Langdale Boulders

What a picturesque location this is! With a great range of simple enough boulder problems (V0-5ish) to get a tour of the Lakes started. If you punch Chapel Stile, Cumbria into your Sat Nav you can’t go wrong. Then head West leaving the village along the B5343 & you’ll quickly see a little lay-by on the right hand side (enough for maybe 3 cars) park here and then cross the road and go through the gate.

On the side of one of the main boulders next to the ladder/stone wall there are some rock inscriptions that date back to 1000BC-3000BC! Obviously there’s strictly no climbing on this rock face, but everything else is fine and definitely worth a good session! – Only advisory, bring a trowel to remove sheep shit from landings where you want to down the crash pad.

Buttermere & Haystacks Hike

We heard of a fun little scramble/hike to the top of Haystacks that features a number of small tarns (bodies of water) at the top of the trail. Also, notably, it’s Alfred Wainwrights favourite fell, where his ashes were scattered after his death in 1991 – so this place is definitely worth a look. The view from up here is incredible! The large ‘innominate’ tarn between haystacks tarn and Blackbeck tarn is definitely a favourite of ours and a great spot on the trail to chill and pour yourself a brew! …The trail runs all the way round to the slate mine and back down the valley to the lake, where of course after the 7.5 mile hike you’ll want to head for the pub!

Bowder stone

This Stone, in Grange – just south of Keswick it’s an absolute beast! Almost all the lines on it are hard as nails (V5-V11+) It’s got a few fun crimps and cracks, but a lot of the holds are flat slopers on a 45. Tough stuff but worth a trip there for a peek as its not hard to find at all (unlike some other crags in the lakes) Interestingly its not a local boulder. Apparently it was carried down from Scotland on a glacier. Impressive when you see the size of this thing.

If ropes are your thing there are a few good looking rock faces found here that seemed pretty popular… We were only looking for boulders so didn’t really get up close to check these out. Definitely worth a look if you’re in the area.

Stonethwaite & Langstrath boulders

This is an awesome spot! Lots of parking, a local pub and a campsite. The walk to the boulders beneath Blea Rock is a bit long if you’re carrying a lot of gear so travel light-ish. The Langstrath boulders have a good mix of easy/fun/challenging lines but go up there with a few mates as spotters and a couple of crash pads and you’ll be alright. Landings are flat enough, but maybe bring the trowel again so that you can scoop away them massive sheep poops! Then when you’re done, go for a refreshing swim in Blackmoss pot. (Cam cragg boulders are just round the corner but we didn’t manage to explore these this time)

If you’re planning a trip to the lakes make sure you look at this website http://www.lakesbloc.com it’s such a great resource with descriptions, history, routes and directions to absolutely everything and its got downloadable PDF’s for each spot!