Three days in the Lakes is barely enough time to justify the 12-hour roundtrip drive but it had to be done -- the hills were calling. In previous years, we would be spending the last long weekend of summer in the Colorado Rockies with the Aspen crew. Since moving to the UK, we've had to reinvent our ritual and this gets pretty close.

We got a jump on the traffic out of London on Friday afternoon, arriving in to White Moss (Ambleside) just shy of 10pm...could've made it sooner if it hadn't been for my "shortcut". This will be a running theme for the weekend. Our little cottage in White Moss was a perfect home-away-from-home, complete with slate floors and an old-timey stone fireplace. We settled in for the evening hoping to get an early start on Saturday morning.

Something about the quiet countryside that begs for a lay-in! No alarm clocks or traffic noise to wake us up, we managed to sleep in. The pace of the day was set. This was going to be a slow-and-steady-stop-and-smell-the-roses kind of day. Fine by me! We had our breakfast baps and managed to hit the trail by noon. A gorgeous day in the Hellvellyn fells - sun shining all the way. We walked about 2 hours, Foster had a swim in Alcock Tarn, and stopped for lunch at the top of Great Rigg. The sun was so warm and the views splendid, we were compelled to stay put and enjoy the day. About 3 hours later, we decided it might be time to get a pint and a burger.

Captain adventurer checked out the OS map and devised a shortcut back to the cottage...we would just "cut the corner" at Nab Scar. I should've taken a closer look at the topos because it was STEEP! FYI...anything that is called a scar is probably not something that should be hiked down. Working our way through scree and ferns and stinging nettle, our shortcut took about an hour and a half! Not amused at the time--although we lived to tell about it! At this point, we had definitely earned a pint or two! We showered and popped in to Grasmere for a bite at the Jumble Room, after a pre-game pint at Tweedies. LOVED the Jumble Room for all of it's quirkiness and delicious food!

After lollygagging on our first day, we were a lot more ambitious on Day 2. Early morning start got us to the trailhead for Hellyvellyn via Striding Edge by 10am (perhaps not as early as we hoped but much better than the day before!). We parked in Patterdale and took the classic Wainwright route to the summit along Striding Edge. Beautiful views of the area all along the way and a fun scramble to get to the top. The roundtrip was about 6-hours and no shortcuts this time! We stopped off in Ambleside for a pint at the Golden Rule and then another at the Badger Bar in Rydal -- both pubs were perfect Lake District pubs.A great day that left us ready for early bed and early rise on Monday.

We were the first ones out at Rydal Cave on Monday morning...walking from the house was brillant. Prior to reaching the cave, we had a wildlife sighting--a little deer grabbing some breakfast in the White Moss Meadow. There aren't many big animals roaming wild on this island so a deer was pretty exciting. The deer was less amused by us and after some time decided to get out of dodge. Good thing because I think Todd would've watched that deer for as long as it was around! As we finished our walk, we saw lots of people fell running, barefoot running, cycling -- all the stuff we love doing and have put on the back burner since moving to London. Definitely a good reminder and got the juices flowing.

Thankfully the weekend was so incredible because the drive back could've put a damper on things. Long delays on the motorway and no obvious "shortcuts"! Looking forward to the next adventure!

Places of mention:

3 Tarn Cottages : http://www.cottagescumbria.com/

The Golden Rule : http://www.goldenrule-ambleside.co.uk/

The Badger Bar: http://www.theglenrothay.co.uk/

The Jumble Room: http://www.thejumbleroom.co.uk/The_Jumble_Room.html

tweedies bar: http://www.tweediesbargrasmere.co.uk/