Hello, my name is Larry . I live in New England , I've been over a few times, in 2002 as a tourist, visiting Scotland and Wales. Two years ago I came over to Scotland for 5 weeks ,hiked the west highland way, great glen way, climbed in the Cairingorms, Ben Nevis, and hiked on Orkney and down in the borders. Last year I spent 4 weeks in Ireland, doing the kerry way, climbing in the reeks , galty mts, Brandon and Lugnaqilla and the wicklows So this year I want to do the lake district peaks and north Wales in Sept. This site seems to have a lot of great information on all the things that I have questions about Cheers Larry
Nice one Larry! Great passion you have for the British and Irish Isles!!! And the mountains of course.. You have a great "CV" there and have already seen and walked a lot of the best the islands have to offer... and you know of course there is more! Not bad for a small island hay?
Keep in touch with this site and look on the "meets" forum. There is bound to be a "meet" in the Lakes and/or Wales whilst you are here and it would be good for you to join in on one and meet some of the people on this site.. The people on here are very firendly and would love to meet up with you and impart some of their love for thir country with you, including me. Having said that, I have only been to one myself and keep meaning to start them more regularly!!
On the Lakes I would say stay at Wasdale Head.. Wast Water is, in most people's opinion, the most beautiful lake of them all and it is more remote and has access to Sca Fell, the biggest in England. There is a multiple-day walk called the Cumbia Way which takes you round the Lakes which may be worth considering.
North Wales is brilliant.. great mountains and great ridges and scrambles all packed neatly together... You can't fail with Snowdon, Tryfan and the Glyders (names of mountains if you didn;t already know)...
How is your planning? Feel free to ask questions here and get all your advice form here.. someone will respond to every question you ask. Happy travels mate.
Larry, forget about the lakes or Wales, London is the place to be. At the moment it is cold,damp,foggy and the traffic is at a standstill, what more could you want
Ah, a foggy day in London Town.........how I miss them! Takes me back to my childhood with the 'pea-soupers' when you could see for inches!
Hi to you Larry, by the way! Lakes and Wales are both nice but don't forget the Peak District if you have time! (Spare us a day or two during your visit, just to get the taste!)
For multi-day trips you could try doing the welsh 3000 over 2 days walking (1 running or moving v fast). In the Lakes there is something called the Bob Graham round, a challenge fell run to be done inside of 24 hours. Makes a great 2-3 dayer. Both get you up quite a few of the bigger or better hills (sorry mountains).
Peak District? Don't know it that well but wasn't impressed.
In Llanberis, in North Wales try Pete's Eats cafe, once you are off the hills. Pint sized mugs of tea or coffee if that's your preference and large protions of food. Good for recovery. A bit of a local legend and hill walking tradition.
There's also the Inns Way in the Lakes. What can be better than great hill walks with a pub at each end? The pubs in the Lakes are better by the way. Some very good micro-breweries in some of them. Try the Wasdale Head Inn.
When you are in the Lakes let people know in the meets section, could make a meet up around the time of your visit. Lots of people on the forum know the area well and you might get to see things only known to the locals or select few. Where the best swimming, climbing, boudering spots are, etc.
I'm sure thats' the same in Snowdownia, North Wales. Such as the tunnel somewhere near Snowdon that disappears into a large man made cavern (quarry) and then reappears the other side of the small hill, ridge, spur or something like that. Can't remember where exactly it is.
I have some American relatives who told me that the Lakes has some of the most colourful and beautiful scenery they had seen. They even said it was better than the US!! Since they had been to every US state (some many times) and many parts of the world I felt I had to accept their view. See what you think when you visit. I bet fall (autumn) in New England is pretty impressive from what I've heard.
I live in southern new england , in the country, very wooded and most of the hiking around here is forest trails not much elevation gain, but a great many well marked and well maintained routes 20-50 miles long mostly on publicly owned land. Up north are the White mts in New Hampshire, very rugged and there are 48 above 4000' including Mt Washington at 6500', I've started to bag them but have to wait til spring to resume since I don't do that type of winter hiking, right now it's -8 F at the top of Washington and there is 6' of snow on the ground, a very nasty place. The whites are a great place to go from spring til first snow in fall, most are tree covered but some look like your bald peaks and remind me of the highlands, although they seem to be a little steeper. larry
