Soapbox

Have to agree with Jon on this one.

Visited last year after an abhorted attemt on Sharp Edge. Some poor sod was blown of into Usual Gully. The mountain rescue people were superb.

The exhibition is a very useful alternative for days when the weather gets a bit much. Lots of inspiring stuff.

Raghead (whatever) itself is a touch on the expensive side, so take your plastic friend to buy Jon's presie (subtle hey?).

The everest IMAX thing is also more than worthwhile. Gives a sense of scale.

Couldn't find the pub though...

There's a bar right in the middle of it, run by a very taciturn Cumbrian lady. The food's not bad either. It is, seriously, worth a visit, particularly if you don't fancy the pencil museum, enthralling though it's reckoned to be...

Its not a pub though is it?

Some B0 bouldering to be had up the indoor waterfall as well to round of the day.

So has anyone been to its chief rival, the aforementioned Pencil Museum?

Sounds cheesy.

Must visit the Mountaineering Exhibition, but its a bit of a trek!

Si(C)

I took my kids to the Pencil Museum when they refused point blank to go on another of my 'little walks', and it actually kept them entertained all afternoon.

The best bit is the display of the fiendishly cunning POW escape kit pencils, carried by pilots in WW2, which contained a tiny rolled-up map of Germany concealed in the brass rubber thingy on the end of the pencil.

I'd agree the Mountaineering Exhibition is well worth a visit.

I went there last year on the way back from a wet w\end in the Lakes. Its easy to spend a couple of hours wandering the intersting exhibits.

The Everest IMAX films well worth seeing to, saw that at the Bradford IMAX a few yrs ago. The scale is tremendous.

Haven't visited the Pencil museum in Keswick, but its BNFL and Sellafield supposed to be the most visited attraction in the Lakes?

is the National Mountaineering Exhibition still open?

Ah, the Pencil Museum.... We spent the first day of our honeymoon there. It was p***ing down, the way it only can in Keswick, and we were both running temperatures having gone down with a bug. That's when I realised my OH really knows how to show a girl a good time... Actually, I wouldn't have been anywhere else!