Four days, eighteen people, one campsite at the southern end of Windermere. Here is how we planned each day and why.
TLDR;
Friday - travel and settle
285 miles from London via the M1, M6 and A590. Allow five and a half to seven hours. We went on the first Friday of the school holidays, which is the worst possible day for the M6 — leaving after 3pm can add two hours.
We deliberately did not plan a shop once we arrived. Instead the last stop is Booths at Oubas Hill in Ulverston, directly on the A590 and about fifteen minutes from the site. Milk and bagged ice get bought there rather than in London, because twelve litres of milk does not survive seven hours in a car in August.
Buy the ice at that stop. It is easy to forget, and the raw meat for Saturday's barbecue has to keep until the following afternoon.
Arrive around four, big tents up first while there is light and energy. It stays light until about nine at that time of year, so there is no real rush, but tired people pitching in the dark is miserable.
One stove goes on for tea the moment we arrive, and the curry starts while the tents go up. Rice, curry and vegetables for eighteen on camp stoves is a ninety minute to two hour job. Start it at five or you eat at nine.
Saturday - the group splits
This was the best decision we made.
The walkers left at seven for Scafell Pike via Wasdale. Details on the Scafell Pike page.
Everybody else had a slow breakfast in a half-empty campsite — genuinely one of the nicest hours of the weekend — then drove five minutes to Lakeside pier and took the boat the full length of Windermere to Ambleside. All eleven miles, about two hours, Yellow and Red cruises combined.
A practical note. If everyone takes the boat one way, the car is stranded at Lakeside. So one person drove the nine-seater up by road, about forty minutes, and met the boat at Waterhead. That way the vehicle was with the group for the rest of the day. Buy one-way tickets rather than the Freedom of the Lake pass if you are not sailing back — the pass is thirty-two pounds an adult and only pays for itself on a return.
Lunch at Waterhead by the pier. Ambleside town centre is a mile further and slightly uphill, which matters if anyone in your group cannot manage that.
The two halves met at Ambleside mid-afternoon, then went on to Skelwith Force together. We picked Skelwith over Stock Ghyll Force in Ambleside itself for one reason — Stock Ghyll is the prettier waterfall but it is a twenty-five minute uphill woodland walk with steps, and Skelwith is a wide flat surfaced riverside path that takes a pushchair or a wheelchair. There is a café at Skelwith Bridge with a terrace looking straight at the falls.
Then Booths in Windermere on the way home for the barbecue shop, back to camp, and everyone ate together.
Sunday - the passes
Everybody together for a drive over Hardknott, Wrynose and Kirkstone. Written up separately on the passes page, including why we went anticlockwise and why I would think twice about doing it in a nine-seater.
Evening was the big meal — mutton curry, dal, rice, aama ko achar — and a long fire.
Monday - pack up
Breakfast, strike camp, deliberately run the food out rather than driving leftovers home. Checkout around eleven.
If nobody has to be back early, Cartmel is fifteen minutes away — a priory, and the village where sticky toffee pudding was invented. Parking is very limited, so go in two cars rather than six.
Moving by one o'clock puts you back in London around seven.
What I would change
Sunday was a lot of driving the day before a seven hour drive home. If I did it again I would put the big drive on the Saturday and keep Sunday close to camp, so the last full day is a slow one.