Their story, in their words…
We got to the Lake District at around 8am using a coach from Victoria to Penrith and then buses to get to Keswick and had to hike around 10km on the first day up an elevation of 500m and although it was a huge struggle we ended up getting to our camp at around 3pm and we set up camp and looked at the magnificent views of the lake near us whilst singing songs.
We were woken up by lots of sheep around us and thick fog which completely covered the mountains and lakes around us as well as our tents being drenched due to water getting through in the night. We hiked for what felt like ages from Stickle Tarn as we had to do 15km and at an elevation of 650m but we kept going and we got to Wasdale very late at around 8pm and after a long day of hiking enjoyed ourselves in the campsite playing cards, Jenga and UNO.
On the third day we hiked Scafell Pike and although it was very busy, and we kept asking people going down how long it would take to get to the top we managed to get to the top in around 2 and a half hours and take photos at the top of a truly beautiful peak. We then hiked down which took us around 2 hours and when we got down, we enjoyed sitting in the sun and watching the football. After that was done, we went to go take a dip in Wast Water which was freezing but a good way to relax after a long day and had a relaxing afternoon where we played more games.
On the fourth day we walked up a mountain on a very hot day and it felt never ending as the more we walked up the mountain the more mountains we saw. After getting to the top we relaxed by the water for some time and then started walking to our last camping spot which wasn’t so bad as we were going down the mountain and we ended up walking on a straight road. We set up our camp and quickly went to sleep as we had to get up early the next morning to catch our buses back to Penrith to catch our coach back home.
Overall it was a fantastic experience and would definitely recommend it as although it’s a huge challenge which makes you want to quit at every step it was enjoyable and the rewards were amazing. A piece of advice for anyone who tries to do take on the lake district is to try to keep your bags as light as possible. Big thank you to the Mark Evison Foundation for the opportunity.
