Easter at Beautiful Buttermere
Our Easter trip this year was to Buttermere in the Lake District where we stayed at the youth hostel which has a great view of the hills and a part view of the lake itself. A few of us made it up just after lunch on the Thursday and we managed a hike up Whiteless Pike on a gorgeous sunny day and came down via Rannerdale famous for its bluebells which were tantalisingly just about coming out.
Friday was cloudy and cold so we started with a climb up Red Pike but instead of walking along the ridge we went down into Ennerdale and into Ennerdale forest. It started to drizzle very finely but was not unpleasant and we hiked back over Scarth Gap and along the lake back to the hostel. We cooked in the hostel – tuna pasta followed by sticky toffee pudding, yum!
Saturday’s weather was better but still a bit cool and windy. We decided to tackle Fleetwith Pike, the ascent was steep but the views back along Buttermere and Crummock Water were fabulous. We could see the Solway Firth and Scotland beyond. We trekked on round to Haystacks and down Scarth Gap again! It was to the Kirkstile Inn at Loweswater for dinner which was cosy and convivial. Our final big day on Sunday dawned with fabulous weather, we decided to tackle the classic High Crag, High Pike and Red Pike ridge. A fantastic walk with amazing views, lots of people out and about walking, many with dogs! From Red Pike we came down to Crummock Water. While most walked back to the hostel two of us decided to take a dip in the lake, as the weather was so good. The water was freezing cold and we didn’t stay in for long but felt very refreshed afterwards.
We braved the Bridge Inn for dinner after two of our party who were staying at the pub sweet talked the boss to find us a table and amazingly they did! For our final morning we walked back to Rannerdale to see how the banks of bluebells were coming along, they had progressed from Thursday but were not yet fully out. We rounded off the weekend with our STAG tradition of tea and cakes in the village before hitting the road and the bank holiday traffic. It was worth a bit of road congestion to enjoy such a great weekend with friends.