A weekend of cross country swimming in and around beautiful Ullswater, with accommodation in a superb bunkhouse.
It’s an epic micro adventure and you need to be confident in and out of the water. This means being a strong front crawl swimmer, comfortable in open water as the swims are roughly 2-4km per day and also able to comfortably walk, hike 6-7km per day.
Drop us a line if you have any queries at all - hello@abovebelow.sc
about this event
Epic, challenging but also accessible and adaptable to a range of abilities. This trip has been designed to offer the ideal introduction to cross country swimming.
Lakes are accessible in almost all weather, the walk is alongside the side of Ullswater and there are opportunities to do more or less across the weekend in what is one the country's finest lakes.
The route and timings
Lots of flexibility but the broad plan will be as follows:
Arrive Friday afternoon any time from 4pm. Drive or we arrange a mini bus cab from Penrith Station at 5pm.
Saturday Glenridding to Howtown - a swim across Ullswater at Glenridding and up the east side to Silver Bay (2km). From here a walk of 5km to Sandwick bay (via a stop in the Sandwick tea barn) and another 2km swim, walk into Howtown for the Steamer Ferry Back to Glenridding.
Sunday – offers the chance to hike up behind the lodge round the back of the old slate mine and down the beautiful Glencoyne valley (around 5km) to the lake for another crossing (1.6km) via Norfolk Island. Or some height heading up Helvellyn for a dip in Red Tarn.
Finish at lunchtime Sunday to enable travel home or you can relax and stay another night in the warmth of the Lodge.
Accomodation
Stay is in the bunkhouse of Almond Lodge up the track to Helvellyn, just past the YHA.
Kitted out beautifully with 24 bunk beds, warm showers, a living room with a log burner. There's also and a well equipped kitchen and dining room to enable comfortable self catering all weekend.
The beauty of the location is that once you arrive in your car / lift then you won't need to be back in it for the whole weekend. It's two days of walking shoes, wetsuits and swimming costumes.
WHAT'S INCLUDEd/ not included
We provide:
All the safety for swims, the accommodation, the ferry and RuckRafts for you to borrow for the weekend. We will be stocking up on the basics for breakfast and YHA style pack lunches - porridge, bread, peanut butter, bananas, crips and that type of thing. Also logs for the fire (if it's cold). And we'll get a round or two in at the pub.
You bring:
Bring your own food and drink if you have special requirements over and above the basics above. Bring your own booze too - we’re all about the hip flask. Options to cook at Lodge or eat out at pubs in Glennridding on Saturday evening. The kitchen at Almond Lodge is well-stocked and enables catering for all the different types of diet. Basically - there’s plenty of options.