There's an (almost) fail-safe technique to planning which has stood me in good stead over the years. It involves procrastinating for weeks on end, mulling over various options without making any real decisions and then swinging into action at the last minute. The theory is that you've weighed the options and the decisions will be instinctive and right... I did say (almost) fail-safe and in this instance every hostel I'd planned to stay at over the weekend was booked solid for the next few weeks.

As I put the phone down after the third fruitless conversation and despair was starting to set in my eyes lit on my dog-eared (more on dogs tomorrow) copy of the Lakes Rider. The LR contains the details of every bus timetable in the national park and is a constant companion in my pack; as a result it's as rain-sodden as my britches, slightly mildewed and covered in arcane calculations to determine if it's possible to get to Watendlath at Witsun.

And so plans change and plots thicken. I was hoping to walk through from Penrith over the Roman road, climb Helvellyn, have a lazy day in Grasmere, maybe do the Langdales and then chill at the cabin for a couple of days. As it turned out I kipped at the cabin and ran round like a lunatic catching buses for 5 days and making ever more cryptic scribbles on the pages of the Lakes Rider.

Regardless the trip confirmed that the planned route is worth repeating and turned up some hidden gems that I wouldn't otherwise have passed (the Mortal Man Inn at Troutbeck is definitely in for a visit soon), the sight of Llamas amongst the Herdwicks, the discovery of relics from the last ice age in Windermere and the ability of Cumbrian sheep to do a creditable impression of a stone circle from a distance.

Travelling to Cumbria via the coast line has its own pleasures too and I've developed the knack of looking up at just the right time coming out of Lancaster to see the first glimpse of the fells over the tree-tops, then the long wait to see the full panorama of jagged peaks across Morcombe Bay. A pint at the Hole int' Wall and a ferry ride to Lakeside isn't a bad way to start a holiday so things were starting to improve.