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Aug 2020
11:57am, 13 Aug 2020
2,100 posts
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flyingfinn
I'm not sure he would at the moment.  It was great to be away in the van again and back in the mountains last weekend but overall I didn't find the Lakes a particularly pleasant place to be. It was overcrowded on a level I've never seen before. Usually it's just the honey pots and with a bit of forethought you can spirit yourself away from it. But last weekend it was everywhere. When you get to the bottom of Lords Rake at 9am and there are a dozen folk there the issue becomes quite stark. Wasdale at 10am was absolutely rammed and they were still pouring in (and looking at the crocodile heading up Scafell Pike you really had to feel for the MRTs). My attempt to find somewhere to chill on Caldbeck Common before 11am on Saturday found pretty much every parking spot taken and a snake of people heading up Carrock Fell and from I understand I found a 'relatively' quiet place! Even at nearly 9pm on Saturday evening every car park down Thirlmere was still packed. I thought it had been busy in the Peak over the last 2 or 3 months but the Lakes was on another level all together.
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Aug 2020
12:03pm, 13 Aug 2020
2,987 posts
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phal
That's why we decided not to even attempt to get there until the Autumn FF - that's if we'd even been able to find somewhere to stay..... brief searches that we did do out of interest/nosiness showed an absolute dearth of places anyway....... and even for the weekend Dave does have off in Sept it's looking sketchy or expensive!
I am mighty pleased you have your van - that's a great thing to have!
There's a little part of me that sinks when I think about the Lakes being so busy as I know folks won't be taking proper care of it.
And on that happy note.....
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Aug 2020
1:33pm, 13 Aug 2020
4,772 posts
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Windsor Wool
I'm really surprised with that FF. We stayed in Grasmere last week and it was, from my perspective at least, pretty quiet. I supposed it 'helped' that the weather was crap but by 18:30 half of the tables outside the only decent pub in the village to be open were empty. I had a couple of spare hours on Friday afternoon so I parked at Dunmail raise and went up Steel Fell and over to Calf Crag and back. I saw one person....
It's all a matter of perspective though, isn't it? I'm used to Windsor in the summer time and I suppose most places seem quiet compared with that. When my parents come down from North Lancs they always complain about the crowds. There's just a simple reason that Windsor is crowded and Morecambe isn't....folks don't visit sh*tholes (I can say that, I grew up there )
I understand that you might be unhappy if folks trash the place phal, but I'm sure we're all happy that many more people are finding the time to appreciate the wonders of the Lakes.
As an aside, I really crapped myself going up / down from Dunmail. I felt just so exposed: solo, short, t-shirt, trainers. Shows I've a long way to go to become a fell runner!!
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Aug 2020
1:39pm, 13 Aug 2020
47,981 posts
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Velociraptor
We had no difficulty parking just outside Grasmere and getting a meal in the town a couple of Saturdays ago, though the queues for the gingerbread shop and the Co-op were enormous.
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Aug 2020
2:07pm, 13 Aug 2020
2,101 posts
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flyingfinn
The weather last weekend was undoubtly a big factor WW but the general feeling I came away from the north Lakes at the weekend was the place was full to bursting (I effectively queued to get off the M6 at Penrith at 10am on Saturday) and that was reflected in an interview I heard on Monday with the Asst. Chief Constable, who whilst fully understanding why people want to visit and acknowledging their right to do so was rightly pointing out that the available infrastructure is simply being overwhelmed at present. I'm not sure how accurate the numbers are but the same piece on the radio suggested that the Lakes had twice as many visitors last weekend as the same time last year.
It's interesting you should mention Steel Fell and Calf Crag because I was on a BG leg 3 from Dunmail just before dawn on Sunday and though you always see the occasional wild camper/bivvyer on a decent night I was slightly surprised that the first of the many we encountered on Sunday was a substantial 3 man tent plonked right next to the summit cairn on Steel Fell.
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Aug 2020
2:11pm, 13 Aug 2020
188 posts
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Snoot
Got parked in Hawkshead fine last Saturday morning but on the way down we did comment on that all the parking down Dunmail and Thirlmere was full. We'd stopped in Keswick for picnic bits and a coffee and town was packed, one way system round the market stalls. Couple of groups coming in looking like they'd just finished a round having to battle through the crowds at the stalls.
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Aug 2020
2:59pm, 13 Aug 2020
4,774 posts
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Windsor Wool
those are big numbers FF and can't argue with them. The weather was great on Saturday morning as we were forced to leave ( ) so no doubt there were lots of day trippers on the way.
We left Windsor at 6:45 on Saturday morning (1st Aug) and we were safely parked in a 1/3 full car park in Grasmere by lunchtime. My strava shows that we started our walk up Silver How at 13:07 having faffed around for ages getting bags ready, finding the toilets and figuring out how to use the bl**dy car park machine!! There was, of course, a queue for the CooP at that time
Is it always so boggy between Steel Fell and Calf Crag? Everywhere else I went that week seemed bone dry by comparison!
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Aug 2020
3:01pm, 13 Aug 2020
17,336 posts
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Rosehip
when we left on Saturday the traffic between Penrith and Keswick in the opposite direction was at the top end of what I've seen before.
Being there the week previous, when we had a couple of really bad weather days - yes there were plenty of folks around - but I got into all the car parks or squeeze in spots I wanted to.
Just trying to find a table for dinner when the 50% scheme kicked in was difficult.
Ling Fell had a lot of people on the nice easy corpse path, Fellbarrow virtually deserted.
Still trying to work out if I can use the Keswick campsite booking that I moved to the end of the month/start of Sept - be a real shame if I can't, but having a non-walking dog is causing problems. Need to work on youngest to come with me...
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Aug 2020
3:04pm, 13 Aug 2020
17,337 posts
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Rosehip
FF - you probably know about these, but I've discovered all sorts of "wild camping" groups exist on Facebook and there are vloggers on youtube with followers around 1000+. Whilst they are very keen to extoll leave no trace, above the last fence etc, they do seem to be encouraging and making fashionable camping away from sites.
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Aug 2020
3:06pm, 13 Aug 2020
17,338 posts
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Rosehip
it was not fun having to leave in that glorious weather on Sat, was it ww!
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