A short trip north

For several years Naomi and I have talked about visiting Scotland in Jim, but every year we end up changing plans. The urge to visit is strong, but faced with a 650 mile drive, we have always elected to head south instead, ending up in the sunshine on a beach in Spain or France. Not wishing to put it off any longer, this year was made the decision to forego guaranteed sunshine, and chose mountains and whiskey instead.

Being naturally lazy folk, I've seen a lot of the parts of England within an easy days journey from home, but anything more than few hours drive from London has been largely unexplored by me or Naomi. To break up the journey from London, we chose to spend a few days in Cumbria on the way up, which is an area I've not been to since I was a child. Though England is small, even Cumbria is more driving than I like to do in a day, and so we left late on Friday night, and drove for a few hours to make the following days drive a little easier.

Our first stop was at Cannock Chase, an area better known for murders and dogging than a pleasant rest, but it proved a quiet place to park for the night, an in the morning, gave us a large area of forest and heath to walk Boris and stretch our legs.

The next day, we made the rest of the journey to the lake district. As is is often the case when picking remote places to visit, the first 90% of the journey was quick and painless, spent almost entirely on the M6 motorway; however, the last 10% took the same time again, as we threaded our way around the edge of the hills, headed for Wasdale Head. There are not many roads heading into the heart of the Lake District, but the road to Wasdale Head takes you about as far as it is possible to drive. The last stretch of the road is wholly unsuited for a large truck, and the last stone bridge in particular is extremely narrow, with a tight turn straight after. I find it difficult to imagine that anything larger than Jim would be able to navigate this obstacle without getting a front wheel off the road  at this turn. Nevertheless, the road was quiet, and we took it slowly without causing much of an inconvenience.


Parking is limited at Wasdale Head, but Jims large tyres enabled us to easily park on an area of large rocks, that would have smashed the sump or dragged the undercarriage of car. Camping in the car park at Wasdale Head is not encouraged, but the Inn's campsite caters for tents only, and the National Trust campsite further down the valley is across a bridge which looks unsuited for 18 tonners.

Wasdale Head has little more than a carpark, an inn and a shop, but that was all we needed for a couple of days of hiking. We spent two nights at Wasdale Head, hiking up Scafell Pike and Lingmell, and enjoying the tallest mountains that England has to offer.

On Monday morning we left Wasdale Head early, and headed for the town of Dufton on the other side of Cumbria. Dufton itself is picturesque, but is small with little to do for a visitor; the main attraction, is the four mile hike up to High Cup Nick, a massive valley in the wild high fells to the east. Walking into the hills, there is little to indicate what is around the corner, but after about three, miles the valley begins to present itself, and the view from the top is about as impressive a sight as I have seen in England. It is a windy place, and it has the feel of a place that would be godforsaken in winter, but I was glad to have made the hike.

Our next stop will be in Scotland, we are planning to spend a couple of nights on the shore of Loch Lomond before heading further into the West Highlands.