UKC

Hi All,

I am think of a summer holiday in the Lake District next year with the family. My son an I both climb( the wife doesn’t), we are looking for somewhere to stop for a week. Nice walks for the dog and the wife and bolted sport routes for Jack and I (we don’t do trad). We have just had an amazing week in Dorset again but fancy a change. So a weeks holiday rental in the Lake District sounds good (static caravan, house etc) any suggestions gladly received. Thank you so much.

Very little sport climbing in the Lake District itself as almost all is trad. There is some good hard sport at Chapel Head Scar and a range of grades at St Bees Head, but this may be a bit of an acquired taste. Some bolted slate, but really, if sport climbing is the goal there are better places to go. Good range in Yorkshire which isn't too far from the south lakes. 

best sport crag in the lakes is bram crag quarry by a country mile . However it’s not every bodies cup of tea , I like it but my regular partners are very much divided . Second best is st bees , again not every bodies cup of tea. Keswick or the surrounding villages would make an ideal base for visiting these two . In terms of walks and general messing around outside  you d struggle to find anywhere finer . If I were you  I’d take a weekend , climb at both crags and see if either or both were your cup of tea. The latest lakes selected guide has photo topos of both crags  . However bram has a lot more routes ( over double by now I’d guess )than are shown in  that guide . 

Get hold of some nuts and hexes and go scrambling instead. 

I heard that the Fell and Rock Club were in the process of putting together a new Slate and Sports Climbing guide to the Lakes - if that comes off that would be worth a look and I suspect will be out before next Summer. 

From my experience if you want to onsight lots of 6s then the North Lakes would be best as you can climb at Bram Crag Quarry and St Bees, if harder 6s and great 7s are more your thing then South Lakes Limestone would be better.  There are some good bolted lines on the slate too, but the approaches and bolting usually lead to a pretty adventurous feel to them.

I think you need to go to Yorkshire. Coming to the Lakes and sport climbing would be like holidaying in Spain and eating fish and chips all week.

Another vote here for Bram Crag. 

To be honest though as the sport climbing isn't that great in the region, and the fell walking is out of this world good, I get the feeling you and the lad might be joining the wife and the dog on a few days, and you'll not be sorry you did either.

Keswick is lovely, good pubs and plenty of places to eat, including a surprisingly excellent Italian.

If it's just for the day, Bram Crag has some accessible sport routes. But, I'd second the idea of thinking about doing a  day of scrambling or easy trad - e.g. you could go do C Ordinary (Diff) and Giants' Crawl (Diff) and have a great day out, only needing a very minimal rack. Good belays and lovely views!

A massive "non-recommendation" for Bram Crag Quarry.  St Bees and Chapel Head are superior in just about every regard (location and scenery, quality of rock [for the most part], the lines and climbing).  Personally Id either spend a day at St Bees (some nice 5 to 6b stuff) or abandon the idea of sport which is pretty limited in the Lakes and go enjoy some of the world-class climbing the Lakes has....go scrambling, do some guided trad, or take a bouldering pad.

How about a different venue, Gower and SW Wales. A quick google will show you the options there.

thanks for the reply. As for walking neither Jack or I enjoy walking, I spend all day every day on my feet walking around the country Estate I manage (Beautiful gardens, amazing views and our own trout river) and I don’t do trad at all. The reason I don’t do trad, I started climbing 30 years ago and had to stop for quite a few years due to an accident (lost 3 fingers on my left had and sever break to my right wrist) I got back into climbing because of Jack. So I’m back to climbing 6a but much more than that is a struggle. Jack is a good climber and climbs on our local gym’s squad for bouldering and lead competition. So we look for good bouldering and sport climbs. 

Sport in the Lakes isn’t ideal, however bouldering is excellent.

check Lakesbloc.com for printable PDFs