Adventure

Six Easy Wainwright Fells to Bag on your Holiday by Rachael Parkin If you fancy bragging about bagging half a dozen Wainwrights during your Lake District holiday but don’t feel like your legs are quite up to scaling over 3,000 feet up the dizzying heights of Scafell or Helvellyn and the likes, or if you are coming on holiday with children and are looking for lower, safer summits to conquer without missing out on the spectacular scenery the Lakes has to offer then we’ve put together a list of some the easier, but no less rewarding, fells to climb during…

Explorefromthedoor with Sean Conway – #9 The Double-Double Awakener! It’s been almost exactly a year since I finished my world record bike ride across Europe. And in this year, I have cycled only three times and one of those times was to get some bread from the bakery 200 meters from our house. I always do this – go cold turkey right after a big block of cycling and I have to admit, I always regret it. It’s far easier keeping a steady fitness than trying to build it up again from scratch. Never the less, it’s now May, the…

Enjoying the Lakes on a Budget The Lake District National Park is here to be enjoyed by everybody – whatever their budget. While those who wish to can come and “splash the cash” it is equally possible to come, enjoy and get the very best out of this UNESCO World Heritage Site whatever your budget may be. Here are our top tips for experiencing everything this stunning part of the world has to offer without breaking the bank. Travel outside of the busy and peak seasons. If it’s possible to do so then it will be of no surprise to…

#Explorefromthedoor with Sean Conway – #8 My Favourite Low Level Hike Winter walks are, in the words of Tina Turner, simply the best. Layering up, a flask of boiling hot tea in your thermos and a map snugly sealed in a zip-lock bag you’re ready to hit the trails. With winter, however, it can be extremely windy which can make heading up the hills feel somewhat out of your comfort zone. Don’t get me wrong. I love it when the elements are giving you a Rocky Balboa style battering but it’s not for everyone. Luckily there are many low level,…

Wonderful One Hour Walks By Rachael Parkin Perhaps the glorious sunshine in which you are basking at 1 pm is due to turn to torrential downpours at 2 pm. Perhaps you have an hour to fill to work up an appetite before dinner or fancy a short stroll to walk off a particularly large lunch. Perhaps you have little or tired legs within your party and 60 minutes walking is plenty. Or perhaps you simply want to enjoy stunning scenery and fresh, Cumbrian air without the excursion required for a long day’s hiking. We have compiled a list of some…

‘Come on winter!’ I found myself shouting every morning as I opened the curtain to another day where there wasn’t any snow. My wife as you can imagine found this rather annoying mainly because I tend to get up half an hour before her each day and truthfully, I could have done this charade from the living room. It’s just the best view of Coniston Old Man is from the bedroom. I started this in about November, admittedly slightly eager, I painstakingly did my little snow dance each morning wishing the rain clouds to bring those little white flakes of…

10 Instagram Worthy Lake District Locations By Rachael Parkin Whatever the weather – be it big, blue skies and glorious sunshine, a sparkling white winter-wonderland, or (and this is the most likely), a leaden sky, heavy with dark, brooding rain-filled clouds – the Lake District has some of the most photogenic locations any enthusiastic Instagrammer could ever wish for. With fabulous photo opportunities at every turn it’s virtually impossible to narrow them down to just a few but here we have compiled a list of several of the most Instagrammable locations the area has to offer. 1. Scafell Pike Summit…

#Explorefromthedoor with Sean Conway – #6 The ‘Not the Tilberthwaite’ Loop (Yewdale Fells) The view from the front of our house I have to say is second to none. Yes on a good day we can see the Old Man off to the left but every other day, unless the mist is really low, we can see the wonderfully craggy hillside of Rigg Head and Yew Pike and its towering proximity to our home means we have a soft spot for the route up there. My wife and I call it the Tilberthwaite loop because you head up towards Tilbertwaite…

#Explorefromthedoor with Sean Conway – #5 Mountain Bike Heaven If you’re into mountain biking but, like me, aren’t Danny Macaskill and able to throw yourself down 50ft drops, then the Grizedale forest is the place for you. The second best thing about Grizedale is that you don’t need to drive there from Coniston, you can get on your bike right at your door and be there within half an hour. Now I have to be honest I haven’t been Mountain biking in a while. 2018 was all about my Europe world record attempt and I couldn’t afford to get injured…

Izzy Walks the Wainwrights: Numbers 1-73 By Rachael Parkin Izzy, the newest addition to the Coppermines family, is a Welsh Sheepdog, Border Collie cross with an endless enthusiasm for “walkies”. Lucky for her then that she lives next to some of the best “walkies” country in the UK (if not the world – but we are a bit biased). Bred for working in the hills she is seemingly physically incapable of tiredness, has an uncanny ability for finding sticks in places no tree has ever grown, and as it turns out, and has a talent for posing wistfully on mountain…