We had another sunny spell for our days off so set off after work towards Coniston in the western Lakes. From there we rambled up the hills, taking the least popular route so we could guarantee a peaceful campspot. After about 5km we came across a lovely grassy ledge with a view of the hills and Coniston lake way below us. It was a little blustery yet again but we managed to get the tent up and then cook dinner behind a rock-face that was nicely sheltered. Tonight’s a la carte meal was powdered mash potato with baked beans and cheddar cheese which was delicious actually. It’s simple but one of my favourite meals, in fact when I was a kid I had a huge hissy-fit when my nanny served it with boiled potatoes and then tried to redeem herself by crushing the potatoes with the back of a fork. Needless to say I was a livid little 6 year old that probably demanded mum and dad fire her immediately. Luckily I snapped out of that spoilt brat stage eventually.

We woke early for the sunrise but it was cloudy and uneventful so we zipped up the tent for an extra couple of hours laying uncomfortably on a hard floor. Our plan for the day was quite vague but we headed up the nearest peak and accessed our surroundings. We spotted a little tarn in the distance on a small pass between two peaks. We managed to match it up on our map and work out the best route to reach it. By 3pm we arrived at the lake and it was even better than we expected. We pitched up just above the shores of the royal blue waters and behind it were layers of mountains, each one poking out a little more than the one in front.

We lucked out with this camp-spot that’s for sure. We admired the view while sitting outside on the crispy grass until it clouded over and a chilly wind hit us. I couldn’t believe how cold it became, I had no choice but to wriggle into my sleeping bag and lay inside the tent. It was a battle trying to stay awake for the sunset but we unzipped the door and were treated to an orange glow across the clouds.

The following morning we woke to clear blue skies so we got up at 5am to check out the sunrise…or the aftermath of it as it happens at around 4:45am now! The best place for a view was from the peak to our right so we headed uphill, gaining about 150 meters elevation until we had 360° views. It was so beautiful, the sun was still low and there were endless layers of hills fading into the distance. A few of the valleys had low cloud sitting in them but still no proper cloud inversion for us – it’s what we’re most looking forward to see on our camping trips.

We headed back down to our tent to enjoy some porridge in the sun before descending into one of our favourite valleys in the Lake District. The valley is quite wide at the base with neat pockets of agricultural land but it comes to a grinding halt when the sheer peaks rise sky-high. We ended up having to run down the steep hills so we didn’t miss the bus and then we were on our way home, ready for another 40 hour week working in the hotel before our next trip.