Lake District Mountains

Overnight stops:

M7: Night 1 Keswick; 2 Borrowdale; 3 Buttermere; 4, 5 Wasdale Head; 6 Langdale; 7 Coniston.

Accommodation: A mixture of small hotels, B&Bs and farmhouses. En suite facilities are not standard on this tour. However en suite or private facilities can be guaranteed throughout the tour on payment of a supplement.

Meals included: 7 breakfasts.

Extra nights: Can be included at time of booking. Charged at cost plus 10%. A second night at the remote settlement of Wasdale Head is already included; as keen walkers we at the Discerning Traveller would probably spend a third night there! However Buttermere and Langdale are also very attractive for walkers. Coniston has a wide range of attractions, including walks and boat trips on the lake. For those who want to recuperate after a long journey there is plenty to do in Keswick.

Train station. Start of tour Windermere or Penrith; end of tour Windermere.

Airports. Most convenient airport is Manchester (MAN – 2 to 3 hours by train to/from Windermere or Penrith). Other possible airports are Birmingham (BHX), Edinburgh (EDI) Newcastle (NCL), and London (LHR, LGW etc.).

Tour code M7:
7 nights, ES or private facilities most nights: £800 per person on basis of two people in double or twin-bedded rooms. Single room*: £1200.

Tour code M7E:
7 nights, ES or private facilities every night: £880 per person on basis of two people in double or twin-bedded rooms. Single room*: £1320.

• Single room* = single room price (applicable when 3 or 5 persons book together.
• This tour is not available for solo travellers.
• Extra nights: Up to £90 per person per extra night. Single rooms will cost more.

Prices quoted are per person on basis of two people in double or twin-bedded rooms. Included in the price are bed and breakfast each night, with baggage transfers, maps and route directions. ‘ES’ (en suite) facilities means that there is a private bathroom with shower or tub and toilet within the main door of your room. ‘Private facilities’ means that the private bathroom may be outside the main door of your room. When the booking is made for a party of 3 or 5 customers, a single room supplement is payable. Normally a maximum of one single room per booking.

This celebrated north-western corner of England needs little introduction. With England’s highest summits, deepest lakes and most rugged scenery it has long attracted enthusiastic hikers and walkers. It is compact, only 30 miles/50km across. The larger lakes such as Derwentwater, Buttermere (one of our favourites), Wastwater and Coniston Water (all included on this tour) are set in deep valleys radiating from a central knot of high mountains while the numerous ‘tarns’ are tiny, very pretty lakes dotted around in glaciated hollows on the higher ground. Relatively few motor roads cross the ridges between adjacent valleys, so here the hiker and walker rule, with a fine network of paths and trails penetrating to the remotest fastnesses and to the summits of peaks such as Scafell Pike, the highest in England at 3,210 feet (977m) and the Old Man of Coniston, 2,660 feet (803m).
This one-week tour has been designed by The Discerning Traveller to enable the experienced hiker to explore the best of the more rugged and remote western half of the district. As well as the 4 lakes mentioned above the walk includes the beautiful valleys of Borrowdale, Wasdale and Langdale; the high passes of Scarth Gap, Black Sail, and Esk Hause; tarns such as Sprinkling Tarn, Angle Tarn, Stickle Tarn and the exquisite Tarn Hows; and the pretty villages of Rosthwaite and Coniston.
Two nights are spent in the magnificent surroundings of Wasdale Head to provide (weather permitting) an opportunity to ascend Scafell Pike or to explore the famous screes of Wastwater. In case of bad weather on the hills (rain and fog are not unknown in Lakeland) we also suggest alternative walks at lower altitude. You can even travel to the next valley with the baggage.
You are provided with full descriptions (exclusive to The Discerning Traveller) of all the walks, together with detailed maps on which our walking routes are highlighted. As on all our tours, your main baggage is moved on daily to the next night’s stop, so you need only carry a daypack. We have inspected and selected a range of inns, farmhouses and B&B’s, where you will find a warm welcome, good food – and somewhere to dry those wet boots!

The great A. Wainwright wrote and illustrated a series of 7 books on the Lake District ‘Fells’ (mountains). The Southern Fells is relevant to Days 5 to 7 of this tour.