Derwent Water 18 July

We went for a longish day kayaking trip, taking advantage of exceptionally warm weather. Victor parked our car by the Bassenthwaite Lake, and then cycled to Maria and Sonya who were ready to set sail in Keswick. We kayaked Derwent Water to its southern end, cooked lunch and went back stopping for a swim every now and then. We then kayaked river Derwent to the Bassenthwaite lake where we finished and drove home after collected Victor's bike in Keswick.

The blue line shows our track, the parking icon shows car park, and the bicycle icon shows the place where we left Victor's bike. Shift-click on the track link will open it in nakarte.me.

The water was so warm that we couldn't help making frequent stops for a swim.

There was very little water in the Derwent river. We often had to get out of kayak and carry it over shallow places.

Sonya was our forward scout, measuring the water depth.

We are catching up.

By the time we got to the Bassenthwaite Lake, the weather changed, it became overcast, cold and windy. At the point where river Derwent flows into the lake, our kayak got stuck in the shallow water. We got out and found ourselves knee-deep in silt, but managed to break through and made it to the lake. This was a long and eventful day, with lots of swimming and kayaking, the trip down the river and crossing the choppy waters of the second lake. Our inflatable kayak coped with this variety very well.