As far as I know, there are 2 Blea Tarns – this one, above Keswick, and one above Great Langdale (which is owned by the National Trust and wildcamping is not allowed).
Blea Tarn is a beautiful spot in the Lake District above Keswick, and makes for an excellent wildcamp. When I visited a few days ago, it was very boggy down close to the tarn. We found enough of a flat spot on the outcrops above them to pitch our three tents, though.
It was a beautiful, although cloudy and wet, view. I’d definitely recommend this wildcamp in dryer weather – we had a bit of a bog. We actually had to camp on the opposite side of the tarn from the footpath, which involves crossing Blea Water. There is no bridge, and in most places it’s more than a jump, so pick a good crossing place. Luckily there are a few.
Comfort
Obviously the priority with a wildcamp is it’s comfort, and here this could be an issue. There are no big areas of flat ground, and we struggled to find somewhere with space for three tents. We found two spots big enough for our three after some searching, but for a single tent there are plenty of ledges and even some nice places for bivvying.
Pitching
As I mentioned, finding a pitch was not the easiest thing in the world. The side of the tarn nearest the footpath all slopes too much to camp, and it is too boggy anyway. We had to cross Blea Water below the tarn, which was in full flow when I was there: one of my group even fell in. There are, though, a few usable crossing places to get to the south side of the tarn.
Once there, you may need to search a bit for a pitch, but it is worth it. We found a couple of spots that would’ve fitted our three tents, going with the second one, but I’m sure there are many more. The biggest issue with the spot we found was the bogginess. It wasn’t enough to be an issue to us or our gear, but it did mean that tent pegs had a tendency to pull out and it takes some stabbing around to find somewhere that holds.
Mobile Reception
Mobile reception is a useful convenience, but very important for safety in case something goes wrong.
Blea Tarn is in a very remote location, with no roads nearby. As a result, there isn’t any mobile reception at the flat spots down by the lake. If this puts you off, don’t worry – the nearest ridge does have service. The ridge is only a few hundred meters to the south west of the tarn – you can even see it in the picture below. The rightmost outcrop in this picture was the nearest place to us with service.
Water & Cooking
Being a lake, Blea Tarn has a good supply of water, and when I was there it wasn’t stagnant because of the flow through the lake. I can’t imagine it ever becoming stagnant, and even so the whole hillside oozes water so this should never be a problem. But as always, use a purification tablet (such as the common NaDCC type) or another purification method (e.g. filtering and boiling).
Where we camped, there was a convenient flat boulder, which you can see above. It made a perfect (although windy) place to put our stoves while cooking, so a wind shield was essential. The area is very bouldery, so once you’ve fitted your tents in I’d imagine most pitches have something like this, and it really does help both food preparation and clean up.
Overall
Blea Tarn is a fantastically picturesque wildcamp in good weather, and even in the rain we had a very enjoyable stay. Once we’d got across the stream and found a spot to pitch, everything went well and we enjoyed ourselves for the few hours we were there. We even got to watch an amazing sunset from the ridge.
If you’re planning to wild camp in the Lake District, make sure you know what you are and aren’t allowed to do. There are a few fantastic resources for this, but I suggest you check out our guide on How to Wildcamp, and Paul Messner’s video on youtube here.