• Dogs still outumbered people at this point.

  • Crummock Water in the distance.

  • Buttermere

  • Dogs looking nonplussed

A rain-free start to 2012

The Rannerdale valley is a pleasant walk even outside the famous bluebell season. It’s one of those gentle ascents to summit which is low but has lovely views from the top.

Crummock Water in the distance.

Go up a bit further and you can see three lakes: Buttermere and Loweswater as well as Crummock (OK, OK so actually none of them are “lakes”).

Buttermere

Initially there were seven people and seven dogs, but three latecomers and one dog jogged up to catch us. Even a non-doglover such as me will admit that all the dogs were well-behaved even though only the three labradors were working dogs.

Dogs still outumbered people at this point.

It was pretty windy and cold but there was NO rain, the cloud was high so there were views, and the prospect of a decent lunch at the Wheatsheaf in Lorton is always a good thing. But before lunch John had to work up an appetite – by swimming in Buttermere WITHOUT a wetsuit!!!! Even the dogs had more sense than to join him.

Dogs looking nonplussed

Like Laetitia, I love swimming in tarns, lakes and rivers, but I do require to be slightly warmer before I remove my clothes out of doors. Perhaps I am just a wimp?

4 thoughts on “A rain-free start to 2012”

  1. I cannot, for one minute, imagine swimming in there at this time of year.

    It makes me cold thinking about it (or is that because we don’t have the heating on?)

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