Keswick Mountain Festival 10
Keswick Mountain Festival, the Lake District’s biggest outdoor weekender approaches. Here are six reasons it deserves THE place on your calendar...
Six reasons why you shouldn't miss out
Fantastic location
On the banks of Derwent Water, with green valleys and high peaks behind – what better place to be on a sunny weekend? The festival hub and campsite both sit on the edge of the Derwent Water just a stroll away from Keswick. Which, if you didn't already know, is full of great pubs, independent cafes and enticing outdoor gear shops. You’ll spend the entire weekend either gazing at that magnificent backdrop or larking about on it.
Brilliant atmosphere
The Festival Village is free to enter before 5pm, and it’s here that you’ll find all the big names in outdoor gear and activities. There are free taster sessions, tipi talks, and two evenings of live music. Which is all great but it’s the atmosphere that makes it. The whole weekend is reliably happy, excited, relaxed and always kid-friendly. Got energy to burn? Dance your feet off at night? Want to chill out? Get a pint and put your feet up while the sun sets.
High adventure & exploration
This is your chance to experience something new – and perhaps out of your comfort zone. Whether it’s an 11-hour epic walk around Borrowdale, a scramble up Hall’s Fell ridge and Sharp Edge on Blencathra, ghyll-scrambling or climbing, there’s loads of adventurous activities to chuck yourself at. And you get to meet similarly mountain mad folk while letting someone else take on the pressure of organising, route-finding and navigating.
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Competitive type? There are trail running races, swimming, cycling and triathlon. Each provides a good way to explore parts of the Lake District you might not have visited. Or hang out at the finish line and cheer the nutters in, that’s an important job too. Cracking music Watch a super band play as the sun sets over Derwent Water, a fresh pint cold in your hand. It’s one of the best parts of the weekend. Festival favourites the Peatbog Faeries are back to get the crowd reeling. Britpop band Cast close the night on Friday and Grammy-awardwinning KT Tunstall headlines Saturday, supported by The Christians.
Entrance is free with a Festival ticket, or you get one night of music free if have entered a race. Concert tickets can also be bought individually. Phenomenal people If you think walking up mountains can be hard work, meet Jasmin Paris and Nicky Spinks – two incredible women who run up them – fast. In May 2016, Nicky became the fastest person to run a double Bob Graham Round (just once round is a mega 66 miles, with over 8000m of ascent in a circuit of 42 of the highest peaks in the Lake District. Even reading that is hard work). She ran for 45½ hours straight and took an hour off the previous record-holder’s time. Jasmin spent last year smashing mountain running records and now holds the fastest cumulative time for the UK’s three big 24 hour challenges. Together, she and Nicky will give an entertaining, inspiring and probably at times quite unbelievable talk on Friday night.
On Saturday, Sir Chris Bonington tells his extraordinary and personal story of a lifetime of discovery, pushing the limits of mountaineering. Alan Hinkes OBE, and award-winning filmmaker Terry Abraham follow (with Trail refereeing) to reveal behind the scenes footage of their latest biographical mountaineering documentary. Also speaking is artist Andy Beck, who has completed a 10-year project of painting watercolour sketches of each of the 1,500 illustrations drawn by Wainwright in his seven volumes of Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells. Tickets are sold separately. And there’s you lot. Pretty decent, too. Expensive kit, low prices Last year, an hour before the Trail Gear sale started, people were queuing at the door. This is sensible if you want to get something good. It’s the annual emptying of our overstuffed Gear Vault. Everything for stupidly low prices and all for charity. Last year, it raised £10,000 for the Lake District Flood Appeal. Arrive early on Sunday after 2pm for your pick of all the hot new kit that we’ve included in the mag over the year.
The Welsh Edition One not enough? The first Snowdonia Outdoor Festival pitches up on the shores of Bala Lake from 11-13 August. There'll be live music, walks, talks, boats, bikes and basically everything fun you can do outdoors - Welsh style. Get first in line for info at www.snowdoniaoutdoorfestival.co.uk