The Lake District is, to my mind, the most relaxing place in England. I think it’s the good walking, sheep gambolling on the fell-side and exceptional food that makes it so very therapeutic. At any rate, I think we can all agree that there are few things better in life than a day’s walking on the fells punctuated by a Huntsman’s pie and a pint of Hawkshead bitter.
I spent countless childhood holidays in the lakes, swimming in the Duddon and climbing mountains, fuelled by that same Kendal Mint Cake that propelled Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing to the top of Everest. But I only realised recently, since my parents have returned there, how fond I am of the place. Some claim that the scenery is too dramatic to be properly English, but it’s part of the beauty of England that there’s far more to it than the clichéd idea of gently rolling hills.
If you’re coming to the Lake District for the first time, the walk you should do is along High Street. This is the old Roman road across the ridge of the fells, at about 2,800 feet above sea level. There is something wonderfully evocative about striding across the same land that Roman legionaries marched across almost 2,000 years ago. On a clear day, which is not as rare up here as cynics suggest, the views are stunning. As you look around, you get a clear sense of the topography of the place.
One can spend all day going along High Street. But there are plenty of good short walks too. One local favourite is Humphrey Head, a spit that sticks out into Morecambe Bay. It is a brisk mile or so to the top and, once there, you can stare out across the largest bay in Europe.
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