Camping In The Lakes 2004 - By Ren Withnell

So I'm on garden leave "...We gonna make you redundant...we think...in the meantime go home...do what ya like." Then a lad from the bike club says "You wanna go camping fer a few days". Hmmmmm, why not, should be looking for a new job and doing things round the house while I can, but life is too short to waste time doing the right thing.

J, the lad from the club, is on a 125 with L plates. No motorway and no high speeds, which suits me just fine. It'll make a pleasing change to actually see the area I'm in and not be totally focused on tarmac and cars. We set off Sunday at 4.30pm from Rivvie and make steady progress up the A6 through Preston and Lancaster. The Journey is easy and uneventful, and goes suprisingly quickly. It take 2 and a bit hours to get to Park Cliffe campsite which is about 5 miles south of Windermere. And apart from a few passing showers the rain has held off.

The campsite is one I visited on the Rivi Ron rideout a few weeks back, we stopped off for lunch. We book in and find our pitches and make camp. The site is not the cheapest about but very well appointed with clean toilets, showers, restaurant and bar. We buy our tea there and in the evening we chat to some other campers and watching music TV in the bar.

The hill next to the site.

I sleep Ok, considering I'm in a tent. We wake and shower, most unusual when camping. We take breakfast then consider what to do. There's a hill next to the site and we're told it's an easy climb, so off we go. Considering I've one leg shorter than the other and J suffers from a curved spine we make good progress and reach the summit in about half an hour. I'm suprised how fit I still am! Of course coming down should be the easy part but it puts far more strain on my bad leg. Half way down it's shaking on every step but it holds until we return to the site. I'm rather pleased with myself and we go and play on the kiddies swings for a while...like real tough and hard bikers do.

The campsite viewed from the hill...to prove I got up there!

We set off out on the bikes. I remember from the last time I was here there was talk of a ford, so we're off to look for that. Only a few miles along I spot the "Ford" sign and turn off into a single track lane. I have a scary moment on some mud in the centre of the lane then we arrive at a stoney-bottomed ford. J rides through first, it's a little deeper than it first appears but perfectly navigable. I take piccies and splash through myself several times then set off again.

Lots of splashy fun!

We then ride into Bowness and Windermere. Both towns are quaint touristy towns, not much to my liking at all. We grab a sandwich and get outta there. J returns to the site but I continue on to Barrow in Furness. Barrow is not a pretty place, it's an industrial town built to service the shipyards, but it is interesting. Cranes and massive buildings clutter the skyline and the architecture is victorian through to trendy modern.

A Barrow skyline

The evening turns very wet for a while and as usual the tent is not quite waterproof, time to batten down the hatches. The evening is slow again but for once I'm quite happy to sit and relax in the bar making polite conversation with a couple from Newcastle and J. By bedtime the rain has stopped and I retire.

Due to some unexplained technical problem with my mobile phone's clock I get up at 6:45, not the indicated 9:30 it was telling me. Not only have I woken but I've woken J too. So we're packed and on the road by 8:15. Again the journey home is uneventful but in a pleasing and relaxed way.

Ready for the road.

The Lake District is beautiful, no doubt about that. If your looking for nightlife and excitement then it might be wise to look elsewhere. But if space, slow living and a laid back attitude is what you need then you'll be fine. I wouldn't like to spend too long there as I'd get bored, but the 2 night break was just right to relax, and as things are a bit mad at the moment it came at the right time.

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