There & back again

The password for the campsite WiFi was ‘Hobbithole’, and it seemed entirely appropriate. The gentle dome of Little Mell Fell rose behind the site, and set into its lower slopes was a row of hobbit holes. These cosy underground camping pods for families were a new addition to The Quiet Site near Ullswater.

For us, there was no need of a Hobbit Hole. Our trusty Autosleeper Duetto had been roused from its winter slumber and now provided us with a marvellous room with a view. We drank in those Lakeland views with the thirst of travellers in a desert.

Then we realised that we had a different type of thirst. It was 17 May, and the campsite bar was about to open for the first time since the autumn. To call it a bar, however, is to do it an injustice. Imagine the sort of hostelry where hobbits and dwarves drink from frothing tankards of ale beside a blazing fire, and you start to get the picture. The barrel seats may have been snug, but there was plenty of headroom for any passing wizards. Stags’ heads and antlers gazed down from wooden beams below the high vaulted ceiling. The gallery, reached by a rustic wooden staircase and draped with animal hides, provided more seating.

It was tempting to stay snug within the thick stone walls of this seventeenth century alehouse, but by now the sun had come out, and we needed to sit outside our ’van and admire the view until the sun finally set behind the hills. We exited the bar through another room where large-scale maps completely cover the walls and made us itch to explore the fells.

Over Hill and Under Hill

Maybe we wouldn’t climb Little Mell Fell. The late, great Alfred Wainwright described it in his Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells as an ‘uninspiring, unattractive, bare and rounded hump’. How rude! We thought it looked lovely and peaceful in the evening light, but we did have other ideas for a walk.

A few days before we set off on our break, The Quiet Site had sent us a welcome pack which included route maps for suggested walks. We had chosen the eight-mile circular route that would take us from the campsite along the Ullswater Way to Aira Force waterfall and back.

I was looking forward to a walk so that I could try out the new collapsible walking pole that I had been given for Christmas. Now, I imagined myself striding Gandalf-like across the fells with staff in hand. Unfortunately, it behaved less like a wizard’s staff and more like one of those magician�