Hi There

[Stew71]

Hi everyone,

It's been going through my mind whether or not to join a walking forum as i'm a bit shy and have only just taken up walking. I have walked Catbells with the wife and 3 boys and they seem to want to do more. I mainly want to stick with walks up in the lakes for the moment and maybe venturing out further at a later time.

I do have trouble in finding the starting points of walks which probably sounds daft as i have the OS maps of the Lakes and AW books. Can anyone tell me where i could find like an idiot's guide to the starting places of walks? Also what walk would anyone recommend to do next?

Thanks

[KIDSTYPIKE]

Firstly, welcome to the forum Stew. No need to be shy in here, just fire away with your questions.
Regarding your query re start points of walks the AW guides are pretty comprehensive. There are a number of people on here with walking websites which will give info on walks including start points.
Feel free to have a look at mine and if you have any queries feel free to post on here, or send a private message or e_mail me.
REgards,
Dave
http://www.wainwright-wanderings.co.uk/

[Stew71]

Thanks very much for the warm welcome Dave. I've had a quick look at your site and it looks very interesting especially the 214 fells. Believe me if i have any questions i will shout.

[KIDSTYPIKE]

Thanks very much for the warm welcome Dave. I've had a quick look at your site and it looks very interesting especially the 214 fells. Believe me if i have any questions i will shout.

OK...No problems.

Dave

[Ridge]

Stew

Don't worry about joining, the people on here are so friendly it is not like a proper internet forum at all.

It can be quite difficult when you don't know an area to work out how hard a walk is going to be or what route may be best from just a map. If you are having problems deciding then as well as websites try your local library/book shop for guide books.
There are lots of books available, or as my wife said when I arrived home on Friday 'What do we need another book about the Lake District for?' 

Ridge

[Stew71]

Thanks for the advice Ridge and yes that's what the Mrs say's to me when i come home with another map. LOL

[grahama]

Hi Stew,

Have to say this forum is well in formed and friendly, glad I joined and I wish you well.

Graham

[muymalestado]

... I do have trouble in finding the starting points of walks which probably sounds daft  ...

Does not sound daft, sounds like normal.  Even with one of Ridge's extra guidebooks the first 100 metres are often the worst to find.  This is so prevalent I surmise some discriminatory trait in authors.

I think authors have eyes only for the hard bits way up high which lie ahead and can't lower their sights to our getting off the train, bus, car and wondering if the potential new road layout, demolished building, new building, changed signs, cut down trees, ... are worth expending analytic and descriptive energy on.

Don't ask me to describe the day we pfaffed about ,went on ahead, had a wonderful day of walking, tramped, as it said 'back to the start' and discovered we started 2 or 300 mtr off beam and the first 3 miles were parallel to the correct route.  It was a glorious day nonetheless.

[Stew71]

Thanks for the welcome guy's and thanks for reassuring me about my questions.

[hs668]

It may be more 'Noddy' than you need but when I first ventured into the Peak District I found several books 'circular walks between 3 -12  miles'  and found these invaluable to get to know the area -  I'm sure that there must be loads for the Lakes. My main problem was lack of confidence and so following explicit instructions was great -  Once you get more confident its much easier to pick a route from a map.