April the perfect time to go camping in the lake district as
is commonly known for the lovely sunshine and great weather...
Therefore, the first week of the Easter holidays the four of
us got on trains from various parts of the UK and descended on Penrith. A short
bus ride later got us to Glenridding and, our campsite for the night, the lake
at the bottom of Helvellyn. After passing many other groups who had had the
same idea as us. Fortunately, there was still a nice site next to the lake for
us.
Tuesday morning we woke up to wind, rain, snow, and some
slightly frozen tents. Needless to say no one had any enthusiasm to make a move
that morning, apart from Joe who after having a rough night decided to abandon
us and go home. We got going at 10 am with a windy climb up Swirrel edge to the
summit of Helvellyn, where we met some other people who had braved the crap
weather of the day. A long walk after took us into worse weather at Easedale
tarn. My tent was thrown up and we all dived inside it to attempt to shelter
from the wind, and there we stayed for the rest of the night only braving
outside to get water etc. We defiantly where not cooking inside the tent that
night! We all agreed here that for once Joe had actually had a good idea in
going home.
Next morning we woke up to a perfectly still day with
several inches of snow around us. Having breakfast and packing up we realised
that we may have left leaving a little late as the valley starting to fill up
with people. We left the site as the snow started to melt in the valley leaving
only what was on the mountain tops around us. A short walk took us up to High
Raise and then across to Styhead tarn. Much indecisiveness later, we found a
nice place to camp with great views of Great Gable and Great End. 
A frosty morning greeted us on Thursday but the sun
eventually came round the corner and melted our tents off. A scramble up into
windy gap, which managed to fail to keep to its name, and then a short scramble
up on the summit off Great Gable. We met an Irish man and his son who had been
camping nearby that last night and then managed to convince him to give his dad
a hug whilst we took their photo for them! From here we went to Kirk fell where
we found a frozen “lake” which I decided needed help in breaking up... so I
did... by throwing progressively larger rocks at it and eventually putting one
through it. It was decided that walking further across the ridge and then going
down was both boring and pointless so we followed the stream down the valley on
the side finding some amazing ice structures. After what seemed the longest
walk ever with a stupidly steep hill at the end of it (it made sense when I
came up with the plan), we got to Dale Head tarn which from a distance looked
like the worse campsite ever with just a bog surrounding a small lake. However,
we found a lovely walled area, which fit the tents in nicely... possibly the
best campsite of the week!
Once again, Friday morning didn’t bring any enthusiasm to
get going quickly not helped by the rain that had started again. Bringing in a
nice layer of cloud once, we got on to the top of Dale Head. A small-unplanned
detour brought us down scope end and in to view of an odd farmer who seemed to
just be chasing his sheep around a field with no real aim to what was going on.
After watching and being confused by this we decided that we should move and
actually get somewhere in this crappy weather. A short walk up the road to have
a look at where we might camp we found that it was a bit on the dodgy side so
the decision was made that it would be a much better idea to walk to Keswick
and find a proper campsite which had a shower!!! After a very long and boring
walk along a never-ending road, we found what looked like the bridge over the
river... but not we ended up walking around the garden of what was a very posh
hotel and getting some odd looks from the people sitting in the conservatory. Finally,
we found the campsite! Fortunately they had spaces and we where then sorted for
the night. I went up in to Keswick to acquire fish and chips, which I thought I
deserved, and most importantly to buy a towel, as I hadn’t brought one with me
(woops).
Saturday morning was possibly the earliest we had been up
all week and we were on the 9am bus to Penrith in the hope of catching an early
train. After getting there and finding out that there wasn’t one until 11.30 we
were a bit saddened. Then suddenly an earlier train magically appeared on the
board (I now love virgin trains for this) and we where soon on our way home!
