Join travel writer Tom Chesshyre for a lakeland adventure like no other. Explore towering mountains, wide-open valleys and magnificent lakes – stopping off at a cosy inn or two along the way – on a 379-mile hike around the Lake District.
From Penrith and back, via Ullswater, Keswick, Derwentwater, Bassenthwaite Lake, Cockermouth, Eskdale, Coniston, Grasmere and Windermere, plus many places in between, Tom Chesshyre puts on his walking boots and sets forth along the trails in a “big wobbly circle”, drawn onwards by the dramatic scenery that attracts more than 19 million visitors each year.
Across landscape that so inspired the Romantic poets, he takes in remote parts of the parkland that many tourists miss – enjoying encounters aplenty with farmers, fell runners and fellow hikers, while staying in shepherds’ huts, bothies and old climbers’ hotels along the way, and even going for a (chilly) dip in Derwentwater.
He is not obsessed by “bagging Wainwrights”, the peaks made famous by Alfred Wainwright (1907-1991) in his excellent Pictorial Guide series, though he does clamber up a few from time to time.
This is the Lake District for the casual rambler seen from its walking paths – with a backpack on, an open mind… and a spring in the step.
Available at: https://summersdale.com/sd-book/lost-in-the-lakes/
Praise for Lost in the Lakes
Tom Chesshyre sets off to make a meandering circle of the Lake District on foot with one aim in mind: ‘to let happenchance lead the way.’ In his amiable and relaxed company we climb the fells and skirt the lakes; just as engagingly, we meet a carnival of characters whose personalities and opinions are the real focus of Chesshyre’s tale. Together they sum up a region whose problems are many, but whose enchantments are still unmatched for walkers in these islands. ― Christopher Somerville, The Times
A charming book, brimming with tender affection for this ‘magnificent… dreamy patchwork’ of peaks, tarns and ‘serpentine valleys… between soaring slopes’. Tom Chesshyre is no brash Wainwright-bagger, but instead a relaxed, affable guide who takes us on a ‘big wobbly circle’ of a stroll around all sixteen main lakes: an impressive 379 miles in all. Neither travel guide nor gushing panegyric, Lost in the Lakes is a book for the everyday ambler: gentle, slow-paced and sweetly uplifting at every turn. ― Rebecca Lowe, author of The Slow Road to Tehran
Lyrical, witty and full of cheer, Lost in the Lakes avoids tales of heroic climbs in favour of the quieter – and oft-overlooked – story of everyday life in one of Britain’s rural honey-pots. From barmaids to town mayors, Chesshyre lends an inquiring ear to everyone who crosses his path, resulting in a delightful portrait of a community that is proud of its past but unsure of its future. Part travelogue, part social commentary, this gem of a book succeeds in being both politically engaged and uproariously entertaining – a rare feat in travel writing and a welcome new direction for the genre. ― Oliver Balch, author of Under the Tump: Sketches of Real Life on the Welsh Borders