Wainwright Challenge: Orrest Head

 

As Alfred Wainwright was inspired to hike the Lakeland Fells by a hike up Orrest Head in Windermere I thought I ought to follow in his footsteps before adding to my tally. I had to pop to Windermere to collect something so dragged my teen with me for the 2 mile walk. 

Typically it began tipping down as soon as we parked the car but it didn't stop us. Luckily most of the damage from Storm Arwen had been cleared so we could get to the top:

@lakessinglemum Not the best view from Orrest Head today #OrrestHead #Windermere #Cumbria #LakeDistrict ♬ Misty Mountains - Richard Armitage & The Dwarf Cast

Halloween at Brockhole Lake District Visitor Centre

We went to Brockhole today for a family lunch and enjoyed a taste of their Halloween experience. Its the first year they have gone to town like this and it was pretty amazing. We didn't buy tickets as we had a 3 year old with us but got a chance to see what we were missing out on:

Even if you didn't buy a ticket you could see the effort that had gone into the event from sculpture:

Starting the New Year with a parkrun and a cold dip!

Last year I meant to get up on New Year's Day and run Lancaster parkrun but in the end decided I wasn't safe to drive there after celebrating the new year... This year my home parkrun at Fell Foot had its first ever New Year special. In order to ensure that I was fit to go I volunteered to tail walk so that I had to make sure I could get there!

Despite the celebrations of the night before there were 150 of us undertaking the 5 km event (and some of them went on to Millom afterwards to do another!). As I was walking I managed to capture many of the runners on camera:

By the time we finished only the volunteers were left but two of us mad mums still went in the water. It was a chance to try out my action camera underwater:

I will have to be brave and go in the water again and improve on my filming!

#CountryKids Wray Castle, National Trust

My son was asked which National Trust property he would like to be taken to by his aunt and uncle. It was no surprise to me that he chose Wray Castle:

We weren't the only ones who knew that this is the best place to visit with children on a wet, autumn Lakes day and it was very busy with a full car park. Luckily we managed to get in alright. There are plenty of things to occupy children indoors including building blocks in the Peter Rabbit rooms:

We also managed a short table tennis game before checking out the Steam Gondola room:

One of the most popular rooms (and now upstairs) was the castle blocks room. Lots of children building, balancing and having fun with the foam building blocks:

Wednesday Words: Windermere

Silent and still mirroring the sky,

Shifting hues as seasons change,

Boats at peace awaiting a breeze,

Tranquil steamers lie in wait.

#CountryKids All England Stone Skimming Championships

After Parkrun yesterday my son decided he wanted to enter the All England Stone Skimming Championships which were being held in the same park. There was quite a queue to sign up as the competition was open to all ages with no qualification. At £3 for an adult and £1 for an under 11 it was a well priced event too. Our first task was to choose from the selection of skimmers that the South Cumbria Rivers Trust had supplied:

Its all to do with the size of your hand and how they fit when you are preparing to throw them! Then we had to wait to take our turn at skimming and first of all we watched some of the seasoned experts; such as Ron Long The Old Tosser who has written an excellent post explaining how to skim stones.

Next up was Gareth Twamley who with his first stone broke the local record with an awesome 88m!!

The slightly choppy waters (and occasional straying waterfowl) weren't the ideal conditions for stone skimming:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Proud Mum #R2BC

My last week as host then I hand back to Michelle! Thanks everyone that has joined in this month and I will see you in June.. Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) A Run with a View

How could I not smile as I ran alongside this wonderful view of Windermere:

2) Winning Things

My prize, autographed copy of Eagles in the Storm arrived this week. I love Ben Kane's Roman novels and I am looking forward to reading it as soon as I get the chance!

3) Hair Cut

Reasons to be Cheerful the end of year round-up! #R2BC

As its the last Reasons to be Cheerful for 2016 I thought I would do a round-up of some of the biggest things that have made me cheerful this year. I will be handing the baton back to Michelle for January so I hope you will all carry on in 2017.

1) Completing my first (and last?) half marathon

One of the toughest things I have ever done was back in May when I ran in the inaugural Brathay Half Marathon. My finish line photo sums up what it meant to all of us:

Who knows if I will ever run one again...

2) Single with Kids holidays

We had our most ever trips with Single with Kids this year. With them we camped in the Peak District, Stourport and Kettering. There was also a trip to Robin Hood's Bay for a self-catering break. All of these put smiles on our faces:

3) Fun with family and friends

We are so lucky to be able to have great adventures almost on our doorstep. Adventures we have enjoyed have included:

• Wray Castle and Claife
• Cruising on Windermere
• Camping in Dent
• A weekend in Bowness
• Waterhead and Galava
• The Lakeland Maize Maze
• The Hobbit in Williamson Park
• Kirkby Lonsdale
• A walk on Hadrian's Wall
• A visit to Lanercost Priory

4) Family & Friends

Of course my family and friends have put plenty of smiles on my face this year too! Here is hoping for plenty of fun times in 2017 together too.

#CountryKids Exploring Waterhead and Galava Roman Fort

A friend has come up to Keswick for the Convention so we arranged to meet at Ambleside today for lunch. The easiest place to do this was at Hayes Garden World where we had lunch on the terrace with Mr Tod for company:

We then parked up at Waterhead (lucky that it didn't take long to get spaces!) and the children wanted to paddle in Windermere:

Of course we hadn't come prepared so they just waded in and got their bottom halves wet:

#CountryKids Cruising on Windermere #CumbriaIsOpen

I was very lucky recently to win a prize during a weekend celebrating Cumbria and giving a much needed PR boost to our flooded county. Our prize was a Freedom of the Lake family pass with Windermere Cruises, we hadn't been on the steamers since 2013 so it was a big treat.. We were unable to use them on the original weekend as my daughter was in hospital so they kindly gave us a pass for any day this year. This meant we were able to use them during our Easter holidays.

The trip did not start in a promising fashion as when we got to Bowness the boats were not sailing due to the fog on the lake:

We decided to wait and hope that we would get our day out! There was time to see whether the children would have been underwater in the last two floods. Looks like my daughter would have had her head clear but her little brother would have been in deep water (hence the sad face!): 

In the end we didn't have to wait as long as we feared and were on board the Teal and ready to go:

#CountryKids at Wray Castle and Claife Viewing Station

Whilst doing our Easter trails last week we also had time to appreciate some of the rest of the things on offer at the National Trust properties we visited. The first of these was Wray Castle which is my son's favourite National Trust property. They do well at providing things for all ages so I could I appreciate this photo frame that allows for shots of Windermere:

Inside the castle there are always old favourites plus new things to find. The bark rubbing didn't appeal to my son but would have entertained other children:

The castle has links with Beatrix Potter who stayed there with her family, this means that there are plenty of excuses to link up with her characters:

#CountryKids On the trail with the National Trust

My son and I decided today to try and do as many Easter trails at local National Trust properties as possible! We were going to be at Fell Foot for parkrun already so it seemed a great opportunity to tackle a few that were close by. It turned out that the Fell Foot one was a Spring trail and not an Easter one but it put us into quest mode:

The series of cryptic clues led us all over the park and some were quite tricky! There were a few other families also trying to find all the bunny rabbits that were hidden in all sorts of places. It took us about 40 minutes to find them all and claim his prize of a mini telescope.

Our plan was then to head over to Claife Station via the ferry to do their trail. Unfortunately when we got to the ferry it was temporarily closed... So we had to do a plan B and head to Wray Castle via Ambleside. It took ages but at least we spotted a couple of Herdwicks on the way:

Lots of other folks had had the same idea as well so we had to wait for a parking space before we could collect a pack for the Easter trail:

Happy 1st anniversary Fell Foot Parkrun

Today marked the 1st anniversary of Fell Foot Parkrun. We had taken part in the inaugural event and have taken part in 12 runs there (me), 11 for my son and my daughter has run a couple but prefers to volunteer. Today she had signed up to marshal so we were down at the lakeshore bright and early for 8:30:

Not surprisingly the turnout was bigger than the average 130 with 221 runners taking part. As usual there were all ages from the stalwart octogenarians to tiddlers in buggies. After the presentation of the parkrunners of the year award and a burst of happy birthday we all headed off on a newly extended route (apparently we have been 34m off the 5k for the previous 49 events!). We were serenaded by Dalton Town band as we took part:



My son had once again found a responsible adult to run with at his pace as there is no way I can keep up! I would only briefly see him again until the finish... Meanwhile I was carried along with a fast moving middle group to run the first couple of kilometres at above my usual pace. For a change I didn't manage to find someone to run alongside and chat to so just plodded along. I was pleasantly surprised to finish with my 3rd fastest time on the course only a minute off my PB - the daily runs are paying off! I was greeted at the finish by my son tucking into a slice of birthday cake courtesy of the National Trust:

He had well and truly earned his cake with a new PB of 24:31 and 1st place for boys 10 and under. His age grading is so close to 70% now too. My friend broke her own PB trying to keep up with him!

After the race was over there was a chance for more official photos of the team behind our Parkrun plus Conrad and John who were jointly awarded the first director's award:

My daughter had loved being a marshal once again even though she had a croaky voice and sore hands by the end! She well and truly earned her slice of birthday cake:

We look forward to many more years of running Parkrun at Fell Foot!

#CountryKids on Orrest Head

It was glorious sunshine on Sunday so we joined forces with more of the family to take a walk up Orrest Head in Windermere. We took the slightly less well known route which was well signposted:  

It was easy to follow the route and its obviously well used but we mostly had the path to ourselves despite the blue sky:

It's one of the easiest hills to climb in the Lake District but we were glad of our hiking boots as it wasn't all dry:

The day was so warm that we were glad to get into the shade of the woods:

#CountryKids Fell Foot Parkrun

 

My daughter has been busy on an activity week this week so we haven't had too many chances to get out as a family. Luckily we all went to Fell Foot Park Run on Saturday for fresh air and exercise:

It was the perfect kind of weather for running as it wasn't too hot or cold and it was dry. We all started together but my son soon shot off into the distance and I could just see him way ahead of me all the way round! He finished 8 minutes ahead of me... My daughter wasn't feeling too well and soon lagged behind me even though she beat me at Race for Life. I was waiting for her at the finish and when I called her name she dragged a sprint finish from somewhere:

I am so jealous of her flying feet and beautiful style:

With a well earned virtual medal each it was a quick stop for a photo before heading for the cafe:

We all love the family friendly atmosphere of Parkruns and the fact you get the full range of ages from 4 to over 80 taking part. For those of us not completely pegging around the course there is time to chat and encourage each other. One man shook my hand afterwards as I had kept him going on the second lap! We are looking forward to being Parkrun tourists tomorrow as we head over to Barrow as the English Stone Skimming Championships are being held at Fell Foot..