
Ascending Cat Bells.
Cat Bells is possibly one of the most popular destinations for walkers in the whole of the Lake District. It is therefore a trek where you may meet a lot of other people. We were there at the end of September 2025, well past the end of the school holidays, so crowds were less of an issue, and we found much of the time we were able to keep plenty of space between ourselves and other walkers.
Having our weekly boat ticket made it simple to set off from the launch base at Keswick. To read the full feature, and see the photographs, please use this link which will take you to Medium, where you will be able to read the whole piece free of charge. If you’re able to ‘clap’ for the piece, please know you can do so up to 50 times, and the more ‘claps’ a post receives, the more exposure it gets on the site. If you decide to explore the platform, you may well decide to become a member, too.
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Going after the school holidays is the whole trick, isn’t it. Cat Bells has a reputation for being shoulder-to-shoulder, so late September with a weekly boat ticket out of Keswick sounds close to ideal. The launch-base start is a good tip too — saves the least fun part of the day when you’ve got shorter legs in the group.
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Thank you for your observations, TravelingTaylors. Now we’re retired, visiting places outside school holidays is a regular choice. We enjoyed our boat rides, so that was an easy choice to make for getting to the start, especially as I wanted to use the car as little as possible while in the Lake District.
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Such gorgeous scenery, Stuart, despite the dry conditions. Your photos are beautiful. It must have been wonderful to stop to enjoy your surroundings. Cheers.
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Thank you, Lynette. We were very lucky with the weather for our stay in England’s wettest county. And our visit, a celebration of our wedding anniversary in the place we last went to for our honeymoon, was a very special time. Lovely to be surrounded by such spectacular scenery.
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