Ulswater Lake
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