Following two full days of hiking, the first up The Old Man of Coniston, and the second exploring the Cat Bells, we decided a rest day was on the cards.

We spent the morning in Ambleside for some outdoor shop shopping where I could have easily spent my entire savings.

I’ve been taking a look at getting a new coat as my current one is on its last legs. Even after re-waterproofing it, it’s not holding up well in the rain, so I explored the dream coat rails and was quickly humbled by the price tags. I left the coats behind on this occasion, with a couple in mind to research before biting the bullet.

After an early lunch we headed to Stickle Ghyll National Trust Car park in the Langdale Valley for a short adventure to the epic waterfall known as Whorneyside Force.

It’s a linear there and back walk, which was 4km each way and included 190 meters of elevation.

The start of the walk was quite flat as the first couple of kilometres took us through farm fields, but we still had the delights of an enveloping view of the beautiful Langdale Fells.

Once we crossed the footbridges, the elevation began as we got nearer and nearer to the waterfall.

The path follows the river, so seeing small pools and the water cascading over the rocks got me excited for what I hoped was going to be a beautiful swim! (Spoiler alert: it was!!)

We passed a couple of people on our way to the fall, but when we got there, we were able to soak it up all to ourselves. It is an incredible spot!

With wetsuit gloves and booties at the ready, I got in!

This was undoubtedly the coldest swim of the trip, but definitely the most remarkable!

I even got brave and put my head under the fall. Chilly!

Unsurprisingly, all of my warm hiking layers went on for the walk back to the car.

Including the swim, this adventure took us just over 3 hours.

For a post swim treat, we headed into Grasmere to get our hands on some of the infamous Grasmere Gingerbread before having a warming hot choccie.

We then headed back to the Airbnb in Windermere for some route planning and careful weather forecast considerations for the next couple of days as snow, cloud, fog, and mist, were threatening.