January 2021

The cottages have been unoccupied since November either because of lockdowns or tier restrictions so it has all been very quiet at Foulsyke. At present I am doing the usual January jobs of preparing the cottages for the oncoming season, repainting, replacing, renovating etc. I am also having to work on my booking conditions and cancellation policies because of the pandemic: hopefully these will be on the website shortly. It is currently uncertain when we will be able to reopen but let us hope it will not be too long before I can welcome guests again.

Now on a much lighter note I thought I would post a couple of fun pictures.  Mark, the National Trust ranger was busy with his chain saw over Christmas and festive reindeer and snowmen appeared at Loweswater. Children were also delighted to discover a goblin tree along the lakeshore.

We have just had a couple of days of wonderfully snowy weather which then disappeared overnight. Here are some photos I took on Friday.

First thing Friday morning

A sheep along the lane

Two pictures of Loweswater in the afternoon sun

And sheep feeding on my way home

Since the November lockdown my walks have been local, most of them starting from the door which on occasion can lengthen a walk considerably. It has been interesting to find new routes or put parts of walks together in different ways. My walking friend Judy and I found new routes up Burnbank and Carling Knott and added the path above the intake wall to Thackthwaite to a Low Fell walk. Yesterday’s walk in the snow was put together as we went along. We started on the fell road to Mosser, then went up the valley between Low Fell and Darling Fell. After enjoying ‘emergency rations’ of coffee and Judy’s energy giving Christmas cake at the stile, we continued up the right hand side of the beck before bearing right to join the main Low Fell track. Instead of turning right to Low Fell we turned left to visit Fellbarrow before returning to the top of the fell road. As some fairly gloomy clouds loomed in the distance we enjoyed a visit to this perfectly placed snowman on Watching Crag.

We are seeing red squirrels on a daily basis which is lovely. Thank you to everyone who has donated to the West Lakes Squirrel Initiative. If you have had difficulties making bank transfers to them unfortunately the account number I was given had the last two digits reversed so the last two numbers are 98 not 89. If you want to check anything further please get in touch.