The Lake District - WHY???

[washedoutandabout]

Rain, drizzle and yet more rain. Grey sky, grey houses and damp. Everyone in anoraks. Mist and fog and more grey. Plus I’m here with a bunch of American relatives who are all gung-ho and outward-bound and very loud, shrill “upspeak” voices, who think even the grottiest pub is “Awesome!!” Plus DH loves it and is showing off on his competitive extreme hikes.

Help - take me back to Fulham!

AIBU to think this is hell on earth?

Love the Lakes, we take the dinghy up to Coniston and Windemere for a sail.

DS is amazed that Wild Cat Island really exists.

Swallows and Amazons Forever!

Love the Lakes, we take the dinghy up to Coniston and Windemere for a sail.
*
DS is amazed that Wild Cat Island really exists.

Swallows and Amazons Forever!*

at the dinghy, but we've canoed to it. DH once took DD up there really early to be first there.

@Lovemusic33 North Wales is grim as hell if you don't get the weather. I've spent one weekend too many trapped in a caravan there to ever go back.

Lonely ..Lol at AnyFucker's photos. They don't make it seem any better

I know! I love you AnyFucker, but I'm afraid Annie Leboweitz doesn't have any thing to worry about. That beach picture ... it just makes me think of coal

YABU! It's great in any weather! It has lakes *because it's frequently wet... Lush bushy ferns and pillowy moss in ranks up impossible crags and mountain mists right now. Dawn chorus and true silence and space to breathe. It rains you get wet. It's wonderful. Stand in a empty silent valley and it's like the mountain are hugging you. The real ale is great too 😂🍻 I love the Langdales and Coniston Horseshoe and tend to avoid Windermere or busier bits

(Competitive hiking is shite though. Go at your pace and don't be pushed to carry on if you're shattered.) Hang in there townie!

Living in the south west the thought of travelling up to the Lakes does not fill me with excitement. Nothing personal as OH worked up there many years ago and said how beautiful it was and how fab the locals were.
But as with any holiday venue you have to go for the right reasons, and it is right for you. Doesn’t matter where in the world you live but we all work so hard all year so need to choose the right place.
One year when the kids were younger we went to a caravan site based on an elderly aunts recommendations. It was awful - the kids and their friends were fine - but I had to have a little cry on the first morning on a walk to the shops. We laugh about it now.

I really really loathe the Lake District. I find something to love about more or less everywhere I’ve ever visited, but cannot deal with the tourists, dark greyness, bad pubs, and large expanses of still bottomless water. I’m going back 20 years so the pubs might have improved.

This really freaked me out as I grew up in fulham, and I wondered if I’d written this in my sleep. .

I'm a city girl, no doubt, but I love the Lake district.

YABU.
Get the appropriate gear on (it’s all around you) and get out and enjoy one of the most beautiful places in this country - no matter what the weather - man up!
No such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing.
I’d be there in a heartbeat! Up a mountain in the rain then bowl of soup & large red wine in a cosy pub...
Don’t know if you can tell but the Lake District is one of my most favourite places ever

Go and have lunch at the Brown Horse at Winster, or at the Wild Boar.
Beatrix Potter Museum?
Foodie shopping round Booths in Windermere
Is the Stags pub still a 'club' downstairs? Recommend their Archers & Lemonade

My recommendations are 20 years old, but I grew up there and if I were to go back for the weekend that's probably what I'd spend my time doing. Minus the Beatrix Potter Museum. That was just thrown in coz your from London.

@ErrolTheDragon

Yes definitely best to get there early!

By the way, you can get a used Mirror dinghy or similar for less than a new kayak on Ebay at the moment, complete with road trailer... a lot cheaper than when we bought ours years ago.

Not a fan. Every time I've been it's poured down, it's full of people wearing anoraks who are buying more anoraks, it's expensive, it's full of tourists and second homers. And you have to drive everywhere so no fun trips to the pub unless you want to walk, in your anorak.

YABU - I live fairly near and love the lakes. It’s beautiful all year round, looks different but equally beautiful in every season and type of weather.
I am not that keen on overly populated areas like Windermere or loud Americans tourists or whingers though.
My favourite places are Ullswater and Wastwater but you would probably dislike those as well.

Helen's chocolates
The little cinema at Bowness or Zeferelli's (Ambleside?)
More nice food, if they're still there - The Porthole And the Hole in the Wall (think that's just a drinks pub).

Go on one of those covered boats round the lake
Go for a swim at the Spinnaker
Afternoon tea and general hang out at Storrs Hall

Grateful if someone who still lives there could tell me how outdated my suggestions are and what's closed down!
I was never outdoorsy either and neither were my family so not sure why we lived in the lakes tbh!!

I've just remembered DH and DDs intention to canoe to wildcat just a couple of weeks ago was marred by blue-green algae, thriving because it had until then been too warm and not rainy enough.

but what really got me is that it has a campsite which I see gets 9/10 on a camping website ... so people actually ENJOY camping in the rain??

My cousin (different one to the one who had ghosts with him in Brotherswater) camped in a field at the top of a slope one night. He woke up at the bottom, having been flooded downhill. Mind you, he was there during the bonkers floods. His parents got over the bridge at Pooley Bridge just before it got washed away. 😱 One time, he took me and the DH on a walk. It was meant to be a gentle stroll, we ended up scrambling up waterfalls. When I moaned, he said the waterfalls hadn’t been there last week. It does rain a lot there! 😂

YADNBU. I lived in the Lake District for 4 years and, as a city girl at heart, found it interminable. Even now when we go back to visit MIL, a bit of my soul dies.

my dad wants to go for his 60th.so lake lovers pease give me your recomends.pubs?self catering places to stay?walks?info etc etc as googling for hours is sending us crazy!

I love the Lake District.

There’s nothing quite like the scenery. If you drive across the Honister pass for example, there’s nothing like that in Fulham.

Plenty of places to go to make you feel so small and insignificant and really appreciate the power of nature.

Love it.

havent read the thread but no, yanbu. I am really not keen at all. It always rains and feels cold, I dont particularly like the views and I dont ramble or climb. I have been several times so feel i have given the area a good chance to shine! So luckily for all of you who love it there will be one less person there - me! Now please avoid New York, Miami, Cambridge and Berlin!

Have a drive over the Wrynose and Hardknott passes Op

Beats Fulham high street

i hate tje lake district its too busy

Must admit only visit out of main hols when it's nice and quiet.

Prefer the quiet bits

WineIsMyCarb Porthole is gone but Lucy still has ‘On a Plate’ in Ambleside.
Zepherellis is going strong, owning another veggie restaurant and two upmarket guest houses. Great food and music.
Ambleside and Cartmel have some of the best restaurants in the country.
Some great galleries and craftspeople around plus the usual attractions as mentioned by others.
Love the Lakes, love Fulham, love the Highlands. Maybe I’m easily pleased.

You rotten lot, I’m peering at teeny postage stamp sized photos on my manly phone and going ‘Is that Skiddaw/CatBells/Loughrigg?’ and feeling both homesick and slightly ashamed that I can no longer tell.