It was all perfectly planned
my son was off school on Friday, so it was a simple matter of loading up the car, strapping the boat on top and away.
My 21 year old daughter, decided she would come along too, great I thought, "have you got a sleeping bag then?" I asked, "Er no" the reply "no bother" say's I; "you can have mine and I'll use a bivvy bag and blankets."
I had decided to give Waterside Farm at the north end of Ullswater a try, rather than suffer the terrible road, into Side Farm down in Patterdale ( the thought of trying to bang tent pegs into almost solid rock, also played a part here)
We arrived by about 3.15pm and set up the tent etc. The wind was gusty and there were small white horses, breaking all over the lake but It was gloriously sunny and warm plus; I was confident that it would calm down later on.
We made a cup of tea and a bite to eat, then just enjoyed the sunshine.
As hoped; the wind died off towards evening and we got the boat ready for our first plodge of the year;
The scene was rather nice; looking from the tent;
We left my daughter to act as official photographer and me and the young un, tootled off to get the feel again;
It was glorious! the song was strong and although it was getting cold and dark, we set off for the far side of the lake.
I tried an sotp shot which worked but that's about all you can say really
We managed about 40mins on the water, then, as it was coming in dark and beginning to get misty, we came back in;
And that was that! We cooked our supper and settled down for the rest of the evening.
The noise from Park Foot camp site, up the road, was amazing! I knew I had selected the right site or; so I thought;
There were some windsurfer types, parked up on the water's edge when we arrived. A VW camper van, a trailer tent and a couple of smaller tents.
I deliberately set up camp a good distance away, for their sake as much as ours.They didn't make a lot of noise as such, they just kept on talking loudly, on and off, till about 3am!.
It was nothing that a pair of foam ear plugs wouldn't have blocked out but Park Foot seemed to switch off at 1am! no doubt, there was probably even more noise close to at Park Foot but it did seem a bit ironic; given that the woman I spoke to on the phone, (when I asked about booking, earlier in the week) was a bit off hand about me and my 16 year old son being; "a single sex group" and possibly being required to pay "a noise deposit" as well as saying that it could lead to: "poor reviews" I felt a bit cheesed off, to say the least.
Anyway eventually we drifted into unconsciousness. Then it rained and started to blow again!
This is a very good site but I think they need to look at actually enforcing their rules, not just assuming that families and couples will automatically be quiet after 11pm
(I will be contacting them via email, to give them my opinions by the way, not just whining on about it, on here.)
The rain just kept coming, as did the wind. We had our breakfast then mulled over what to do next; there was no way I was going on the water, with quite large breakers hitting the beach and the thought of sitting in the tent all day; was equally useless.
Now then
I'm looking for a second boat, that I can easily handle and load myself, to allow me to take advantage of usually being off during the week, rather than at weekends. So:
I decided to pop down to Windermere early! I had already planned on calling in, to Windermere canoe and kayak (or vice-versa?!) on the Sunday; to have a look at and hopefully paddle, an Old Town Pack.
The lad in the shop was very helpful, although the boat I actually tried was an "angler", at least it was the proper colour:green! I was impressed by the weight of the boat, but much less so; by the handling. It was still pretty blowy, to be fair but the boat was slow and a bit like a bath tub really.
I was offered a very good deal but I came away; wondering whether I should just sell my disco and put the money raised, to the cash available for my new boat and buy a much lighter replacement!
Anyway, we did a bit of shopping, then went back up to Waterside, passing several miles of gloriously calm water in the area of Side Farm!.
Of course;we returned to our tent to find the the wind was howling again with occasional rain and the lake was great for windsurfers and sailors but absolutely pants for us.
We had a quick Chinese parliament; decided that we were stuffed for the rest of the day, we might get an hour on Sunday, probably not
So! we made up our mind's and went home!
All in all; Great fun, confusing and disappointing in more or less equal measure.
Any suggestions for a good, lightweight, durable,fast,stable,solo,tandem boat for up to around £1100?
I'm off to dry the tent etc.
cheers
Steve
my son was off school on Friday, so it was a simple matter of loading up the car, strapping the boat on top and away.My 21 year old daughter, decided she would come along too, great I thought, "have you got a sleeping bag then?" I asked, "Er no" the reply "no bother" say's I; "you can have mine and I'll use a bivvy bag and blankets."
I had decided to give Waterside Farm at the north end of Ullswater a try, rather than suffer the terrible road, into Side Farm down in Patterdale ( the thought of trying to bang tent pegs into almost solid rock, also played a part here)
We arrived by about 3.15pm and set up the tent etc. The wind was gusty and there were small white horses, breaking all over the lake but It was gloriously sunny and warm plus; I was confident
that it would calm down later on.We made a cup of tea and a bite to eat, then just enjoyed the sunshine.
As hoped; the wind died off towards evening and we got the boat ready for our first plodge of the year;
The scene was rather nice; looking from the tent;
We left my daughter to act as official photographer and me and the young un, tootled off to get the feel again;
It was glorious! the song was strong and although it was getting cold and dark, we set off for the far side of the lake.
I tried an sotp shot which worked but that's about all you can say really
We managed about 40mins on the water, then, as it was coming in dark and beginning to get misty, we came back in;
And that was that! We cooked our supper and settled down for the rest of the evening.
The noise from Park Foot camp site, up the road, was amazing! I knew I had selected the right site or; so I thought;
There were some windsurfer types, parked up on the water's edge when we arrived. A VW camper van, a trailer tent and a couple of smaller tents.
I deliberately set up camp a good distance away, for their sake as much as ours.They didn't make a lot of noise as such, they just kept on talking loudly, on and off, till about 3am!.
It was nothing that a pair of foam ear plugs wouldn't have blocked out but Park Foot seemed to switch off at 1am! no doubt, there was probably even more noise close to at Park Foot but it did seem a bit ironic; given that the woman I spoke to on the phone, (when I asked about booking, earlier in the week) was a bit off hand about me and my 16 year old son being; "a single sex group" and possibly being required to pay "a noise deposit" as well as saying that it could lead to: "poor reviews" I felt a bit cheesed off, to say the least.
Anyway eventually we drifted into unconsciousness. Then it rained and started to blow again!
This is a very good site but I think they need to look at actually enforcing their rules, not just assuming that families and couples will automatically be quiet after 11pm
(I will be contacting them via email, to give them my opinions by the way, not just whining on about it, on here.)
The rain just kept coming, as did the wind. We had our breakfast then mulled over what to do next; there was no way I was going on the water, with quite large breakers hitting the beach and the thought of sitting in the tent all day; was equally useless.
Now then
I'm looking for a second boat, that I can easily handle and load myself, to allow me to take advantage of usually being off during the week, rather than at weekends. So:I decided to pop down to Windermere early! I had already planned on calling in, to Windermere canoe and kayak (or vice-versa?!) on the Sunday; to have a look at and hopefully paddle, an Old Town Pack.
The lad in the shop was very helpful, although the boat I actually tried was an "angler", at least it was the proper colour:green! I was impressed by the weight of the boat, but much less so; by the handling. It was still pretty blowy, to be fair but the boat was slow and a bit like a bath tub really.
I was offered a very good deal but I came away; wondering whether I should just sell my disco and put the money raised, to the cash available for my new boat and buy a much lighter replacement!
Anyway, we did a bit of shopping, then went back up to Waterside, passing several miles of gloriously calm water in the area of Side Farm!.
Of course;we returned to our tent to find the the wind was howling again with occasional rain and the lake was great for windsurfers and sailors but absolutely pants for us.
We had a quick Chinese parliament; decided that we were stuffed for the rest of the day, we might get an hour on Sunday, probably not
So! we made up our mind's and went home!
All in all; Great fun, confusing and disappointing in more or less equal measure.
Any suggestions for a good, lightweight, durable,fast,stable,solo,tandem boat for up to around £1100?
I'm off to dry the tent etc.
cheers
Steve
