I headed to Kendal and Hale for four days with family for Christmas, driving up after work on Tuesday 23rd to my parents’ house for the night. On the morning of Christmas Eve, Mum and I met up with Ruth and Chloe for a sunny stroll up Hampsfell, a Wainwright Outlying Fell above Grange. The low sunshine over Morecambe Bay at low tide was quite spectacular, as were the distant views of the Lake District and Howgill Fells.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3190808
After dinner at Mum and Dad’s I relocated to Ruth and Josh’s house for the night.

As has become traditional for me, I started Christmas Day with a parkrun, this year returning to Ford Park in Ulverston, three years after my previous visit. Thanks to a much-improved path surface around the bottom part of the park, the course was faster than last time, and would have been better done in road shoes! 201 runners was a record attendance for Ford parkrun. Afterwards, I headed straight back to Hale, arriving just a few minutes after my parents. We exchanged presents and had Christmas dinner together, then all took an afternoon stroll through the nearby woodland including a visit to some local pigs.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3190812

On Boxing Day, I started the day with another run, accompanying Ruth, Josh and (in the buggy) Chloe for a loop through Dallam Deer Park and Milnthorpe. After lunch, Mum, Ruth, Josh (carrying Chloe) and I went for a stroll up Farleton Fell, just across the valley from Hale. It’s always a lovely spot with the extensive limestone pavement and views of the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3190821

Saturday started, of course, with another parkrun. I had arranged to meet up with Amy and the girls for a walk in Langdale afterwards, so the most convenient choice was Rothay Park parkrun in Ambleside. There was lovely dawn sunshine on Fairfield and Loughrigg. Thanks to a heavy frost, the start on grass was not at all muddy and, thanks to water works, the previously muddy section around Miller Field has been replaced by an out-and-back on gravel, so once again I wished I had worn road shoes! Nevertheless I had a good run and was pleased to be first finisher – my 10th time, all in different locations.

After the run it was only a 15 minute drive to the Stickle Ghyll car park, where I just had time to get changed into walking gear in the back of the car before Amy, Isla and Lily arrived. We were lucky to have clear blue skies and light winds for our very scenic walk over the Langdale Pikes, taking in five Wainwrights: Loft Crag, Pike of Stickle, Harrison Stickle, Thunacar Knott and Pavey Ark. The paths and rock were generally dry and grippy but there was a lot of water-ice in the streams, tarns and puddles, which the girls were excited to see. It was good to see that Isla was much more confident near steep edges than she had been on our last walk (up Black Combe in August), and even managed the short scrambly sections without hesitation. Lily was also enthusiastic about the scrambling, as expected! It was good to catch up with Amy as we walked. It’s surprising how long a walk takes with two under-10s faffing, and we got back to the car just before dark.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3190828

I returned to Kendal for dinner with my parents, and was well placed for my journey to the Highlands the next day. To be continued…
You can find my full photo album here.

After a year’s break while they were in rented accommodation, my parents returned to hosting our Christmas family gathering, at their new house in Kendal. I took the Friday off work and travelled north in the morning, thus avoiding the evening rush. In the afternoon, I made a start on pressure washing the patio and paths around the perimeter of house. 

Saturday was a fairly wet day, but started with a dry weather window for a visit to Penrith parkrun. Dad participated in the run and Mum came along to spectate. A strong westerly wind made parts of the course hard work, but gave me a good excuse for being 40 seconds slower than on my previous visit in the summer. After I’d scanned my barcodes, I caught up with Dad for the remainder of his second lap. We stayed at home in the afternoon, and Mum and I enjoyed a game of Scrabble. 

Christmas Eve was a little brighter. I finished off the pressure washing in the morning, then Ruth and Josh joined us for a pre-lunch walk from Sizergh Castle up the ridge to Helsington church and back. We enjoyed good views over the Lyth Valley and Morecambe Bay. 

On Christmas morning, Ruth and Josh took the opportunity to join me for a bonus parkrun. This year we chose Lancaster, where we knew there would be a chance to see Joe and Andrena, and Josh’s brother Toby. The course was exactly as tough as I remembered it from my one previous visit in 2017, with two steep climbs on each lap, and a very muddy section beside the small reservoir. I couldn’t keep up with Ruth’s fell-running colleague, Richard Mellon, but was pleased to be within 10 seconds and to finish in under 21 minutes. 

Once back in Kendal, and showered and changed, we sat down by the Christmas tree to open the presents. Then we enjoyed our traditional roast turkey dinner before a lazy afternoon. I helped Dad set up his new tablet while Ruth, Mum and Josh played a couple of games. 

Boxing Day looked like the one nice day of the visit, so we took a morning trip to Tarn Hows for a family walk, arriving fairly early in anticipation that the car park would get busy later on. There were beautiful reflections as we set off around the west side of the tarn. 

Then we picked up some tracks through the forest to reach the slopes of Black Fell, and followed the grassy path up to its summit for views over Coniston Water. We could see that an unexpected rain shower was approaching over Wetherlam, so we didn’t hang about long before setting off back down to Tarn Hows, completing our circumnavigation by following the paths on the east side back to the car. 

A map of our route can be seen here. 

In the evening, it was turkey leftovers for dinner, and a bit of time spent packing for the next phase of the holiday – in Scotland, as usual! 

My full photo album can be viewed on Google Photos here. 

To be continued… 

I took Friday off work for a long weekend visiting my parents in their new home in Kendal. I drove up after dinner on the Thursday night on fairly quiet roads to arrive around 9:45pm with just time for a short chat and supper drink before bed.

Friday morning was showery but forecast to brighten up for the afternoon, so we had a leisurely morning and a prompt lunch before driving to Grasmere for an afternoon walk. Even on a weekday, it was pretty busy in the Lakes, and we only just found space in the free parking layby on the main road. Plenty of others had chosen to follow the same route as us, up Easedale to Easedale Tarn, but the valley was still quite peaceful and the surrounding fells looked good in the sunshine. We admired the waterfall on Sourmilk Gill as we climbed, with Tarn Crag gradually coming into view above and eventually the tarn itself.

It was breezy by the tarn so we didn’t stop long there, dropping down slightly for our snack break. We returned by the same route, with views of Helm Crag and Fairfield ahead, and took the short detour into Grasmere village to pick up some gingerbread before heading home.

Saturday’s forecast was for continuous heavy rain. I was keen to attend a parkrun but by the time I went to bed had not managed to decide between heading west to Millom, north to Penrith, or south to Morecambe Prom. I got up early to leave all options open and, reviewing the overnight radar data and morning forecast, decided that Penrith had been the driest and had the lowest chance of rain. It didn’t seem promising as I drove through persistent rain over Shap Summit, but pleasingly it cleared about five miles south of Penrith. It had clearly not been a very wet night there, as I found on my warm-up that the course was not even puddly, whereas I had seen that it had flooded during the previous week’s parkrun!

Hoping for a good time on the flat, gravel-surfaced course, I decided to set off at about 19-minute pace and see what happened. I was really pleased that I was able to cling on to that speed all the way and finish in 19:09 – my best since before the pandemic. I had passed the 5km mark in 18:57. Drizzle started to blow in as I caught my breath, so I didn’t hang around for long before setting off back to Kendal.

It actually stayed fairly dry for much of the day. We went out for a local walk through Kendal Parks after lunch, and only got caught in one short shower. It was good to explore the immediate surroundings of my parents’ new house a little.

Sunday had been supposed to be a better day than Saturday but actually turned out much wetter, the rain barely stopping at any point. We had a game of Scrabble in the morning, then an early lunch, then got our waterproof jackets and trousers on for an afternoon stroll down to the River Kent. Plenty of water was flowing around the big meander and over the weir at Watercrook, with even the ducks choosing to stay on the bank!

After enjoying roast dinner with my parents, I had a wet but undelayed evening drive back to Derby. Overall, not a good weekend to have chosen to be in Cumbria, but I was glad that I’d taken the Friday off and enabled that one good outing to the Lake District! There’s a map of our route up Easedale here, and a few more photos here.