Day Six: Dodd Wood

Day Six: Wednesday 9th June, 2021

Good morning! Thought I’d catch up on this again whilst Dan is snoozing away. Yesterday, we tackled our final walk of our challenge: Dodd Wood.

We made up some packed lunches and set off towards Basssenthwaite Lake (the only real lake in the Lake District) as Dodd Wood overlooks this, and Derwent Water. The weather was a bit cloudy but not too bad really - it was still quite warm.

It was a steep climb and it being a relatively short walk meant that the steepness didn’t let up too much. It followed a circular path, with a one way path to reach the final summit.

During the walk, we could see over Bassenthwaite Lake (bottom picture) and also across to Derwent Water and Keswick (top picture)… Just!

By the time we reached the top, we were amongst the lowest clouds. Clouds are much prettier from afar, I’ll say that! We were also getting rained on or misted on (we couldn’t quite tell)… But we did it! We finally reached the top. The views were less then spectacular - hahahah!

The walk back was much easier, once out of the clouds we stopped to eat lunch and then continued on our merry way down.

This was our final tracked walk of the holiday, meaning we have completed our marathon walks!! Strava has tracked over 60km of walking, but we suspect this is overestimating and we’ve actually just walked the 42km intended, or there abouts!

We’re super happy to have completed the challenge and it’s been great fun finding so many different walks to do up here. Thank you so much to everyone who’s donated/sponsored us as we’ve raised nearly £200 for Crohn’s and Colitis! 🥳

Lots of love,

Katherine xxx

Days Five: Keswick

Day Five: Tuesday 8th June, 2021

I’m losing all track of days at this point... The weather forecast over the last couple of days has been a bit pants. Luckily, we’ve done most of our fixed walks so we’ve had some more leisurely days.

Yesterday, we headed to Keswick for a wander around some of the museums. The first one we headed to is Derwent Pencil Museum. It houses the largest colouring pencil ever made, which is pretty cool. We wandered around the (very small) museum learning all about the history of pencils being made there. We even had a quiz to complete as we went round, which I was determined to finish - hahah!

We headed back to the cottage and made even better friends with Clover and Bailey. I had an afternoon nap snuggled up with Clover on the sofa - it has been a tiring week! Hah!

We thought it would be nice to watch the sunset with some fish and chips so headed into Maryport later that evening. The fish and chips were lovely but the sunset was hidden behind far too many clouds! Oops!

Today we finished our marathon of walking, so I’ll update you on that tomorrow (with some gloriously cloudy photos!)!

Lots of love,

Katherine xxx

Day Four: Whinlatter & Buttermere

Day Four: Monday 7th June, 2021

Happy Monday! We were up bright and early this morning as I’d booked on the 10am Go Ape course, so we packed up and set off. After a small diversion in the wrong direction, we were back on track and managed to find the forest.

Before you complete any Go Ape course, they ensure everyone’s harnessed up safely, demonstrate how to navigate the course (always stay attached) and use the different clips on your harness. There’s a tiny practice wire, and then the first section is head height and it teaches you all you need to know (ladders, crossings and zip wires)! The instructor set me off first (yay) as I was on my own (Dan followed me around from the ground). It was the best - it meant there wasn’t anyone holding me up as we were the first session of the day too. 

There were 4 more sections of the course to complete - all of these much higher up! Section 2 was all fairly simple crossings and a teeny Tarzan Swing! I actually managed to stay on my feet at the bottom of the zip wire (which I can’t say for the rest of the courses)! Section 3 had the stirrups, which is one of the hardest obstacles I’ve come across on Go Ape courses. They’re metal loops hanging from ropes (a bit like the rings in Gladiators, but you stand on them instead swing from them)! Section 4 was another fairly simple course and it included some of the crawl through hanging tunnels like they have in Thetford. Then, Section 5 was my favourite. It had the biiiiig Tarzan swing in it, as well as the sit and pull yourself across with the rope (it’s easy but I enjoy it)! I finished the final zip wire and landed back down with Dan and our instructor. We had a chat and he said I was welcome to go back and do some more of the courses again because the rest of our group had only just finished Section 2. I happily skipped back and redid Section 5 - getting my Tarzan call out this time and still landing on my bum at the bottom of the zip wire. I was covered in bark (I think I took a tree back in each shoe) but very happy. I got my certificate and even a sticker, which I was very chuffed with!

We then headed to the cafe for a takeout lunch. Dan got a bacon sandwich and I had a mozzarella, pesto and tomatoes panini, which was alright! We then went on a walk through the woods - following one of the walking trails. It started off quite steep, but then eased up and we were tracking downhill through forests. It was so peaceful - we hardly saw anybody else! Well, we did find a field with some friendly alpacas in so stopped to say hello to them.

This was only a short walk so I think Strava overestimated the distance again...

We then headed to Buttermere, which was recommended to us by our farm cottage owner. We had to drive down so many long and windy roads to get there, avoiding many sheep on the way. They were everywhere, determined to eat all the grass they could get near!

It was a nice easy walk around the lake once we got there, and it was beautiful. We saw lots of dogs (a wonderfully common theme since we’ve been here) and lots of sheep. It was a 5 mile walk (Strava was very accurate here) and although the sun wasn’t shining quite as much as the rest of the week, it was actually a nice break from the heat.

We headed back to our cottage (via Sainsbury’s) and when you think the holiday can’t get even better - it can. We got to meet the gorgeous farm dog Bailey. He’s a beautiful golden retriever and oh I love him. No better way to end it than with a cute dog photo.

Lots of love,

Katherine xxx

Day Three: The Coast

 Day Three: Sunday 6th June, 2021

Today’s blog doesn’t involved any logged/tracked walks as we thought it’d be good to have a down day, and we headed to the beach!

We drove up to Silloth first as it looked like there were a few more things there. It was a very small, quite run down seaside town. The tide was right in so there wasn’t any sand - instead we headed into a small amusements arcade and enjoyed getting annoyed at the 2p machines, determined to win these cute, tacky bear ornaments in the machines! We succeeded eventually, earning a few little bonus sweets too! We wandered up the front a little - you could see across to Scotland! Then it was back to the car...

We then drove down to Allonby, the next seaside town on our list! We parked up just outside the town and walked along the front to the centre. We eventually found a fish and chip shop, waited over half an hour for our food, and sat and ate it on the seafront. Then, headed down to an ice cream shop that has been there 101 years! They were selling HUGE ice creams - my eyes are far too big for my stomach! Hahah!

We walked back to the car to pick up some seaside bits and had a walk along the seafront. The tide had gone back so far - there was so much sand and we traipsed through it all to reach the sea. We did a lot of sinking into it and we’re covered in the stuff by the time we got there. The sea was beautiful though - it was lovely and warm for a paddle. We found a spot to sit down for a while, then moved up the beach again to a drier spot before going back to the car.

We stopped at Tesco Express to pick up some Pepsi (for Dan) and bottled water for me (I am not a Cumbrian water fan)! Then it was home sweet home back at the cottage. We sat outside at the table and oh, I can’t wait until we have our own garden.

Lots of love,

Katherine xxx

Day Two: Derwent Water

Day Two: Saturday 5th June, 2021

Today was the day of our longest walk of the holiday and the sun shone down on us for it. We set off for Keswick around 10am and eventually found a very tight car parking spot for Ellie (she’s our car)! We walked into the centre of Keswick to pick up some snacks but it was BUSY so we quickly made for the lake. It soon got much quieter as we started walking - the plan was to walk all the way around it!

It was beautiful and there were lots of good stopping points to view the scenery and take some photos. The walk took us across some boardwalks, footpaths and we kept pretty close to the lake so spent quite a while on the rocky shore. There was also SO many wonderful dogs getting to splash in the water and for us to admire!

About 1/3 of the way around, we found a little pop up refreshment stand - it was a lady running it out of the back of her car. We picked up some cold drinks and shared a very scrummy vegan chocolate cookie before heading on our way. There was loads of wildlife to see as we walked round - Dan was so good at spotting the birds, the bugs and even some little fishies.

We then came across a little building covered in pictures, postcards and letters. On closer inspection, they were all written to a little teddy bear who was sat in the window! We decided we’d write him a postcard when we get home to tell him all about our lovely holiday.

We continued on for a while before stopping for a paddle in the lake. It was reaaaaally cold (but that’s me saying it so take it with a pinch of salt)! There was a cool sculpture of some hands which made me look about 5 years old when I sat in them!

It was a long slog to the end of walk at this point, the sun had been beating down on us for a while. We did get to walk through a few woodland areas too, which were lovely! We stopped to pick up some ice creams to give us a last spark of energy to the end!

Back in Keswick, we picked up some reduced cupcakes on the market and then headed back to our little cottage. There were lots more snuggles with Clover and we played some Stardew Valley before bed.

So, today’s walk was meant to be a 10 mile walk but Strava logged nearly 17 miles for it. I’m slightly doubting its accuracy given Dan’s phone only logged 12 miles, which is more believable. We will keep on with our walks anyway!

We are really enjoying the walking and our holiday so far though - long may the fun continue!

Lots of love,

Katherine xxx

Day One - Aira Force

Day One - Friday 4th June, 2021

Today marks the first day of holiday and hence the first day of our challenge!

We set off at around 10am and made really good time, until we got stuck in standstill traffic just outside Penrith. It’s been a very long time since we’ve been in actual standstill traffic - everyone was getting out of their cars, which did mean we got to see some dogs being taken for the toilet though! After a while, we got moving again and headed for Booths in Penrith because they have a freshly squeezed orange juice machine that is possibly one of my favourite things in the world.

We munched on some lunch and then drove towards Aira Force! They’d set up a one way system for the walks to help with COVID restrictions, but it felt quite busy. We followed the route up towards Aira Force, which is the main waterfall on the trail. You could hear it a way off, and it was beautiful. Unfortunately the lower viewing platforms and bridges were shut, but we still got a fabulous view.

We headed further up into the trail and the further we went, the quieter it got. There were so many people paddling in the streams - it was beautiful! We eventually found a quiet place to stop and have a sit down at the bottom of a waterfall. I had a teeny paddle and really need to learn to cope with cold water - hahah!

We followed the trail all the way to the top and back round and down - it was all so very pretty! We got the first ice creams of our holiday (cookies and cream for Dan and raspberry ripple for me) and sat down on the side of Ullswater lake. It was beautiful (and there were some gorgeous dogs there too)!

Today’s walk wasn’t a long one but it was a little warm up! We covered 5.1km, and a marathon is about 42km.

It was then time to head to our holiday cottage. We stopped in Cockermouth briefly to pick up some food and then drove on to Dearham, which is where we’re staying! Our cottage is on the side on a farmhouse and is on a dairy farm, so there are cows galore, a few farm cats and apparently a dog called Bailey who we haven’t met yet. We were greeted by the lovely owner who had prepared some afternoon tea for us, which was a lovely surprise!

We spent the evening snuggling up with Clover, one of the cats, eating dinner sat outside and planning what we’d like to do across the week.

Day one has been lovely and we’re super excited for the rest of the week!

Lots of love,

Katherine 

Fundraising Kicks Off Again!

Good evening! 👋🏻 

As we’re doing some fundraising for Crohn’s and Colitis UK again, I thought I’d dust off this old blog and use it to update you all on our adventures this week!

Every year Crohn’s & Colitis UK run ‘Walk It’ events up and down the country to raise some money, but unfortunately they’ve had to cancel them this year due to COVID-19. Instead, they started a walk at home campaign called ‘My Walk It’, getting people up and down the country to complete their own walks. You can choose your own distance and your own pace - you just have to complete it in June and ensure the walks are tracked on Strava so you can’t cheat!

So, with Dan & I venturing off into the Lake District, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to push ourselves further and challenge ourselves to walk a marathon’s distance during the week. Given we haven’t strayed much further than the allotment for most of 2021 (and that’s a 10 minute walk up the road), this is going to be quite a challenge! We’ll be walking up hills, through woodlands and around lakes, having fun and with the aim of raising some pennies in the process.

I thought it would be good to share this with you all again so you can see what we’re getting up to through the week, with lots of pictures (hopefully sunny ones)!

We set off tomorrow morning, via Booths to pick up some freshly squeezed orange juice (oh, it’s so dreamy). Then we’re off to see some waterfalls!

If you could spare some pennies to sponsor us, we’d really appreciate it. You can find our page at https://www.mywalkit.org.uk/fundraising/katherine-and-dans-marathon-walk! The aim is £150, so any donation you can give is so very appreciated and everything donated goes straight into the pockets of the charity! They do such good work!

But anyway, here’s me prancing around in my fundraising t-shirt - oh how excited I am to get away! 👏🏻👏🏻

Lots of love,

Katherine xxx