Lake District Camping Adventure
We stayed on a National Trust campsite in Great Langdale, which is home to Scafell Pike (England’s highest at 3,210 feet) and is only a short distance from Ambleside and Windermere.
I loved the campsite, not only because it had the best views I have witnessed in my years of travelling, but because the staff were friendly and helpful – the campsite features three large fields; for groups, families and general campers.
Facilities on the campsite was very good with a drying room, showers, a wash area, and a very well stocked shop, where you could buy camping and walking equipment or food and drinks.
Just a ¼ mile away from the campsite was the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel – a typical ramblers pub, with a very wide selection of local brewed beers, and a food menu, which included sandwiches, jacket potatoes, etc.
If your camping in Great Langdale, and are relying on public transport then I suggest that you buy an Explorer ticket, a four day ticket costs £19 for adults and £13 for children – it sounds expensive, but you will save a fortune, if you want to travel around the area.
Unfortunately, the weather was not very good – it was warmish, but it rained for the full 3 days that we were there, so I would recommend taking some waterproof clothes, especially waterproof coat, and trousers and good walking shoes.
On the Thursday, we set up the tent, and got settled into the campsite, and walked to the nearest village, called Chapel Stile, which is 2 ½ miles away, and has a nice village pub, and co-op store for food and camping equipment – just behind the pub is a beck, with waterfalls, and I imagine this to be a popular place when the weather is warm.
Lake District Camping Adventure
I don’t usually sleep too well in tents, but I’d fallen to sleep by 11pm., and was woken up by my brother snoring, along with a few other campers in the same field – not long after I heard someone shout “I think we are on the wrong campsite!” … then five minutes later “Don’t worry we’ve found our tent!” which made me laugh.
On Friday, we woke up early, had showers (was very surprised to see that the showers were free!) and then set off for our first walk which took in the Pike O’ Stickle and Scafell Pike, in total we covered around 15 miles, with magnificent scenery, fresh air, and the rain didn’t stop us.
Friday night the heavens opened, torrential rain from around 4pm and continue into Saturday morning, which meant that the campsite became flooded, and we decided to come back a day early, which was a great shame.
I loved my first experience camping in the Lake District, and I’ll certainly return there again to the same campsite, and hopefully, with less rain and more sunshine. Oh, and my brother Liam was great at putting up the tents - it took him 15 minutes, compared to my last camping experience, where it took us 2 hours!
