Guided Walking Days in The Lake District. The Ullswater Valley. July 22nd 2016.

Last Thursday, Iain had the pleasure of providing a Guided Walking Day in The Lake to some visitors from the United States of America - New York to be precise!

We were asked by one of our associates - Mark Eddy at Mountain Journeys to run this guided walk on his behalf and collected his clients Dana & her two daughters - Eve & Penelope from The Holbeck Ghyll Hotel before travelling on to the Ullswater Valley.

Several hours later, we arrived at this place - The Lowther Tea Room on the footpath from Howtown to Patterdale on Ullswater's south shore (photo one).

And how did we get here? Well, the walk that had been suggested for Dana & her two daughters was to follow the lake-shore path from Howtown to Patterdale after getting one of the Ullswater Steamers from Glenridding to Howtown.

This walk is one of the most beautiful in The Lake District and one of the most popular options for visitors to the Ullswater Valley. However, there has not been a cafe en route for many years until now; and the Lowther Tea Room is a delightful little cafe situated half a mile west of Sandwick - well done whoever thought of this!

After coffee & cake at approximately the half way point of our south shore walk along Ullswater, we continued walking on our way west.

We passed the small waterfall of Salehow Force (reputed to have been "manufactured" by diverting the beck over a small cliff for the benefit of people looking west from the nearby Ullswater Outward Bound School many years ago) before reaching this pretty view (photo three) looking east along Ullswater. Having been "away" from the lake since Sandwick, we would now be following the lake shore under Birk Fell for the next few miles.

Not far beyond the point from which the last photo was taken, we snapped this pretty view looking west along Ullswater from a rocky bluff.

Beyond the family can be seen the hills between Glenridding and Glencoynedale and also those towards Helvellyn - at 3'118 feet, the highest mountain in the eastern Lake District and the 4th highest mountain in England.

Iain knows this area well, having been brought up in and around the Ullswater Valley - you will do well to find a more knowledgeable walking guide and Mountain Leader anywhere in the Lake District!

Our final photo from this post about Guided Walking in The Lake District sees Dana at our high point of the day - the col between Birk Fell & Silver How.

We had, by this point, travelled some six miles out of this seven mile walk and had reached the point where we could either walk around Silver How or go over the col between it and Birk Fell.

Iain had suggested that the views from the col down the Patterdale Valley would be worth the effort of walking up to here and the family had readily agreed.

Another two miles of walking around the head of the Lake to Glenridding would see us enjoy a late lunch at the Helvellyn Country Kitchen before Iain returned Dana, Eve & Penelope back to the Holbeck Ghyll, just in time for their Spa & beauty treatments.

This was a great Guided Walking Day in The Lake District for this family from "The States" and we can provide you with the same great experience. Whether it be an easy lowland walk in Beautiful Lakeland  or a guided ascent of England's highest mountain - Scafell Pike, we can arrange this for you. Transport by vehicle can also be included - contact us for details, we look forward to working with you!