Tarn Hows-Coniston Walk

The walk back from Tarn Hows to Coniston was more enjoyable than the opposite journey because I'd now achieved my objective of seeing Tarn Hows:

Walking back at a leisurely pace, I took more notice of the woodland beauty.

Loved strolling down the shaded paths and under the occasional overhanging tree:

And soon enough, I was out into the open, with its shiny green hillsides:

Anoccasional felled tree:

And rivulets/streams constantly shaping the land:

At one point, I took a right turning, a detour up towards Yewdale (I think?):

I went up a few hundred yards:

A rich climb did seem to lie ahead, but it would have to wait for another time.

I turned around, back on the path to Coniston:

Where I once again treaded the shore of the great lake:

I was really enjoying my time in this part of the world:

At Tarn Hows

 Upon reaching Tarn Hows, I was greeted with a spectacular sight.

It was a glorious sunny day, and I soon came across a small gushing waterfall:

As I started walking round Tarn Hows:

Have just read that Tarn Hows was originally made up of three much smaller tarns: Lower, Middle, and High Tarns.

A friend of mine had repeatedly advised me to visit Tarn Hows, and many years afterwards, I was eventually doing it:

It's always nice to knock something off a bucket list, of course.

As I walked round Tarn Tows, I could clearly see why it is so popular with many visitors to the Lake District:

The beauty of the place prompted me to take pictures from all angles:

Without getting any of the numerous tourists into shot:

As things turned out, Tarn Hows was a bit bigger than I'd expected:

So I only ended up walking halfway round the place.

Then, I had my walk back to Coniston ahead of me ...

Coniston-Tarn Hows Walk

A very helpful man at Coniston Tourist Information Office had told me that the 3-mile walk to Tarn Hows (and 3-mile walk back to Coniston) was very pleasant, easy to do, and well signposted, and so it turned out to be:

Not long into the walk, I found myself passing an elegant-looking hotel:

At one point, I was at the water's edge of Coniston Water:

After this, I spent much of the walk inside gladed woods:

Which was a Godsend considering the hot weather.

And all the way through the woodland, the paths were well signposted:

This made it almost impossible to get lost, even for me.

And after about 80-90 minutes, I found myself at Tarn Hows, itself, which really was a picture postcard setting:

More on walking round Tarn Hows and back to Coniston in the next blog(s).

Keswick to Coniston

After a night at the great Castlerigg campsite, high up in Keswick, we got up really early to travel to Coniston, passing St. John's church again during the descent into Keswick town centre:

And after a one-hour bus ride for just two-pound, we found ourselves in the hub of Windermere train station from where we got another two-pound bus ride, this time to Coniston where a pleasant and hospitable man at the Tourist Information place guided us to the Sports Social Club campsite:

The Sports Social Club turned out to be open for full camping facilities at the weekend and kind of half open (without a shower and closed bar) during the week.

Of course, the views from the campsite were amazing:

And with my travelling companion, Alfie, we kind of created our own outside bar:

This is where we had a couple of cans of beer in the evening as a kind of nightcap.

Having settled in at the campsite, it was time to do the walk to Tarn Hows, also recommended by the local Tourist Information office.

Castlerigg Campsite-Keswick Town Centre Walk

The walk down from Castlerigg campsite to Keswick town centre was also spectacular:

At times, it seemed like we were up in the heavens:

But the jutting rooftops showed us otherwise:

Love the shape of the house below:

The Good Samaritan lady who'd given us a lift up to Castlerigg campsite a couple of hours earlier, had informed us that the buildings below were part of a Catholic Church conference centre:

As we got lower down, we came across more houses:

Plus a big Anglican church, St. John's:

As I went round the outside of St. John's to get better views of the church, I noticed that someone was sleeping in a back doorway:

This was the grim reality of modern-day Britain.

Last year, I'd seen people camping in an Anglican church graveyard in Canterbury, Kent.