Hill Top, Ings, Kendal LA8 9PY, United Kingdom
Beautiful pitch on the terraced campsite Ings Kippers
My Surly Disc Trucker waiting for the ferry to Windermere
Getting a coffee after a rainy night
I arrived at the campsite after a pretty tough day. The Lake District is beautiful, no doubt. But I had so many road closures and had to bike on steep gravel roads to finally arrive at the little ferry to Windermere. The ferry staff was certainly a highlight, so friendly! They even had a little wild bird that was following the ferry on their short trips. Windermere though, absolute nightmare. Steep hills and so many cars, that really didn't care about my presence. I was very glad once I arrived at the campground in Ings.
Hill Top, Ings, Kendal LA8 9PY, United Kingdom
Beautiful pitch on the terraced campsite Ings Kippers
My Surly Disc Trucker waiting for the ferry to Windermere
Getting a coffee after a rainy night
To have a little bit of a framework to evaluate campsites for bike travelers, I wrote my criteria down in another post. The review is based on these criteria.
A very warm welcome! The host checked me in and explained all the facilities. Later checked on me and we had a little chat. He was obviously very proud of his campsite and rightfully so. He took a rather steep hill and implemented terraces, and planted trees and local plants. His original plan was to use the site as a Christmas tree farm but decided that he liked the trees too much. All the facilities were really well taken care of and you could really see that a lot of thought went into the campsite.
Absolutely, you won't find any cars on the site. And for a good reason. To get to your pitch, you need to get up to a rather steep hill. The owner mentioned to me that I would need to get a little bit uphill. Quite an understatement. I really had to giggle when I pushed my bike up, it was so steep! But the effort was absolutely rewarded. The pitches are terraced and while they are close to each other you have through the terrace structure and the plants a lot of privacy. Each pitch comes with a firepit, which is actually quite rare to find.
I actually don't know. Once I was up the hill I did not bother to go down to the reception and ask. But I'm pretty sure that they would have had one, as they explicitly are focused on hikers and bikers.
Yep, there was access to electricity to charge your phone.
There was no common room, the site is rather small.
No little shop or imbiss either. But very close by is a little supermarket, at the gas station. Directly at the rather busy road to Kendal. Ings has as well a local brewery, the Windermere Brewing Company. It's just a short walk away and has great beer!
It's directly located at the National Cycle Network Route 6.
Absolutely. You're really immersed in nature and have really great views of the area. Plus, as mentioned earlier, the owner put a lot of effort into making the campsite part of the landscape.
A big recommendation! It's one of the most unconventional campsites that I have seen on my trip. Absolutely gorgeous, and cared for with a great sense of detail. There's one caveat, this campsite is not easily accessible. Getting to your pitch is a good climb, so keep that in mind.
