Winsome on Derwentwater

At the kind invitation of the Camping and Caravanning Club, we took our pedal powered boat, Winsome, up to Derwentwater to take part in their Open Day for selling their Exclusive Holiday Lodges at Lakeside, Keswick. The photo show one of the residents kindly cleaning the jetty for us!


The weather was overcast but dry and the lake was calm and very inviting for pedalling.


Unfortunately, very few lodge owners or visitors were around but, given that Winsome is named after my late aunt, Winsome Baty, we welcomed a visit by some of her other Baty relatives and friends who happened to be holidaying in the area.





They enjoyed trying out the boat and chatting about the design. It's always encouraging when keen cyclists give Winsome the thumbs up.



Later we pedalled over to Nichol End Marina where we enjoyed some excellent home made soup and a reviving cup of tea.

After giving one of the lodgers a go in Winsome, things went quiet again and we couldn’t resist the pull of exploring the lake. En route, we chatted to becalmed sailors, dodged the steamer's alarming wake, amazed people with our speed (Winsome definitely moves faster on lakes) and enjoyed watching paragliders gradually descending from Cat Bells in the still afternoon air.



Derwentwater is beautiful but maybe a little on the small size for dedicated Winsome pedallers – getting to the South end and back took not much more than an hour even with a detour to visit the Keswick jetties and boat hire. Still, the cups of tea at Nichol marina and the many tiny islands offer plenty in the way of exploration for the more leisurely, short hop Winsomer.