Lake District

One fine weekend in May, five GUCH walkers met up in Kendal to walk up some hills, explore some towns, eat some food and talk (just a bit). Gill, Charlie, Paul, Derek and I, together with Charlie's son Robbie and Derek's wife Mireille, travelled to the beautiful Lake District on a very hot, humid weekend.

After meeting up for dinner on Friday night, we met again on Saturday morning for a trip up Orrest Head, above Windermere. Taking the little train from Kendal to Windermere, we stopped to stock up on food for the day before heading towards Orrest Head. Apart from being a great viewpoint, this hill is the first climbed by Alfred Wainwright, who went on to write a series of walking guides to the Lake District which are legendary among serious walkers (though I have to admit I have barely opened one). Rather than having us slog up the steep face of the hill, Paul had found a route which gently rose round the back, so we wandered along paths, up little roads and through fields of sheep, coming up to the peak for sandwiches, a group photo and to admire the view.

After admiring the view (and recovering our breath in the heat), we decided to descend before the rain arrived. We went down the fast way: straight down. An hour or two browsing the shops of Windermere & dodging the showers followed, and we returned to Kendal to rest (most of us: Paul went to explore Saturday's walk!) before most of us met for a dinner from “Kendal's best chippie” (and if this is true then standards in the town are VERY low!).

Sunday dawned hot & humid again. We decided to skip the long slog uphill out of Kendal in favour of a quick trip in Charlie's car to the beginning of the scenic part of the walk. We walked over up to Scout Scar, admiring the views of the rolling hills and the vegetation which looked more like the dry south of France than wet Lakeland! At the top of the slope we turned right – to avoid walking over the cliff edge – and hugged the edge until we reached the “mushroom” viewpoint at the top of Scout Scar, where we stopped for lunch and the now-customary group photo.

After wandering along to admire the view from the end of the ridge, we returned to the mushroom and from there down the gently sloping fields of sheep back to Charlie's car. Some of us walked back down the hill (as being a suitable end to the outing), while others drove back down – but we all met up at Booths in the town for cream teas and other culinary delights.

We waved goodbye to Derek and Mireille who were returning to London, while the rest of us had a brief pause before further food. Monday morning came round and those of us remaining decided to explore Kendal's castle. This was great – and as the humidity of the previous days had cleared, we enjoyed warm weather and lovely views as we poked about the ruins. We parted at the end of the weekend having had a great time, as always, and looking forward to the next one!

Elizabeth Connolly