Multi-day activity holidays in The Lake District. Borrowdale, June 2nd & 3rd 2015.

And so into June 2015! Funnily enough - our last post was about Introductory Rock Climbing Sessions in The Lake District and in the first photo about a two day multi-activity holiday in The Lake District, more children can be seen doing just exactly that activity!

These children weren't with their parents though. They had come away with their school - St Michaels C of E Primary School in Walsall and had been brought under the supervision of a number of school staff. The group were staying at Borrowdale Youth Hostel  - the school comes same time every year to Borrowdale YHA; and Iain is always pleased to be working with them through our client Key Adventures, Activities & Sports. Whilst we work with these young people they do Rock Climbing, Hill Walking and Gorge Scrambling and go to nearby Platty+ on Derwent Water to do Canoeing. So, there are four different activities undertaken over two days. It's quite a busy itinerary for these young people!

Iain spent the whole of day one at Upper Shepherds - a nice little single pitch crag ideal for Introductory Rock Climbing  - it was an interesting day though with a strong-ish south westerly wind blowing up just beside the crag and showers falling on the Borrowdale Fells all around. It was cool for June as well! Fortunately, we always seemed to just avoid the worst of the conditions where we were; and both the morning & afternoon group had a great Lake District Rock Climbing Session.

The next day - the weather had improved. The wind had dropped and it was warm & dry, though still a little cloudy.

We did the usual hill walking half day from Borrowdale YHA via Scaleclose Coppice and up to the bridleway that leads alongside the valley and then behind Castle crag before it drops down to Grange. At that point we cut up right (photo two) to get on to the summit of Castle Crag which has stunning views up Borrowdale towards Derwent Water and Keswick/Skiddaw. We then descended to the valley floor to follow the River Derwent back to the youth hostel for lunch. By the time we got back most, of the children had learned to identify pretty much all of the different types of tree to be found growing in the woods of Borrowdale - with a bit of tuition from Iain. Well done!

After lunch, the children got their waterproofs on and we walked the half mile or so to Seatoller and got into Hause Gill for the afternoon Ghyll Scrambling Session.

Children love splashing around in water - so Ghyll Scrambling (also known as Gorge Walking) is always going to be a firm favourite with any primary group. Hause Gill is ideal for the activity with a good mix of waterfalls and pools of all depths and a good ravine for scrambling up. We splashed & laughed our way upstream and even made a human dam at one point - watch the video of this here.

Kendal Mountaineering Services can provide all of the activities discussed in this blog report for parents & families so if you are coming to The Lake District in the coming months and fancy a few days in the outdoors packed with exciting things to do - give us a call and we'll put a package of adventurous Outdoor Activities together for you. Discounts apply for children as we know how expensive taking your family on holiday can be! We look forward to working with you!!