This weekend just past I travelled up to the Lake District in the north of England, to Keswick, a town previously unknown to me entirely. Having grown up on the south coast of England, I’ve never really explored much of northern England, and the Lake District is supposedly one of the highlights of the UK, so I jumped at the chance to spend a weekend outside of London and exploring those famous lakes.

        There are 16 lakes in total, and quaint Keswick is located on the northern shore of Derwentwater Lake. We arrived at the Keswick Country House Hotel (which I’ll write about in full later this week) on Friday evening and first caught a glimpse of the lake around midday on Saturday, when to our delight the sun was beaming and creating a mystical palette of colours reflected off the water and the steep hills surrounding the lake. Add a bunch of seagulls and wooden jetties and the scene was complete, providing me with several minutes of entertainment with my camera.

        It’s an amazingly peaceful lake (the postcard above is evidence of that), the only slight waves being created by the launch service, a boat that goes in both directions around the lake, picking up and dropping off walkers at different spots. On Saturday we opted for a flat and gentle walk clockwise along the lake’s edge from Keswick round to High Brandelhow, oohing and aahing at the beauty of Derwentwater Lake. And on the Sunday we braved a more strenuous uphill walk via Springs Farm to Lady’s Rake, a viewpoint 378m above sea level, giving us incredible views over the landscape seen in the postcard below. There seem to be an infinite number of walks to do in the area, so a weekend didn’t really do it justice, but considering how tired my legs now feel, a weekend is perfect for an amateur or casual rambler.

        We were amazingly lucky with the weather, and there’ll be photos up from the trip later in the week!