the perfect 4-day itinerary for campervan travel in the Lake District
If you're looking for a unique way to experience the beauty of the Lake District, a campervan trip might be just the adventure you need. This guide provides helpful tips for making the most of your experience.
Wow, oh wow, were we blown away by the Lake District! We spent four blissful days over my birthday hiking, getting soggy in the mist, and eating simple meals cooked over a campervan hob. Usually, I’d try to visit multiple times to perfect an itinerary, but honestly I feel like we really nailed our Lake District journey on this first go. So I’m sharing with you the very specific details of our trip and our four-day itinerary.
We could definitely head back up North for more hiking, as we barely scratched the surface of the number of trails available, but for the four days we had in the Lake District, we really made the most of every hour without overbooking ourselves. It was the ideal balance of activity and rest.
Also, before I give you the lowdown, I want to thank Luke. He planned this special trip all on his own. I found the campervan hiring site, read a few blogs about the area, and the rest my incredible boyfriend sorted out so that I could enjoy my birthday without thinking about anything. For this lovely getaway celebration, I was simply along for the ride, or in this case, the hike.
the ‘camping’ nitty gritty ↴
wild camping in Lake District
I want to talk about wild camping for a second, because so many people DM’d me about whether or not we just rocked up and parked by the side of the lake. So, here’s the scoop!
Wild camping is just another way of saying “camping anywhere outside of a campsite”. In some parts of the world, it’s also called “free camping”. There is a lot of conversation about wild camping and land owner rights, etc. G e n e r a l l y speaking, wild camping is illegal across most of England and Wales. I have friends who regularly wild camp simply by checking for "‘no camping” signs and doing their research about the area they are planning on camping in before before they pitch their tent. I wouldn’t suggest this unless you are familiar with the region and its laws.
Wild camping in the U.K. only gets more complicated when you decide to forego the soft tent in favour of a campervan. If you’re asking my opinion, I’d nix plans of wild camping if that’s the route you want to take while traveling through England. It just seems like a lot of extra stress about getting towed or fined for being parked up on private land or for simply not knowing the rules. There are wardens on duty who patrol the area for overnight vehicles.
hiring a campervan
We rented our campervan from Quirky Campers {who have in no way sponsored this post but hey QC hook ya girl up!}. I found them on Instagram when looking at vans for sale {lockdown + the London property market had me seriously considering investing in a van, guys}. I immediately went to their website and starting incessantly looking at their gallery of campervans. Quirky Campers is kind of like the AirBnB of campervans. You hire a van from a private owner. Each van looks different and is located in a different place. This means you’ll have to plan where you’re heading and what vans are available for pick up near you.
Unlike AirBnB, you won’t be able to just pick up the keys. You need to sign a contract, the same way that you do when you rent a car. Together with the owner, you’ll overlook the entire vehicle for scratches and dents, mark them on a form, and then you can drive off into the sunset.
Quirky Campers made it super easy and straightforward. Luke said that all communications were prompt and all he needed to provide was his {valid} driver’s license. Our campervan owners provided us with videos that actually showed us exactly how to use all the amenities. The videos also covered the basics of driving the van and safety. I thought it was a really thoughtful that they also included a drive-away checklist that was laminated for us to make sure we’d locked all the cabinets, taken care of the wastewater, and turned the gas off before we drove off on another adventure.
booking a campsite
Due to COVID-19, most campsites at the time we booked were operating at 30-50% capacity, which meant limited availability. We were planning on parking at the Wasdale Head campsite, but when Luke went to make the booking, it was full up weeks in advance. Instead, he found us a beautiful spot at Church Stile Farm and Holiday Park which was a 7-minute drive from the Scafell Pike trail head. The campgrounds had clean showers and toilet facilities {the women’s even had a hairdryer}, a small shop with essential items and food products {hygiene products, farm fresh eggs, bread loaves, Scotch eggs, hand sanitizer, postcards, etc.}, and a playground for children.
Most importantly for campervans like ours, our camping spot had an electric hookup that allowed us to have lights, charge our camera gear and phones, and use some of our amenities like the toaster, space heater {we used it to dry out my Birkenstocks that got absolutely soaked walking through what looked like dry land for a photo, lol}.
Top campsite considerations |
think of your needs {do you need an electric hookup?}
book well in advance
check to see if there are showers on site
ask about the campsite’s COVID policies {how regularly do they clean the facilities? how do they implement physical distancing? are they operating at a certain capacity to help create more space for campers?}
location. location. location. There are lots of good campsites throughout the district, but you don’t want to have to drive for ages before getting to the specific trailheads you are planning to hit up.
suggested itinerary ↴
I’ve gone ahead and written out our e x a c t itinerary for you to copy or tweak however you see fit.
friday
We hit the road around 8:30AM, to avoid any morning traffic. From our starting point, we made our way towards the campervan pickup point in Kendal. You will have already communicated with the van owners and arranged your van pickup and all the insurance information.
CAMPERVAN TIP: Before you pick up the van, stop by the supermarket. It’s a lot easier to grab all your shopping and load it into your van than to drive into the center of town in the large van and find parking.
After we picked up the van, we had to walk through the liability and insurance procedures with the van owners. Then, we drove another hour to our campsite. We went to the reception desk and got a site map and a rundown of the rules. We parked up, plugged everything in and set up the awning so that we could play card games after an easy stir fry dinner. Luke played music and we indulged in a celebratory beer for surviving the curvy Lake District roads.
saturday
Bright and early, we woke up and enjoyed a simple breakfast. After cleaning up, we headed to the Lake for a walk and some filming. There were plenty of free parking spots shoreside because we beat the mid-morning tourists. We packed our lunch after breakfast, so we went straight from the Lake to the Wasdale Head car park to hike Illgill Head. The car park was very busy. It costs 7 per vehicle for all-day parking. There is a machine that allows you to pay by coin or, alternatively, you can go to the information desk {located behind the toilet facilities} and pay with notes or by card. We took our time climbing to the summit and ate our lunch along the way. We made our way down slowly and headed back to the campsite. We laid out our shoes, cooked vegan chili, and spent the evening playing card games like Uno and Blink. We hopped into bed, read our books and watched an {already downloaded} episode of Schitt’s Creek. Then, it was off to bed.
sunday
We ate pancakes, loaded up our daypacks, and headed to the Wasdale Head car park. The Wasdale Head car park opens on Sundays at 8AM. In September, when we went, it was almost entirely empty at opening. We paid our money and made our way to the Scafell Pike trailhead. We spent 4 hours and 29 minutes {roundtrip} trekking Scafell Pike, England’s tallest peak! The hike itself wasn’t hard {probably an unpopular opinion…}. The trail was clearly marked and paved with giant stones. The top gets steep and soggy, but the hike overall didn’t require much hiking experience. In saying that, I’d tell anyone doing it to bring proper rain gear and real hiking boots— it gets slippery.
Post hike, we grabbed ice cream and changed out of our wet clothes. We drove around the Lake and headed back to the campsite. We hung our gear out in the sunshine and took showers. We played {you guessed it} card games, enjoyed a lager, and ate piping hot fajitas.
monday
We enjoyed our favourite kind of morning on our final day— slow and together. I came back to the campervan from washing my face to a birthday surprise. Hot tea, blueberry muffins, and cards collected from my friends all over the world. The air felt fresh and our legs were only the tiniest bit weak. We took our time packing up and made our way to the Lake. We went for a stroll around the shoreline and said our goodbyes to this beautiful place, before ultimately heading back to Kendal. We dropped our beloved little camper van off with its owners and headed back down London way.
All in all, our four days in the Lake District went by quickly, but they were spent slowly. We relished in every moment together without cell service and made sure our boots were extra muddy by the time we got home.
packing + groceries ↴
pack list suggestions
Honesty up top: I’ve never been a big fan of packing lists. I always think what you need/want to back will ultimately come down to each person’s particular needs and preferences.
Some of the general things we brought for camping |
linens + bedding
extra warm sleeping layers
paper map or downloaded GPS for zero-reception areas
refillable water bottle
toiletries {eco-friendly is best}
groceries for meals
books + card games
flashlight/torch {for late night bathroom runs}
hiking boots
easy slip-on shoes for post-hike + midnight bathroom runs {a lot easier than attempting to lace up your boots in the dark}
towels
grocery list ideas
The key to camp food is to keep meals simple. You don’t want to stress about food prep or a long list of ingredients needed. Check your campervan for what pots and pans you have before you plan your meals. Once you plan your meals, you can shop quickly and more efficiently— i.e. no time wasted at the supermarket = more time to explore outdoors. Here is a rundown of our meals to help spark some ideas. We kept it really simple.
Breakfasts |
Scotch pancakes with fresh raspberries and strawberry jam
toast with peanut butter
blueberry muffins
tea + instant coffee
Lunches + hiking snacks |
peanut butter sandwiches
Cornish pasties {for Luke}
sea salt popcorn
Snack-a-Jacks {the British equivalent to Quaker’s Rice Cakes}
Alpen granola bars
Soreen loaf {similar to Fig Newton’s…but in a loaf??? honestly, hard to describe}
Dinners |
tomato soup + vegan grilled cheese sandwiches
stir fry noodles {you can buy “packets” with the veggies, noodles, + the sauce for cheap at Tesco and Sainsburys}
chili non-carne {bought at Sainsburys, all we had to do is heat it up} + tortilla chips
veggie fajitas {bought a kit from Sainsburys, added onion, capsicum, + black beans}
Camden Hells Lager
