A week of unusually hot weather (Blog #15)

This is my wife's and my fourth trip to the Lake District this year. We stay at the same place every time, Keswick Reach Lodge Retreat, which we first discovered in 2018. Thirteen stays in 5-years tells you we like the place.

Our latest visit this early September is however unusual because we actually enjoyed a week of not just nice weather, but very hot, nice weather. The heat was the chief determinant of our activities. 

Our first day out took us to Castlerigg Stone Circle on the outskirts of Keswick. As on all of our subsequent days out, we got up and out early to avoid the later-day heat. The Prehistoric circle is set, as you would expect, on a hill, and gives great views of Keswick Town and the surrounding hills. 

On the drive back to the lodge we stopped at the Bassenthwaite Lake Station café for lunch and coffee, but as we returned to the car, my wife noticed an information board across the road about Dubwath Silver Meadows Wetland Nature Reserve. This was to be tomorrow's little trip. As it was getting hotter we decided to return to the lodge and enjoy a quiet afternoon, hopefully in some cool shade. A morning of getting out followed by an afternoon, relaxing inside became our pattern for the week. 

The nature reserve isn't very big so didn't take us that long to see. There was the promise of various birds, animals, and habitats, but apart from a few Coal Tits, and a couple of Red Kites in the distance, which we could hear throughout our walk, we didn't see any wildlife. Disappointing. 

We had been to Mire House and Gardens before, but decided to return just to walk around the Gardens and near the lake. The forecast was once again for it to be a hot day.

We always like to say 'Hello' to people we encounter whenever we are out and about. Most return the greeting, some don’t, but that doesn't bother us, but some stop and chat and then, if they are heading in the same direction as us, walk with us. This happened today. The four of us passed the time chatting about our experiences of Covid, home life, family, especially the kids, and our memories of our various holidays. Exchanging holiday tales is a great way of finding out about other places you perhaps are thinking of visiting, but also their experiences. 

We wandered back to the Sawmill Café near where we’d parked our cars, then chatted over coffee and cake. A very pleasant morning's walk, the highlight of which was, however, my wife attracting butterflies while we casually wandered through the gardens.

No stay near Keswick is complete without a walk around Derwentwater. True to form, we were in Keswick and parked up near the Theatre by the Lake by 10am, when there were few people around, although this would change with the passage of time, and it was still relatively cool. Our usual walk is along the lakeside to Friar's Cragg, where I like to take photographs (see one of them below) then over the partly boarded walk and beyond. It was getting hotter so we didn't venture as far as we usually do, but by this time we'd had enough. We rounded off with a drink in the café near the theatre. 

This marked the end of our days out as we decided the weather was too hot to go out and walk very far. When we don't go out my wife paints and I pass my time listening to audiobooks, reading, writing (I am at the very early stage of writing a new book) or watching educational videos. 

We come to the Lakes for a rest, to get away, and relax. We haven't done anything very strenuous, very adventurous, or, you might say, exciting. That's the way we like it sometimes, a counterbalance to what has in one way or another been a pretty horrible year. This trip was, however, governed by the unexpected hot weather. 

©Mike Young 2023