Sailing in the lake district

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Novice21

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Hi folks,

We're staying in Caldbeck the week after next with the kids, and are planning on taking the dinghy. Can anyone advise regarding where we might be able to launch? I booked the holiday making assumptions but am having trouble finding the information!

Many thanks,

Chrissie
 
You're fairly well North of the main lakes in Caldbeck. Your main opportunities are Bassenthwaite and Derwent Water.

However Bassenthwaite has no right of navigation and you need to use the Bassenthwaite Sailing Club to get on the water.
Members of the RYA, or RYA Affiliated Clubs, are invited to use our facilities and launch from our grounds at a cost of just £10 per day. Boats sailed from the club or kept there are limited to 20 feet overall length and may not have cabins.
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Derwent water does have some places you can launch for free but it's a bit precarious with trailer and car, more for the canoeist.

Better is Derwent Marina or Nichol End Marine, Both at the North end of the lake. Derwent Marina have a lot more space.

You can sail on Thirlmere, which is a reservoir by going to the car park on the Western road near the North end of the lake. However you need to be able to pass the boat under a log barrier and then push it to the water's edge (which may be up 100 yds depending on water level) over rough stoney ground. It's free but needs researching.

Crummock Water, Buttermere, Lowes Water. Forget them.

Ullswater; you can launch at Waterside Farm on the Eastern side for a fee. It's a camping farm and has facilities or for free at Howtown slipway. However parking is non-existent.

If you want to travel further South you can launch on Coniston or Windermere . PM me for details.

However in your location I would choose Derwent Water which is beautiful, has islands, good facilities, and is close to Keswick.
 
Coniston is nice if you can get to it. There is an official slip at Coniston village or there are beaches and small parking areas on North and East sides. We used to sail from Coniston Hall campsite, I think they do a day rate. On Windermere you can also launch from the National Trust land on NW side, across a beach so not much good if you can't carry your boat.

PS Nichol End Marina on Derwent Water? Nice cafe, not really a marina, you can hire boats and they have a few moorings.

With kids I would look for islands where you can land, so you can have 'an adventure'.
 
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Bassenthwaite does have a public slipway just east of the pheasant inn, you will need a permit to sail available from the moot hall in Keswick (I have heard you can get one from the Pheasant Inn but I havn't done this.

Derwent water it is possible to launch from a National Trust carpark on the east side of the lake. I believe you can launch from the public slipway in Keswick. I have only launched from the NT car park or Nichol End

Keswick slipway here http://www.boatlaunch.co.uk/default.aspx?page=display&nodeid=3151
 
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The one on the West of Windermere at Harrowslack (behind Belle Isle) is great. I used to launch my clinker dinghy from there.
Never got charged.
The slight problem is that normally the wind is a bit slack there so it'll take quite a while to get out into the North basin to get some decent breeze.

I would try Derwent Water and the public slip Croak mentions is worth a visit. However Keswick can be a nightmare traffic-wise at holiday times. The two pay-for slips at Portinscale I mentioned are less congested (except Nichol-end has sod -all parking)
Portinscale means "Prostitutes Hut" apparently.

The drive from Caldbeck to Windermere will take you over an hour, even if traffic is light.
 
Coniston is nice if you can get to it. There is an official slip at Coniston village or there are beaches and small parking areas on North and East sides. We used to sail from Coniston Hall campsite, I think they do a day rate. On Windermere you can also launch from the National Trust land on NW side, across a beach so not much good if you can.

PS Nichol End Marina on Derwent Water? Nice cafe, not really a marina, you can hire boats and they have a few moorings.
 
davidbfox said:
Coniston is nice if you can get to it. There is an official slip at Coniston village or there are beaches and small parking areas on North and East sides. We used to sail from Coniston Hall campsite, I think they do a day rate. On Windermere you can also launch from the National Trust land on NW side, across a beach so not much good if you can.

PS Nichol End Marina on Derwent Water? Nice cafe, not really a marina, you can hire boats and they have a few moorings.
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Going to be a pedant it is Nichol End MarinE. So no marina in the title.
 
I've launched a small dinghy from Nichol End and from Derwent Marina. Derwent Marina is the first one you come to. It has excellent parking and a small chandlery Unfortunately, there's a lot of mud round the entrance. There's a dredged channel but depending on wind direction, it can be quite a paddle to get far enough out to be able to drop even the smallest centre board. It was also very expensive last time I tried. (Round the £20 mark, I seem to remember. I even joked that I'd brought my own boat)!

Nichol End, as has been said, can be difficult to park. It's down a long drive. If you're lucky, and it's not busy, you might be able to park along the drive or even near the jetty. If it IS busy, you can usually just leave a small dinghy trailer shoved in the bushes or somewhere out of the way. On very busy days I've just then taken the car and parked it at the side of the road. It has a good chandlery and a nice little cafe, right on the shore. It's typically less than half the price for a launch (ours is an 11' boat). Getting into deep water is easier too.

NT car park is a fair extra drive from Caldbeck, and every time I've been there on nice days, it has been full. Launching canoes and things that can be carried is easy enough. Anything on a trailer can be quite difficult, depending on how others have parked, and whether the trailer wheels can bump over the rocks to get to the water.
 
That reinforces my opinion.
The NT launch sounds like a good idea, but unlikely to be much use.
The Nichol End Marine is probably as good as anything as long as you are happy to whizz the car and trailer out and park up the road a bit. It's only a couple of hundred yards.
 
just spent last week on Derwentwater & the advice you've been given so far is very sound. It's a beautiful lake with some amazing backdrop although the wind can be fickle to say the least. I launch a small tender at Nichol End to get out to one of their swinging moorings. Easy enough to launch anything that you would put down the slip at a local reservoir. Just phone them up to find out the launch/recovery fee for your boat; I'm sure it's quite reasonable and it's a very friendly place. It's a pebble launch but I saw a couple of 18 foot trailer sailers going in there no problems last week aswell as the usual dinghies. Parking is an issue that applies to everyone there, day launchers and moorers alike. The best approach seems to be to park up near the gate, walk down the lane and assess the situation when you arrive. As for Derwentwater itself, I never intended to moor there; I just couldn't bear to take the boat off it once I'd bought it in an ebay madness moment 18 months ago. You can land on the smaller islands and play Swallows and Amazons to your heart's content!
 
Excited now

Brilliant, I knew you'd all know lots of useful stuff! We're just packing up stuff now, I'm very excited about the prospect of Swallows and Amazons and picnics on islands!
 
Of course to do Swallows and Amazons properly you have to go to Coniston :D

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