Motorhome in the Lakes with the Stotherts
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At almost anytime of the year, the Lake District is, without doubt, the most beautiful place in Britain
So all right, yes, I’m biased, blinkered and bewildered, and ‘The Lakes’ isn’t as big, wild or scenically overwhelming as western Scotland – nor even much of Wales.But the difference is that perfect combination of the raw scenery combined with a long history of being lovingly nurtured by mankind, that has created a uniquely appealing landscape in the Lake District.
The bare bones of the tale are that we have these friends who toured New Zealand for six weeks last year in a hired Toyota campervan (which had done over 600,000km) and as a result had become desperate to find one of their own so that their blundering about could continue here in Blighty. They (the friends in need) were under the mistaken impression that as we’d been messing about with motorhomes for over 30 years we were ‘experts’ in the field and, in cahoots with Little EF, tasked me with finding them an old Toyota Hiace campervan just like the one they used in New Zealand.
One popped up almost instantly on ebay (from Durham Campers) and, once they’d collected it, these two naive old fools decided we would be accompanying them on its maiden voyage; us in our ’van of course, as I don’t like to get too close to other examples of the species.
I was trusted to sort out the maiden voyage of the 17-year-old Toyota-based Reimo campervan which was fresh off the boat. It was going to have to be the lake district.
Setting
As it was late autumn and the Lakes were looking absolutely ravishing, I’d been harbouring thoughts of a few days near somewhere called Thirlmere, where the landscape is smothered in trees. Thirlmere’s principal attraction though is that despite lying in the very epicentre of Britain’s most loved and trampled upon holiday area, it remains a place of mystery to your average tourist and almost totally undeveloped.
Ambleside
First up was Ambleside, as we have been besieged by reports of how good the food is in a restaurant called Zeffirellis, which is five minutes of that fast walking from the motorhome ‘aire’ in the centreof town. ‘Zeffs’ as the regulars call it, was a bit disappointing in the culinary department, though the place is very well decorated.
Thankfully, the walk up Loughrigg Fell via that archetypal Lakeland scene at Loughrigg Terrace the day after banished the disappointment of Zeffs completely. Indeed, if there is one walk in the Lake District which sums up the populist chocolate-box appeal of ‘The Lakes’ then the stroll across Loughrigg Terrace, followed by the short (but lungbusting) ascent of the fell, is that walk.
Thirlmere
From Ambleside our next destination was Stybeck Farm, Thirlmere, which is a Caravan Club CL (Certificated Location, available to members only) and ideally suited to pedestrian exploration of the valley and fells around Thirlmere.
It has to be said that Thirlmere has suffered from some very bad press in the past, but I struggle to see why it
This isn’t quite true, but near as damn it.
The round-the-reserlake path is a bit rough underfoot, and does clamber a few hundred feet up into the forest on the eastern side of Thirlmere, but offers no real hardships if your legs and lungs are averagely adequate.
I reckon that this 10-mile mild-mannered expedition is so enjoyable because the western section, which is so intimate with the lake, is such a contrast to the eastern side, where the track offers a higher, broader view of the general scenery hereabouts. Especially if the fell-side path from Swirls back to Stybeck Farm is used. This winds its way past several very lovely waterfalls which tumble from the slopes of a mountain called Helvellyn, and which stands tall behind the site.
We did do a bit of ambling around Thirlmere, which looked amazing, but such is the divergence of human perception that as far as the other three were concerned the high spot of the trip was the four of us squeezed into the old Toyota – dining (and drinking) with the wolf almost on our knees.
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