Keswick South Tourist Information

Derwentwater and Watersports

Derwentwater south of Keswick is king for Lake District Watersports. Outdoor Activities are organised on Derwentwater largely by Derwentwater Marina who will supervise practically every watersport you can think of including sailing, windsurfing or canoeing. They also offer various mountain activities as well with such choice mountain territory nearby including Scarfell Pike, Great Gable and Wainwright's favourite Hay Stacks! Courses and outdoor activities offered cover the broad range from beginner to the experienced.

Derwent Marina offers a berthing area for cruisers or dinghies. You can hire a boat for sailing, or get some sailing tuition. Windsurfing lessons are on offer, or if you already know how why not hire one of their many windsurfing boards.

Learn to canoeing or Kayak, or try one of the many mountain activities led by experienced instructors. On the menu are Fellwalking and expeditions climbing on the local crags, abseiling, and Ghyll scrambling in rocky stream beds.

All of the bordering wetlands around Derwentwater 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.

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Walking and Climbing in Borrowdale and Honister Pass

There is a superb little bus that runs around Borrowdale called the Honister Rambler. The rambler runs all the way up Honister Pass, uphill 9 miles, so joy of joys you can walk back entirely downhill! Honister Pass looks a bit terrifying but isn't really. The area is marked by its mining history, and quarries which date back to the 17th and 18th century.

The Borrowdale Valley really is a walking and climbing paradise. For a budget Borrowdale base, popular with walkers and families. choose the Borrowdale Youth Hostel, which is surrounded by mountains as well as a riverside location. Check out the old Honister road which starts behind the youth hostel. This old road was once the floor of a former lake bed. A popular haunt of William Wordsworth, some of the best views of Borrowdale are to be had on this walk.

Less well known on this region is the existence of spectacular oak woods. These oak trees are Sessile Oak, slightly different from your usual oak - these are taller and therefore easier for birds such as the flycatcher to go about it's pray catching business underneath. Watch out for Red and roe deer which inhabit these Borrowdale Woods. Lingholm woods was a favourite of Beatrix Potter's Squirrel Nutkin apparently.

Borrowdale Tourist Information Centre, Seatoller Barn, Borrowdale, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 5XN. Telephone 017687 77294

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Scarfell Pike. England's Highest Mountain

Climbing up Scarfell Pike from Wasdale is not for the light-hearted. This is a steep climb, but well worth the effort with superb views of Scarfell Crag. Scarfell Pike is actually an enormous circular cairn and it's summit is covered in boulders.

The best views are to be had to the north and west where you'll glimpse Great Gable in the distance.

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