As a hillwalker, I obviously absolutely love Cumbria. It’s one of my favourite counties (well, apart from the crowds…), and for the past five or six years (except sadly last year) I’ve got into the habit of spending a weekend up there each year with a group of friends.
As a result, despite being one of the furthest counties from my home, it’s slowly becoming one of my better-rated counties. I’ve rated 61 brews, making it my 12th most rated county (would have probably been top 10 if I’d have been able to go last year). This makes it one of the few counties where I’m in the top 50 raters (joint 38th in fact).
My top 5 beers are:
I love Snecklifter - as well as the bottled version being top, the cask version is only just outside my top 5. I’m always surprised that I continue to think the bottled version better after trying both bottle and cask many times.
My 61 rates come from 24 breweries and one cidery. My most-rated breweries are Jennings (12), Coniston (7) and Jawkshead (6).
I’ve rated 15 places (my 4th highest county for places), of which my faves were:
Fell Bar, Penrith (84)
Dale Lodge Hotel, Tweedies Bar, Grasmere (82)
Cumberland Hotel, Alston (82)
The highlights of the area are obviously the fells - we’re nearly halfway through walking the Wainwrights and I can honestly say I’ve loved every moment I’ve been up on them. After leaving Wycombe at 4am, we normally start walking at about 9am on our walking weekends. By about 9.30 I’m able to look out at the view with a huge sigh of contentment, all my work worries gone, and feeling that all is right with the world - I’m not sure I get quite that feeling from any other place!
As Glen said, Scafell Pike is the highest point in modern Cumbria, but in olden times the area was split between Cumberland (highest point Scafell Pike), Lancashire (highest point The Old Man of Coniston) and Westmorland (highest point Helvellyn). All three high points are pretty busy, but as with all of the fells you don’t have to walk far from them to find your own private viewpoint. I’ll always remember climbing Scafell Pike with my wife on a really clear day (the first big hill I climbed), but scenically the fells above Buttermere are pretty hard to beat.
I have quite a few beery memories to finish this lengthy ramble down memory lane:
- Being accosted by a drunken chef in Penrith, still in his chefs hat and whites and clutching a pint he’d “liberated” from his place of work. He turned out to be the friendliest bloke in the world, and mainly wanted to compare notes on what it was like living in his beloved Penrith (to which we got a guided tour) compared to living down south, This followed by the great Fell Bar made for a memorable night out!
- Trying to drink the entire Coniston brewery range at the Black Bull Inn in Coniston (accompanied by a suspiciously bright yellow curry). It all went well until the last one, where one of my friends decided to get us pints (rather than halves) of their barley wine. Took us until closing time to force down even a polite amount of that!
- Nearly missing last orders for food in Buttermere because we (along with half our youth hostel) were busy watching a group of piglets trying to push each other down a hill, with hilarious results.
Oh, and if you’re in Keswick on a wet day, make sure you pop into The Puzzling Place (a museum of illusions) - it’s great if in need of a little TLC. It may baffle you even more after a Snecklifter or two.
I’ll shut up now. Sorry, favourite county & all that…