In the past I’ve mentioned here a variety of energetic activities in the Lake District - running, walking and cycling.  On September 13th, however, there’s a new one.  It’s the “Great North Swim” - a mile in Windermere.  (No, I won’t call it “Lake” Windermere as in some of its publicity; there’s only one lake in the Lake District and that’s Bassenthwaite Lake!)

Anyway, whatever the water’s called, it’s going to be a cold wet experience in which around a thousand people are expected to participate - including some of Britain’s finest swimmers.

Several charities will be benefiting, including The British Red Cross and Marie Curie Cancer Care.

For more on this see Swimming in Windermere.

That’s all for now,

- David Murray -
England’s Lakes

In an article about Bassenthwaite Lake on my English Lakes site I mentioned the Lake District Osprey Project, and provided a link to the video camera. The watchers up in the Lake District this year believe (from observing the behviour of the parent birds) that at least one chick has now hatched.

Down at Rutland Water the Rutland Osprey Project is watching two nests this year, one occupied by the pair that have nested there for several years and the other by a couple in which the female is a four-year-old offspring from the older local pair. The first pair appear to have three chicks but the second have had problems recently, and observers fear that the eggs may have been damaged; no chicks have been seen. If you’re based in, or passing through, the East Midlands don’t miss a visit to Rutland Water. It’s a beautiful area, a few miles to the west of the A1 trunk road, south of Newark and Grantham and not far from Stamford. The Rutland Water Nature Reserve has superb visitor centres at Egleton and Lyndon, close to the water.

The two projects have excellent web sites:

• The Rutland Osprey Project
• The Lake District Osprey Project

- David Murray -
England’s Lakes

I have for many years found it fascinating to look at the different kinds of traditional buildings in the Lake District, Since the 1970s I have often carried with me a copy of R. W. Brunskill’s paperback field handbook, Vernacular Architecture of the Lake Counties.

Another book that has been on my shelves for more than twenty-five years is Palmer’s Historic Farmhouses in and around Westmorland, which I find especially interesting as my own forebears at various times down the centuries have lived in two of the featured properties.

An early-1990s work is Susan Denyer’s Traditional Buildings & Life in the Lake District, and even more recent (2006) is Brunskill’s Traditional Buildings of Cumbria.

Three of these can be found on the secondhand network although the Palmer book is rare and pricey (try our book search page at BrunleaBooks for access to several large networks of independent dealers around the world) whereas the latest Brunskill book can be bought new from Foyles of London, and when I last looked there was a good discount.

- David Murray -
England’s Lakes

I am not a fisherman! That needs to be made clear from the start. I’m not going to pretend on this blog or web site to be the possessor of either knowledge or experience in this field. When my children were in their teens, twenty-five or more years ago, I had a short-lived urge to fish with them but it never developed (a bit like my golf!) … and then some burglars took my tackle and I never got around to replacing it.

So, where can I refer people for good solid information about fishing in the Lake District? I’ll certainly include short snippets on the pages about individual lakes or rivers based on information drawn from others, but for real information from experts I’ll have to send you elsewhere.

Fortunately there is such a place. It’s a marvelous site called, believe it or not, “Lake District Fishing“. Take a look at it. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

- David Murray -
England’s Lakes

In addition to the lakes themselves there is a wide variety of things to do in the Lake District. There are places to visit ranging from the literary connections of Dove Cottage at Grasmere (home of the poet William Wordsworth) to the practicalities (although also with artistic potential) of the pencil making museum in Keswick.

The National Trust has many properties in the region and if, either deliberately or due to hitting a bad patch of weather, you decide on a programme of indoor visits you could well benefit from joining the Trust rather than paying separately for each location. With your National Trust membership ticket you get free access to all its properties, which can be a considerable saving if you vist several - and remember, the membership lasts for a year so you’ll have access to properties in other parts of the country. If you live in England or Wales you may even be surprised at what’s available to visit almost on your own doorstep as well as in the Lake District.

The National Trust (which, incidentally, is not a government body; this is sometimes misunderstood because of its name) owns large areas of the countryside in the Lake District National Park. Apart from areas of water it owns many hill farms which are let out to tenant farmers who take good care of the landscape to protect it for future generations. It also owns houses and gardens of historic or other special interest. Here are just some of the National Trust properties you could visit while in Cumbria:

• Acorn Bank Garden and Watermill, Temple Sowerby, nr Penrith
• The Beatrix Potter Gallery, Hawkshead
• Sizergh Castle, nr Kendal
• Wordsworth House, Cockermouth (the poet’s birthplace)

Watch out for the next post if you’re visiting the UK from overseas. There’s a great deal to be had on entry to famous places all over Great Britain.

- David Murray -
England’s Lakes

This coming Sunday drivers had better be on the lookout for hundreds of cyclists if they’re planning to be on the Lakeland roads. The Fred Whitton Challenge involves 112 miles of hard riding over Lake District passes including Kirkstone, Honister, Newlands, Whinlatter, Hardknott and Wrynose. It’s organised for charity (The Dave Rayner Fund and MacMillan Cancer Relief) by the Lakes Road Club in memory of their former secretary Fred Whitton who died of cancer in 1999. From small beginnings that year with just sixty riders, in 2008 it is expected that a thousand cyclists will start from Coniston … and hopefully most will arrive back at Coniston later in the day. The fastest time, set last year, is just under 5 hours 46 minutes and no-one with even the slightest knowledge of the terrain could say that this is anything less than astonishing.

- David Murray -
England’s Lakes