Lake District Microadventure Idea: Kayaking on Windermere

A Lake District microadventure idea isn’t hard to dream up. The Cumbrian lakes and fells provide endless opportunities for outdoor activity, and much of it is cost free. But for a microadventure that doesn’t use up a day’s holiday you need an easy overnight trip. Kayaking on Windermere and camping at Low Wray might be one of our shortest, sweetest microadventures ever, squeezed in between 7pm Saturday and 11am Sunday…

Waking at Windermere

It’s 4.45am and I’m alone on the shores of Windermere. Mist patches hang over the lake, wispy ropes of cloud tethering them to the Lake District fells behind. Sunrise is coming.

Down at the lake, terns wait patiently on fence post and pier stump. Swans preen soft cygnets then nudge them towards the water. Geese gaggle in ahead, sending ripples across the lake. As they slide away they smudge the sun’s reflection as it burns its way over fell top forest. And so my day begins.

An impromptu kayak on Windermere

It’s a totally unexpected pleasure. Last night at 5pm I was sat at home contemplating an evening in front of the goggle box. Twelve hours later I am wide awake on the shore after an impromptu kayak adventure of Windermere. A mission invented in a moment. Triggered by a map left lying on a table. A canoe spotted idling in the garden. An app suggesting conditions for a perfect sunset.

It’s funny how it happens. An object triggers a thought. A thought becomes an idea. Ideas form into a plan and a mission is hatched. It’s not often these days that my missions engage the kids straight off but there was something in this one that hooked them. I think it was the fish and chips. I’ve written before about the 5-9er’s, folks who pack microadventures into the time between leaving work one day and going back in the next. Well, this was going to be a relaxing 7-11er. A Saturday night sleepover with a cast iron promise; we’d be back early enough that they could have Sunday to themselves.

A little light camping at Low Wray

It’s a long time in midsummer from sunrise to a civilized reveille. I pass the hours walking, watching the subtly shifting light and waiting for the snoring of campers to stop. We are camping at Low Wray, a National Trust campsite on the western shores of Windermere. It’s an easy 30 minute kayak on Windermere from Waterhead yet we appear to have been the only guests to have arrived by canoe. In my mission plan imagination we were going to bivvy out under the stars right next to the lake. Reality is somewhat different. With only one pitch left we had to pitch by the toilets, bivvying under a night light. Spontaneity doesn’t always pay. Still, after the fish and chips and sunset kayaking on a lake as beautiful as Windermere it didn’t seem to matter. And the rest of the family seem to be having no trouble sleeping in.

A morning walk around Low Wray campsite

By 7am I’m sorely tempted to wake them but can’t quite bring myself to shatter their dreams so take off on another circuit of the campsite. It’s full of cars and campervans, enormous tents and glampers with tepees, gypsy caravans, yurts and hammocks. We look odd laid out in bivvy bags with buoyancy aids for pillows, like we don’t belong. It amusing and bemusing; camping isn’t camping as I understand it any more. I’m much more at home in an empty field or on a fell top. It’s certainly better than a pitch by the toilets. But it’s a small price to pay for this impromptu outing.

Kayaking Windermere at sunrise

We are packed up and paddling on the lake by 8am and have it to ourselves. Just as we did last night as the sun set. I can’t quite believe no-one else was out paddling then either. No one else is up for a Lake District microaventure? The idea of heading off into the sunset may be a bit cliched, but it doesn’t diminish the experience of it. By 9pm, with all the steamers in bed and yachts moored up, it fell to us to raise our paddles to the sky, reach for the sun and push it down behind Lakeland fells. Cost: nothing. Experience: priceless.

Early mornings on the lake can be magic too. When the weather is calm, it’s an oasis of peace; a soft canvas of watercolour we glide gently across.  We head across the lake towards the Low Wood Hotel, a posh, 4 star we know does a good breakfast. The only question is whether they’ll let us in.

A great British Breakfast

We try not to drip on the carpets in Reception as we check on the dress code for breakfast but there is none. Having paddled for an hour we’ve worked up an appetite so what we saved on accommodation we spend on breakfast. We may look like paupers but we eat like kings, buoyancy aids tucked under the table to help us blend in with wedding guests and romantic weekenders.

An excellent Lake District microadventure idea

As we paddle away from Low Wood Bay a motor boat weaves past us pulling a water skier behind. The lake is awake now, morning calm giving way to Sunday sports action. The wake from the speedboat bobs us up and down as it washes past us and across the lake.

The 10 o’clock sun is high in the sky and we’re breaking a sweat by the time we reach Waterhead in the kayaks. But it’s easily cured. The kids dive off the kayaks, embrace the shocking cold of the lake and swim ashore. No-one seems to care that we have no towels. Our bellies are full. Our bodies awake. Our minds sharp. We’ve had what feels like a whole weekend of adventure and there’s still half a weekend ahead of us.

That’s the beauty and paradox of squeezing in a microadventure. The harder you squeeze, the more you pack in, the longer it seems to last. And the more you can pack into the rest of your day. So much more invigorating than a night of TV and a lie in. Don’t you think?

Disclosure Note: Absolutely nothing to disclose here! We dreamed it up, used all our own gear, paid for everything ourselves except for the sunrise and sunset which are totally free.