A few weeks ago we—Josh, the Outsiders buyer, my partner Katie and our two boys Eric (10) and Jem (7)—walked from Ulverston to Keswick on (or near, depending on my navigation) the Cumbria Way. We avoided cows, watched out for birds, admired the Herdwick sheep, spotted tarns, switched campsite plans, made a friend called Rob and in general had a great time walking through the Lake District. As with our last walk, we’ll save you a daily diary run down, and try bring you a few highlights by answering our own questions and sharing a bunch of photos.

What was the best bit?

Jem: Seeing Wildcat Island [in Swallows and Amazons, Peel Island on Coniston was the inspiration for Wildcat Island, even though Wildcat Island was on Windermere in the books]

Eric: Meeting Rob. And managing to get through the field with cows in.

Katie: I don’t really have one best bit; the whole thing was great. I particularly enjoyed the walks up to and down from Stake Pass and the forest we camped in on the 4th night. And meeting Rob.

Josh: Meeting Rob, for sure. But just watching the family hiking along all day, for days, was amazing.

What was the hardest bit?

Jem: Being too cold on the first night.

Eric: Needing the toilet [when nowhere near a toilet]. Cows. The big hill climb wasn’t bad. It was actually quite good, just a bit tiring.

Katie: Being cold at night, especially the first night – just couldn’t get warm so didn’t sleep much.

Josh: The hardest bit was getting everything ready really; both in the planning and then in getting to the Lakes on time to get a day’s walking in – I think we quickly felt settled into the walking once we’d left the car and chaos behind.

What was your favourite bit of gear?

Jem: My whittling knife.

Eric: My tenegui because it’s useful for all purposes and I used it for everything like having it around my neck to stop my backpack straps rubbing.

Katie: Probably my boots (like I said in our last blog post). But also the Yamatomichi waterproof/windproof I borrowed was very useful and comfortable.

Josh: It will read like an advert – but the Yamatomichi pants I wore were great. The phone pocket is a perfect quick-draw home for a phone when you want to pull it for photos fast, and I really got used to that slightly unorthodox pocket set up. Otherwise, Eric’s Multimat sit pad that I kept stealing. Should get my own.

Do you have a tip for other people?

Jem: Always bring a first aid kit so you don’t die of blood loss.

Eric: Bring a tenegui and remember to go to the toilet before you set off from the campsite.

Katie: Don’t wear new socks on your first day walking (I have a purple toenail now).
If you can be bothered to prepare your own food to take it’s well worth it; saved us money, weight, and disagreements about what to eat.

Josh: Get someone else to actually cook and then dehydrate all your meals, but then you rehydrate and heat them at the campsite so you can say you ‘cooked’ for everyone. Or realistically, get your kit together early enough to do some dry run packing tests and really try and get rid of stuff you honestly don’t need. And just iterate on every trip I guess to dial in what works for you.

What was the best animal you saw?

Jem: Swallows and the baby cow at the first campsite.

Eric: Cuckoos.

Katie: The cuckoos yeah – I’ve never actually seen one before, only ever heard them.

Josh: We mostly saw sheep and cows… so I have to say cuckoos too. We saw three on the same day, and watched one of them up near Beacon Tarn for a fair while zipping from the hillside across to a tree and back.

What would you do differently next time?

Jem: Next time I will not bring a titanium cup because I don’t like the scratchy feeling. Bring a sketchbook.

Eric: Nothing. Wait! … yeah, nothing.

Katie: I‘d just like to keep adding to the distance / number of days. The boys are amazing and have impressive stamina so could defo handle it.

Josh: Try get my pack weight down more… I only had pretty heavy duty waterproof layers to take, and carried two pans when we really only ever needed one. There would have been a few easy grams to save at least.

Best food you ate?

Jem: Chilli and trailmix.

Eric: My favourite meal I had was the chilli because it was really warm and cosy. My favourite non-meal food I had was the fruit leathers.

Katie: We shared a blackcurrant scone while we were walking and at the time I thought it was the most delicious thing I’d ever eaten.

Josh: Honestly, I really do like crisps. But all the dehydrated meals Katie prepped were the best tasting and easiest camping food I’ve ever had. Chilli, curry, soup – a full family portion in a small zip lock bag each. So good.

Favourite campsite?

Jem: First and third because there was a cute calf at the first and I bought a cuddly bat and a notebook at the third one.

Eric: The first one because it had loads of little birds flying around and it had a river and we first met Rob there.

Katie: I really liked the first site although the cows were a bit noisy. We didn’t stay at Stonethwaite campsite but the owner really kindly let Jem use the loo when he was desperate and upset. We had a lovely chat and the site was beautiful so that’s the one I’d recommend.

Josh: Same for me – the first one, Birchbank Farm. As well as being an amazing spot, it was also really cheap for people arriving on foot. But we tend to like small and quiet places best. If you prefer somewhere with more creature comforts (a shop and drying rooms for example) then Great Langdale Campsite really is an amazing place. I also enjoyed the night in the 'landpod' at YHA Coniston - it was cheaper for us to book that for the night than camp there.

What did we do better than last time?

Jem: I did less sitting down and I carried more weight. Last time I sat down about 3 million times. This time I sat down 10 times.

Eric: We dehydrated our own food. We avoided more cows. We put M&Ms in our trailmix rather than chocolate chips so they didn’t melt.

Katie: Food and Equipment. I think we probably did everything a bit better than last time really.

Josh: I didn’t walk us past any campsites.

What kind of trip would you like to do next?

Jem: I’d like to walk the whole Sarn Helen in one go. And I want to do collecting a pebble at one side and throwing it in the sea at the other side on the Coast to Coast walk.

Eric: I’d like to do the Carneddau Horseshoe with a wild camp and I want to do another multi day hike.

Katie: I would love to plan a multiday route ourselves from and to our front door, but we’re also considering the Coast to Coast, in sections maybe. There are loads of paths I’ve wanted to walk for ages so we’ll see.

Josh: I’d like to walk for longer / get more remote, but it’s a balance of distance between toilets / campsites for the family walk.
We also need to work up to a bike touring / bikepacking trip ideally.

Anything else you’d like to say?

Jem: I’m proud I walked about 50 miles.

Eric: We’re lucky we get to do cool walks like these.
Our great, great, great, great friend Rob gave us badges when we finished in Keswick for completing our walk and we loved that.

Katie: I didn’t take my phone on the walk and I didn’t reach for it or miss it at all, so that was nice.

Josh: We were lucky to borrow a bunch of the gear we used (Thanks MSR/Thermarest/Montbell) but I’d encourage anyone to do a trip like this with their family, or by themselves, or however they can, if they can. You don’t need all the best and lightest stuff, much as it helps – it's usually possible to make it work somehow and I’d say it’s better to have a bad nights sleep and a tough trip than it is to not… but don’t blame me.