Lake District Outdoor Activities - Fishing, Bird watching, Climbing, Walking and Water sports

Lake District outdoor activities - where to start there's so much choice. With a landscape of Lakeland fells and Lakes you'll find a host of climbing, walking, windsurfing, fishing, sailing and cycling outdoor activities. Many of the Lake District Lakes like Ullswater have campsites right alongside the lakes, giving easy access to water sports and water activities. Just hop out of that tent, and straight onto your windsurfing board!! As you travel around the Lake District you're also spoilt by the choice of Arts and Crafts centres and shops, including toy making workshops, stunning contemporary glass work, and numerous galleries offering a chance to view work by local Cumbria artists. The Lake District also has a rich mining history, both along the coast with coal mining and inland with copper mining and iron ore. This mining history marks the landscape and is explored in several museums, including the superb Haig Mining Museum in Whitehaven! Find Leisure Activities in the Lake District

For fishing the choice is immense, from the West side of Windermere rich with excellent trout and coarse fishing to the excellent Ulverston Canal rich with Superb Trench, Pike and Carp. Derwentwater is a popular Lakeland lake and is one of two lakes (the other being Bassenthwaite Lake) which is home to one of the rarest fish in Britain, the vendace. All of the bordering wetlands are most important areas for breeding birds like sandpipers and snipes. Spot the Red squirrels in surrounding woodlands also. The whole area is designated a site of Special Scientific Interest, only awarded to very special wildlife sites. Check out both the Cumbria Coastal Way and the Cumbria Cycle Way, and if you're a bird lover who hasn't discovered the delights of the salt marshy plains of Solway yet then what treats lie ahead as in spring this area is a haven for migratory birds heading further north, and in summer it's a breeding area for gulls, terns, wading birds and other salt marsh species.

The Northern Fells offers variety where walking and climbing are concerned. You choose your pace from the high drama of Blencathra and Skiddaw to the more leisurely heights of High Pike, or the charming Cat Bells, just up from Derwent Water and favourite of Beatrix Potter. There's lots of opportunity to tap into guided walks. Hadrian's Wall National Trail stretches 84 miles from coast to coast and passes through stunning countryside, as well as the cities of Carlisle and Newcastle. With 43 walks pushing out from this trail, it's easy to access the area and explore this historic and beautiful countryside.

Outdoor Activities - Lake District Fishing

Look no further than the Lake District for some of best fishing in the country. Around Lake Windermere, it's the quieter West Shore, managed by The Windermere, Ambleside & District Angling Association (WADAA), which provides the best fishing spots. Early morning and evening fly fishing couldn't be better here for native Windermere Trout. Various fish are on the increase, including Windermere wild brown trout (a silvery fish with pinky flesh usually about 1lb weight), perch, charr and roach. The eel population of Lake Windermere is on the increase. Pike fishing has also improved massively on Lake Windermere.

Stunning reed-fringed waters such as Windermere, with excellent trout and coarse fishing, including wrestling with those fighting Rainbow Trout, wild brown trout, large carp, specimen pike, roach and perch and more! The Windermere, Ambleside & District Angling Association recommends hiring boats, rather than fly fishing near tourists. Much of the shore of Lake Windermere is privately owned, unusually for a lake, and this can make access difficult as can the steep banks! Waders run the risk of being hit by waves created by power boats used on Windermere.

Boat Hire for your fishing trip, well if you're a member of WADAA you have access to one of their boats on Windermere and Grasmere for free! (check their website for membership details). Privately owned boats for fishing use must be registered at Lake District National Park Centres. Clinker boats are available for hire from Bowness Bay Boating Company and Waterhead Bay near the Steamer Piers. You'll need to book early, Tel: 015394 43360.

Lake District Fishing and Fishing Gear

www.englishlakesflyfishing.co.uk (get your fishing lessons here as well!)www.thefishingdirectory.co.uk, great central port for everything you need to know about fishing!!!!

www.go-fishing.co.uk, another great fishing directory www.fishrite.co.uk - High quality fishing gear provider, shop on-line/order brochure. They're based in Warrington. www.harrisangling.co.uk, complete on-line shopping, extremely popular site providing "every lure you ever dreamed of!!"

Lake District Walking, Climbing and Golf

Why not learn some climbing skills at Keswick, with some climbing lessons at the Keswick Indoor Climbing Wall. They are very reasonably priced under £20 per day, with the cost decreasing the larger the group booked. Here you can learn all the basics of knotting and tying, then move on to practicing on the wall. Perfect for families, individuals or groups. Lessons are suitable for complete beginners. This climbing wall centre also offers an array of outdoor activities including abseiling, canoeing, raft building, ghyll scrambling, mountain biking and assault course, as well are bike hire. T: 017687 72000 www.keswickclimbingwall.co.uk www.lakedistrictoutdoors.co.uk www.walkingwomen.com/index.htm www.wainwright.org.uk www.dokeswick.com/walkers

Did you know that the Furness Golf Club is the sixth oldest golf club in the country, set up in 1872. There's a huge variety of golf courses in the Lake District, including wooded parkland golf courses which are often set beside rivers; moorland, or even on fell-sides and in the bottom valleys. Choose from a selection of golf courses as well dotted along the Lake District Coast. Whatever your skill leve, all golf courses cater for different levels of ability. What's more where else would you get such a landscape backdrop of this sublimity.

Cumbria Arts and Crafts

Watch out for an array of artistic studios, workshops and galleries in the Lake District. If you're looking for that weird and wonderful teapot, the Lakes is where it's at!! Everything from fine hand-built furniture, exhibitions of paintings by local artists (landscapes are pretty popular!!)

Here's just a few superb Arts and Crafts venues in the Lake District to choose from: Adrian Sankey, Rydal Road, Ambleside LA22 9AN Tel: 015394 33039, www.glassmakers.co.uk Gallery 26 at 27, 27 Station Street, Keswick, Tel: 017687 72090, www.nelsonn.com

Peter Hall & Son, Fine Furniture, Danes Road, Staveley, Nr Kendal LA8 9PL, www.peter-hall.co.uk Slapestones Gallery, original Watercolours and Prints by Local Artists, Pye Lane, Grasmere LA22 9RQ, Tel: 015394 35252, www.slapestonegallery.co.uk Thornthwaite Galleries, Randlehow, Mockerkin, Cockermouth CA13 0ST, Tel: 017687 78248, www.thornthwaite.net

Lake District History, Culture and Museums

As you'd expect in such a stunning landscape, poetry, art and literature abound and the number of famous names connected with the area is numerous. Check out the superb Abbot Hall Gallery in Kendal not just for the excellent selections of George Romney, John Ruskin and Turner - but also for the amazing collection of contemporary 20th century art.

Discover the somewhat hidden worlds of Kurt Schwitters' unique merzbern path at the brilliant Armitt Museum in Ambleside, visit John Ruskin's home at Brantwood on Coniston Water or the various homes of William Wordsworth including his and Dorothy Wordsworth's birthplace in Cockermouth.

Don't forget the Reivers (nasty bunch this lot!) and Roman history and Roman Forts along Hadrian's Wall and the Lake District Coast, and what about the social history of mining along the Lake District Coast. Start your exploration here at the superb Haig Mining Museum in Whitehaven. There's maritime history here in Georgian Whitehaven, find out about smuggling and so forth at the Rum exhibition in Whitehaven. The Lake District has a rich social history, and some of the best museums and art galleries in the country. The haunting remains of Furness Abbey in the Lake District Peninsula are unmissible, as is a walk along the Cistercian Way taking in Piel Island and Castle. Outdoor Pursuits in Devon Outdoor Pursuits in Yorkshire Outdoor Pursuits in the North West

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Lake District Outdoor Activities - Fishing, Bird watching, Climbing, Walking and Water sports

Outdoor Activities - Lake District Fishing

Lake District Fishing and Fishing Gear

Lake District Walking, Climbing and Golf

Cumbria Arts and Crafts

Lake District History, Culture and Museums

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