If you follow me on here or on Instagram (sami_pee or Sami.reads) you’ve probably noticed I love the English countryside. What I don’t love is walking up hill. However, as I’m getting older I’m realising that the prettiest sites are at the top of hills or just generally require uphill walking so I’ve been trying to force myself into doing more; especially since my boyfriend loves it.

We went to the Lake District or a short glamping break a few weeks ago and stayed in Castlerigg Campsite (which is so pretty and in a convenient location). So we decided we were going to have some nice gentle walks and I was going to attempt my first Wainwright. Just to add some context, I’m one of those people, that if I’m going to do something I’ve got to do it properly, so I’m not game with parking halfway up and just doing a little bit. After some to-ing and fro-ing we settled on an “easy” route for my first one.

We decided to climb Lattrigg. I found a route online which started down in Keswick train station and took you along the tracks, over a bridge into the woods then up along the ridge to the summit; can you call it a summit? However, a few years ago, Storm Desmond washed out a lot of the bridges and even the directions we had which had been amended for the missing bridges wasn’t totally up to date. So we took a bit of a detour across the river early and we scrambled up through the forest which was a lot harder than walking along the train tracks.

Clearly, as my boyfriend is more of a countryside natural than me and regular walks in the lakes he was in charge of directions. However, he’s a man so of course he got it wrong. We got to a sign post which said “Skiddaw”, “Lattrigg” pointing one direction, then “Keswick” pointing the other. Although we were climbing Lattrigg, he was convinced that wasn’t the way to go. So we followed the sign to Keswick and after about 15/20mins realised we were slowly descending. At that point, we had a choice, either continue down to Keswick and accept we partially climbed, go back along the path we had come to the sign and take the other route. Or climb 200ft through steep bracken. I’m sure you can guess which route we took.

Anyway, we made it to the top. Not going to lie, it was hard for me even though I know it is an easy walk. We went down on the popular path which meanders down the side of the hill and I’m really glad we didn’t just go up and down that side as it felt like more of an adventure. Either way, I’m really proud of myself! And quite looking forward to trying my next one!