A bizarre heat-wave hit us at the start of September and we couldn’t resist a 2 night 3 day camping trip in the hills. We headed north on a bus through the Lake District where we began an extremely steep hike, gaining about 500m elevation in less than a kilometre. We’d camped in the same spot about a month before and were quite shocked at how much earlier the sun was setting now. We quickly set up our tent and cracked onto a dinner of powdered mashed potato with baked beans and cheddar cheese. It was a little stressful to make as the mash consumed so much water and quickly turned to concrete so Craig was frantically trying to add more water while holding the pan steady on the wonky grassy floor. We managed to salvage it but at the cost of Craig’s handmade wooden spoon snapping under the sheer force of the solid mash.

As soon as we began eating our meal the clouds started to take on an orange glow and from then on it just got better and better. It was one of the best sunsets we’ve had this season with big flurescent pink clouds filling the sky and reflecting in the lake below us.

Not only were we treated to a fab sunset but we also had a wind-less night, our first ever in the Lake District. It wasn’t cold at night and we didn’t get woken up by our tent flapping in the wind and fabric slapping us in the face. We woke for the sunrise at 7am which was at a much more respectable time now, I certainly don’t miss our 4:30am summer wake ups! But it wasn’t doing much so we just slowly got up and began making some porridge topped with chocolate covered raisins. The lack of wind continued and we were enjoying the early morning sunshine in shorts and t-shirts…quite a difference to our previous trips when we’d be in hats and gloves.

Today we were heading across a plateau which felt very wild and untouched. There wasn’t much of a path and it was extremely boggy in areas. We tried to keep our feet dry but seeing as we were in sandals we just gave up and embraced the bog, which was fine if it was clear water but it was riddled with mud and grit so the chaffing on the straps caused me to get big blisters. Anyway after a couple of hours we joined a well-made path that was really busy with people which was quite a shock after feeling like we’d been in the wilderness all morning. I asked someone if there was some sort of event going on – there wasn’t, it turned out that we’d unintentionally joined the very popular Coast to Coast path, an almost 200 mile route from the west coast to the east coast which takes people about two weeks to complete. It was rather annoying for us to be honest as I hate walking in busy areas but never mind, we stopped for lunch on a rocky mound and had some packet noodles which turned from crunchy to slimy in a matter of seconds.

After our disappointing meal we slung our backpacks on and continued the hike to the edge of the plateau where the decent finally began. The route was leading us down into a valley with a crystal clear river which we were desperate to swim in after being under the hot sun all day. There were quite a few people at the swimming holes when we arrived so we headed up-river and found a lovely spot all to ourselves. The water was icy cold but so refreshing and just what we needed to give us a boost of energy.

We weren’t sure where we’d be camping tonight, technically it’s not really allowed to wild camp in the Lake District but it’s tolerated as long as you abide by the rules which of course we always do, and one rule is to camp up high, usually above 300m or above the highest dry-stone wall. This hike was quite spontaneous so now we had to use a lot energy to go uphill again to find a place to camp. We looked around the valley and studied our map before picking a hill, stopping en route at a bus stop to rest our legs again before the climb up. I was finding it so hard though, having 2 litres of water in my backpack along with all the camping gear and the hot sun glaring down on me but eventually we made it to our desired spot and it was picture-perfect. We laid our sleep matts on the grass and had a nap until we were ready to put the tent up and heat up some packet curries for dinner. Just to give you an idea of how hot it was our bag of Haribo all melted into one gigantic sweet.

The sunset was anticlimactic but once again we had a very relaxing wind-free night. Just before sunrise I unzipped the tent and excitedly said “CRAIG GET UP!! CLOUD INVERSION!”. Finally, we woke up to a thick layer of cloud filling the valley below us. We picked the perfect spot to camp as the other valleys to our right and behind didn’t have any cloud in them.

The actual sunrise wasn’t anything special, the sky just went a little dusty peach but the cloud remained for hours. Sometimes it began to moving away from the edges of the valley walls and revealed neat fields below and when the clouds became thinner the tops of trees would start to poke through. It was absolutely stunning and we managed to continue to enjoy the sight all morning while we had a lazy breakfast and packed up our things.

We said goodbye to the lovely view and hiked downhill to a bus stop which took us to Keswick, which was actually the first time we’d ever been there. It was a double decker open-top bus so we sat at the top enjoying the panoramic views around us. The journey took us alongside the shores of Derwent Water where the water was so calm and glassy that all the hills were perfectly reflected in it.

It looked so good that instead of hopping on another bus back home we decided to walk down to the lake and soak in the view. We found a nice spot along the shore where a pebbly spit of land jutted out into the water so we decided to hang out there for a few hours. The lake was so photogenic with layers of hills and mountains encircling us. We decided to go for a swim which was much warmer than the river we jumped in yesterday and then we enjoyed a picnic lunch before making our way home while muttering how silly it was for us to even consider going straight home this morning and potentially missing out on such a lovely time spent at the lake. We ended the day with a cider in hand enjoying the sunset from our balcony.