The last two days of the holiday were spent closer to our Hawkshead holiday house and were centered around Grasmere and Rydal.
On the Thursday the 9 of us set off to paddle board on Grasmere Lake but didn’t realise the paddle board place was closed on Thursdays! So over coffee and cake in a Grasmere coffee shop, plan B was hatched.
Grasmere and Rydal 5.5 mile circular hike
Plan B was to walk for 5.5 miles around the perimeter footpath of Grasmere Lake and Rydal Lake.
Leigh and Dee decided to go back to the house to do a bike ride so the remaining 7 of us and 5 dogs set off from Grasmere village at around 1 pm to head down a pretty lane to begin our 5.5 mile circumnavigation.
After about half a mile of walking down the lane we came to a gate on the left which was the entrance to the lakeside path. But not the above one! This pretty gate was the entrance to someone’s private property…
Looking across Grasmere Lake we could see the wonderful Daffodil Hotel where Chris, Chris’s daughter Annabelle, her friend Kat and me enjoyed a treat by staying there a couple of days after our exertion of climbing Scafell Pike 10 years ago.
Grasmere isn’t a big lake and as we came to the other side we sat on the shore and ate our packed lunch while 2 of the dogs enjoyed a swim in the lake. This was a popular picnic spot which we shared with a few other people.
The weather again today was cloudy with sunny spells… it was about 18 degrees but at least it didn’t rain. 18 degrees is great weather for walking.
At the end of Grasmere Lake we had to walk through White Moss Woods towards Rydal.
We walked along the River Rothay which runs through the woods between Grasmere Lake and Rydal Lake.
Before reaching Rydal, 4 of our party of 7 decided to turn back towards Grasmere. Matt, Russ, myself and Ralphy the dog continued…
As we reached Rydal Lake the clouds had begun to disperse and blue sky had appeared!
Rydal was about the same size as Grasmere so it didn’t take long to walk around the edge.
At the end of Rydal we came out of the track at the Badger Inn where we had to walk along the side of the A591 to return to Grasmere. Thankfully there was a footpath and Ralphy was on his lead.
About halfway along we were able to turn right, cross the road and walk through more woods along a track towards Grasmere village were we found the other 4 sitting in the front garden of the Good Sport Inn.
Grasmere paddle boarding
On Fridays, the paddle board place at Faeryland Grasmere opens at 10:30 am and there is a cost of £10 per paddle board to pay. You can also hire rowing boats. 5 of our group had their own paddle boards with them and were happy to share them out to the rest of us so we didn’t need to hire any.
Summary
There is a range of activities all over the Lake District from short easy lakeside walks to challenging mountain hikes to cycling to paddle boarding. And there is probably many more.
This is the last of our Lake District posts and the end of another fabulous holiday with a great group of lovely friends.
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