Grizedale Forest: Carron Crag

On Saturday the weather was so glorious that we had a 3 generation, plus dog, trip to Grizedale. As I have repeatedly walked on one side of the forest (on the Grizedale Tarn Trail and Ridding Wood Trail), we chose a walk up to Carron Crag. It is described as a strenuous 2 hour walk of 3 miles:

This walk had us following the red sign posts. It took us up a steep rocky path into the woods before reaching the more open forest track:

It was interesting to have a mix of terrain under foot. We were also treated to some amazing views of the Lakeland Fells. Not sure Sherlock was that interested in the views:

Grizedale Forest Ridding Wood Trail

On Friday I managed to get a loan car so after a month of being carless we are finally mobile again! I need to be able to drive places to work and my daughter relies on me to get her around. Today she wanted to get out into some of the beautiful forests we have so I took her to Grizedale Forest. We had a bit of a fraught drive over as poor Sherlock was sick and then just as we were about to board the Windermere car ferry it broke down! So we only made it to the forest about 2:15 and then had a long wait to buy lunch.

All the delays meant that we only had time to follow the shorter Ridding Wood Trail and not the Grizedale Tarn Trail I had done in July. Luckily for us the weather stayed dry and at times it was pretty warm in the sun:

The route included plenty of Grizedale's famous art works. With it being all terrain route it also included a family orienteering route for younger children:

#CountryKids Gruffalo Spotting at Whinlatter Forest

As Ambassadors for the Forest at Whinlatter we were pleased to be asked to try out the new Gruffalo Spotting app this weekend. These are an upgrade to the trails that were first introduced in 2014. We downloaded the app and took our Gruffalo Spotters' pack (normally £3 from your forest):

We then took the hour long drive across Cumbria to Whinlatter forest to start our trail:

First of all my son had to have a go in the basket swing as we passed it!

#CountryKids Grizedale Earth Hour Stargazing #weloveforests

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Back in March my family were invited to attend a Stargazing event at Grizedale Forest to coincide with Earth Hour. The event was hosted by Robert Ince who has an impressive bio:

a well-known amateur astronomer and professional scientist. He was the resident astronomer and manager of the Scottish Dark Sky Observatory (SDSO) in the Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park (GFDSP). 

Robert is working with the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park, the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Forestry Commission to develop astronomy tourism, provide astronomy outreach events and to increase light pollution awareness in the North of England.

Robert also wrote a weekly column in the Scottish national newspaper the Daily Record and has had articles and astronomical images published in amateur astronomical magazines.

Robert is the lead astronomer, part of a wider group of amateur astronomers known as the "Starmakers"

My son is a keen scientist so I was pleased to be able to take him along and introduce him to astronomy. Unfortunately his big sister was not well enough to join us so it was just he and I that wrapped up warm and headed up to Grizedale at dusk: 

Because the event took place at night I don't really have any decent photographs to share!

Robert started us off with a presentation indoors giving us an introductory talk on our own galaxy and its place in the wider universe. He pitched it really well so that both my son and I found it informative and interesting. 

By now it was fully dark outside (although the moon was incredibly bright) so we all went out onto the terrace to see what we could see. Robert explained the various constellations that were visible to the naked eye and he was full of fascinating facts.

Then the most exciting part of the evening was to actually look at the moon through Robert's telescope. My son was fascinated by the features he could see on the surface of the moon even though to the naked eye it wasn't all that clear. Even the grown ups were very excited by it all!

Robert also assisted us in trying to take our first astrophotographs through the view finder. Don't think I did a very good job:

Robert then adjusted his telescope so that we could see Jupiter. It was incredible to be able to see the red spot (which is apparently a storm that has been raging for at least 186 years). My photographic attempt at this was even worse than the moon so I deleted it! 

Overall my son rates the event as "4.5 stars out of 5" and his favourite part was "seeing the mini Stonehenge on the moon". I would certainly recommend this for anyone who would like to learn more about astronomy and with Grizedale being one of the truly dark places in England it was the perfect spot for it. Think I need to dig out my ex-husband's telescope from the attic and head up there again!

Here is video by Robert of stars at Grizedale: 

Grizedale_stars_h264-420_1080p_23.976_HQ from Robert Ince on Vimeo.

Competition: Tickets to see The Vamps at Forest Live 2015

I was really excited to hear about this year's Forest Live concerts and I was gutted to realise that we live too far away from any of them to go...  The range of acts appearing this year is amazing and I'm not surprised that some are already sold out:

• McBusted
• Spandau Ballet
• Sam Smith
• The Vamps
• Robert Plant
• James
• Paloma Faith
• Tom Odell
• Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott
• The Script

I have enjoyed music in beautiful locations before but these concerts sound and look amazing:

Now I may not be able to attend one but the lovely folks at the Forestry Commission have asked me to give away a pair of tickets to see The Vamps plus guests at one of these concerts:

Sunday 21 June - Westonbirt Arboretum, near Tetbury, Glos

Saturday 27 June - Sherwood Pines, Edwinstowe, near Mansfield, Notts

The Vamps formed when the band members found one another via their respective YouTube channels. Subsequently they amassed a serious online following through social media with the upload of a series of punkish, acoustic-driven covers of chart-conquering pop hits. They’ve now had 230 million total YouTube and Vevo views as well as sold out arena tours. Last year their meteoric rise to fame was confirmed with sold out tour dates and the release of their debut album ‘Meet The Vamps’, a collection of pop-party anthems such as: ‘Can We Dance’, ‘Last Night’, ‘Wild Heart’, ‘Oh Cecilia (Breaking My Heart)’ and ‘Somebody To You’. The Vamps are: Brad Simpson (lead vocals and guitar), James McVey (lead guitar and vocals), Connor Ball (bass guitar and vocals) and Tristan Evans (drums and vocals).

Opening band Hometown is the latest act managed by pop mogul Louis Walsh. The Second support is LA-based band, The Tide, newly signed to The Vamps EMI Universal label and predicted to be the next big US indie-pop band. Completing the line-up as very special guests will be pop sensations Union J who have already headlined their own arena shows.

If you would like to be one of the people enjoying this amazing line up then you will need to enter via the Gleam giveaway:

Forest Live The Vamps

You can also buy tickets for £32.50 (plus £3.25 booking fee) from Forestry Commission Box Office tel 03000 680400 or buy online: forestry.gov.uk/music 

Best of luck!

#CountryKids Go Ape at Grizedale

Sometimes I can be quite lucky in competitions and winning a couple of tickets for Go Ape via their Facebook page was definitely a good one! Today my daughter and I took advantage of her little brother's absence to use them at Grizedale as we had't tried the full sized course there. We have been on the Junior one on its opening day and had our birthday treat on the Whinlatter course. 

The Grizedale course is the highest in the UK (good job I didn't remember that before agreeing to go there!). Being the main summer season I booked the night before which was just as well as it was completely full by the time we arrived in the afternoon. Once we had completed the safety talk and test run we were let loose on the course itself. So it was up the first rope ladder and onto the challenges:

What is great is that each section is different so there is something new to try and conquer. Every one was graded Easy, Difficult or Extreme. Interestingly my daughter and I found each one different and when I struggled she was OK and vice versa! For example she wasn't happy on the barrel tunnel:

My only problem on there was trying to get out at the end! Turned out I was facing wrong way and had to somehow get my legs in front of my body in a small space (glad no-one videoed it!). Unlike October my daughter was much taller than the minimum so she found it easier to reach everything:

Some of the ascents were incredibly high and seemed to go on forever...

Being a busy day we had a long wait on a few sections which a) gave a chance to recover b) gave us more time to get worried about what was to come! I was pretty scared on a few sections especially when I ended up with my feet higher than my head on the bosun's chair... 

The last Tarzan swing was going to be too much for me (I am not good climbing up cargo nets) but luckily the staff member on duty kept my daughter by her side whilst I got myself round to where my daughter would finish up. Of course I then had to return the way I had come on some scary bits.. I was quite relieved to be on the home straight:

We then got to do our Monkey Selfies:

video to follow once my phone talks to my laptop.. there is some on Instagram

#CountryKids On a Hunt for the Gruffalo at Grizedale

Having thoroughly enjoyed the Stick Man trail during the winter we were keen to try out the new Gruffalo trail. For a change we were at Grizedale forest as we were going to be trying out Go Ape Junior later in the day. We were joined by a friend and her 3 year old to test it out. 

We were given the trail leaflet by a friend who had been 2 days before which saved us £2. She had also told us where the trail started so we just headed up the blue trail where we found the start of the information boards. 

The first challenge board asked the children to move like the various animals in the story. My daughter duly posed for me stomping like the Gruffalo:

To encourage little legs and keep us on track there were little signs along the way:

Workout Wednesday: Week 2 2014 - Get fit in the forest

Fitness

With the children and I back in routine last week it was a good chance to get some proper running in. So with the sun out on Thursday morning I headed off straight after dropping the children at school to head back to Kendal. I didn't push myself hard but enjoyed being out having the roads almost all to myself:

In fact I was enjoying myself much I thought I would just keep on going! I had to run past my estate and then go round it a couple of times to make it to 10 km but it wasn't tough (I had signed up to a challenge to run a 10 km event this month!). What turned out to be a bonus was that this turned out to be my fastest ever recorded 10 km (the Christmas Pudding came up as 9.9 km):

So it was a lovely feeling, just need to work on getting it under 1 hour.

When I saw the Forestry Commission mentioning their Get Fit in the Forest campaign I decided to combine our trip to do the Stick Man trail with an attempt at running in the forest. So once the trail was completed I got ready for a run and set off on one of the forest routes. I have to say its lovely to be running down paths like this:

It was very distracting to encounter views like this:

I have to say that the trails are pretty steep in the forest as its on a mountain but it was nice on the down hills and the flatter bits! Next time my son is going to come along with me so I need to find a better route...

#CountryKids Stick Man Trail at Whinlatter #weloveforests

Like many families we love the Stick Man story by Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler so when I heard that the Forestry Commission was setting up Stick Man trails I really wanted to try them out. We were sent a goody bag including the book and information on the trails but we hadn't been able to go until this weekend due to lack of time and bad weather. So on Saturday I got the children into warm clothing and we made the hour drive up to Whinlatter as it was a beautiful day.

There is an activity leaflet with the trail and it is so well signposted the children could lead the way:

Some parts of the route were visible from further away and the children raced away to try and be first to get there:

At each part there was a different activity for them to do:

This was checking tree buds:

Next up was tree whispering:

Looking back on 2013

Think it's good to start the new year by looking back at my highlights of 2013 which was a pretty good year! 

1) Running

I took up running at the end of January after 20 years! Following the Couch to 5K programme and then 10K runner app I have got myself hooked. I only started logging my distance properly since May and I've racked up 276 km - wow. Included in this was the Cancer Care Star Walk 10 km run, the Preston Race for Life with my daughter, a Grasmere Gallop fun run, the Heaton Park Race for Life with other bloggers and my first serious race the Langdale Christmas Pudding 10 km. Its a revelation that I am enjoying it so much and with lovely landscapes to run through I'm sure I'm going to keep on going...

2) Holidays

We were super lucky this year and actually went on 3 holidays which is unheard of! First of all a bargain half term break at Butlins Skegness as we were lucky and our half term was different from most parts of England so it was cheaper. Then my parents took us to France for a fortnight. We stayed in both Carnac and Seine-et-Marne plus the children had earned us a trip to Euro Disney (have just realised I haven't blogged about that...):

Then we were chosen as Butlins Ambassadors for 2013/14 and so we went to Butlins Bognor Regis at October half term. We will make up for this excess in 2014 as we have no plans for any holidays at all...

3) Fun in Cumbria

We have been lucky and with so much on our doorstep in Cumbria we haven't needed to travel far. Our National Trust membership has been well used with Sizergh Castle, Wray Castle and Fell Foot Park all having multiple visits. We are Forestry Commission ambassadors for Whinlatter and have made great use of that too. Our local ramblers started doing Mini Rambles for families with shorter walks with time to stop and play. Here's to more fun in this beautiful county in 2014:

Of course there was a whole lot more we did but these highlights all stand out. Feel free to browse the archives and see what the Willoughby family did in 2013! Hoping that 2014 is another cracking year.

#CountryKids Go Ape at Whinlatter #WeLoveForests

Sometimes you have to fulfil those promises you hope your child will forget. In my case today it was the when you are 10 we will do Go Ape together. The fact I hate heights and am totally useless at rope ladders and scramble nets didn't get me out of this one!

Just glad my son is 3 years too young even if he is already tall enough at not quite 7:

Having signed mine and my daughter's lives away on the safety form we had our briefing and checked out how to use the course. At this point I thought we would manage to miss the extreme routes:

You really shouldn't look too closely at the course before you tackle it as it looks pretty daunting:

The first section combines a practice and a test of whether we have listened to the instructor. It lets you in gently:

Then it was time for our first little zip wire which we both managed before you get to the point of no return as once you pass through the next gate you are committed and can't get a refund! I have to say the subsequent sections are a lot higher than the first one: