All posts tagged: Haweswater

Wild Wander: Harter Fell, Lake District

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That one of the most enchanting hikes of my life came as a casual half-suggestion from the mouth of a hotel concierge was unexpected. “If you want to walk, perhaps start from the carpark down the end of the road there,” he said. “That’s the base of a few nice walks”. No mention of sweeping district views, high hidden fell lakes, serene ewes perched on green cliffs peering out over Haweswater dam. So, as we left the carpark at Mardale Head behind, veered left and started climbing the side of Little Harter Fell, we weren’t to yet know the charm that lay ahead. It wasn’t long, after zigzagging up and up past the small Gatescarth Beck, before the views back down over the Haweswater Reservoir, built by the Manchester Corporation from 1929 which sank the villages of Mardale and Measand (read the brilliant Haweswater by Sarah Hall for a fictionalisation of these events), were as breathtaking as the climb had been. Under a sky of patchy clouds that warned of oncoming rain, we kept ascending …

Haweswater Hotel, Lake District, England

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Filling up our tank on a day driving around the Lake District, the service attendant asks where we are staying. “Haweswater Hotel”, we tell him and he looks surprised. “That’s a great spot”, he says “it’s where us locals hang out on our days off”. Skymie and I exchange a smirk. Originally, I questioned whether staying by a reservoir in a district of lakes was the wrong move, but the website made it look so damn peaceful and pretty that I couldn’t resist.  Once checked in, we discovered it was also in a quiet little hikers paradise, with the start of some spectacular walks just down the road (you can read about our first short wander here). In an English summer the sun stays up until late in the evening, so our first dinner was by the bright windows of the dining room. The interiors were modern country with deep grey blue walls, mounted with a deer head or two. This wasn’t exactly to Skymie’s tastes as he’s vegetarian (I was also for a very long …

Weekend in the Lake District, England

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A trip to the English countryside always seems like a jolly good idea, so for a romantic and adventurous short break, we head to the fells and farms of Cumbria in the Lake District. We chose the Haweswater as our base, actually a reservoir rather than a lake, which feels like a lucky little secret, as it houses the dreamy Haweswater Hotel and is right in by a number of epic and underrated hikes. After checking in and inquiring about nearby short walks, the concierge suggested we drive to the bottom of the street where we’d find Mardale Head car park, the starting point of a few lovely ambles. As we passed through the fell gate starting point, we peered up at the landscape to see the afternoon sun and passing clouds cast patchy shadows on the undulating mountains. We ascended for around 45 minutes, past winding stone fences, green hills and jutting rocks, all the while looking back at the blue Haweswater below. When we reached a small waterfall edge, we sat down to …