West Riding Sailing Club: A Grand Day Out
by Anne Wroe 1 Jun 10:11 PDT
A grand day out at Ullswater © Anne Wroe
Ullswater is a great place for dinghy cruising, much quieter than Windermere and a bit drier than Coniston. My favourite of the main lakes.
As Ullswater is a lake of two halves you can choose to sail the southern end with its islands and steep sided terrain or the northern end which has more gentle hills surrounding it and is more open water. You can sail one end to the other of course or do a bit of both. The starting point is what you want to do.
You can just sail about admiring the scenery, but dinghy cruising is about having a destination. Picnic, pub or café?
The best pubs and best cafés can be found in Howtown. Howtown Wyke has at the southern end of the northern bit of the lake. It has a steamer pier and behind that is a little bay with a beach. You can pull your dinghy up onto the shore, set an anchor or a line round a tree and head off for a short walk to the Howtown Hotel which has a hiker's far and runs a lovely café in the village.
If a picnic is what you want then you have some beautiful destinations. Silver Bay is the easiest but can also be the busiest. Sometimes a picnic on board is the best option but not the most sociable if you are sailing in company. You can, of course raft up, as the Tideway fleet sometimes do on Wintersett. Another favourite is Sandwick Bay, which can sometimes have a rock or two in the way to avoid but is very quiet and peaceful. Last, but not least, of my choices, Blowick Bay down in the southern part of the lake.
Did somebody say what about ice cream? St Patrick's Landing right down at the southern end.
There are options for staying and launching at Ullswater. At the southern end there is Glenridding Sailing Centre. You can pay to launch from here. It is over a beach. You are likely to need help, particularly when recovering your dinghy. How much help depends on how heavy your dinghy is. For example, a Tideway is recoverable with three. A Wayfarer would be a four-person plus job. There is no camping at Glenridding but there is a campsite at Gillside.
The northern end has more options. Waterside House Campsite has a shoreline from where you can launch but it is very rocky. You would not be able to launch a Wayfarer. A Mirror or a Heron would be okay. A Tideway is just about doable but would be a last resort.
There is a campsite called Cross Dormont close to Waterside House. I haven't used it but it is said to have an area to launch from. Parkfoot campsite has launching, although I have not used it, others have with reasonable reports, if you want to be close to Pooley Bridge, this would be the one to go for.
On the western side of the northern end is Fairfield Marina. This is owned by Ullswater Holiday Park who offer a good rate for using the marina facilities if you are camping at their site. It has a proper slipway, but it is steepish, and you need to use your car to help pull your boat on its trolley up the slope. Also you need to either row or motor from the slipway between the yachts. Unlike Windermere you don't need a licence for your outboard on Ullswater. Ullswater Holiday Park is my preferred option with our campervan up at the campsite.
There are skills you need and equipment to have on board to do even this modest sort of dinghy cruising. At the West Riding Club Club myself, Malcolm Lawrence, Richard Taylor and Bryan Denson advise club members on what they will need for a trip away.
The RYA have a number of Dinghy Cruising Trails available on their website; there is one for Ullswater. And, it's well worth taking a look at.
To find out more about cruising and cruising trips at West Riding Sailing Club pop over to the club's website at www.wrsc.org.uk