Please bear with me for this long-winded inquiry. We're doing some preliminary planning about a 10 - 14 day trip to England for 2020. We've been to London, but nowhere else in the British Isles. We love to hike/walk. We know we want to spend 5 - 7 days walking on moderate to strenuous trails in the Lake District. We're leaning towards Keswick as a base, in part because we are hoping to do the trip without a car and the transport options to trailheads look best from there. A couple of questions:
1) Do you disagree with Keswick as a base for moderate to strenuous hikes -- as opposed to, for example, Coniston, Ambleside,
Elterwater or somewhere else?
2) Connected to that question, do you think we really do need a car to get to the best trailheads for moderate to strenuous hikes?
3) I know it is an over-asked and perhaps silly question, but what season would you recommend, knowing we will plan to walk on higher ridge lines and to the tops (we love the long range views from high up)? I know the weather is extremely variable, and every season has its pros and cons, but we just want to increase our statistical odds that we don't have several days in a row of rain and that we have decent views. But we've got the gear, and have walked in the rain, if necessary. All other things being equal, we would also prefer to avoid the worst crowds, but generally crowds in the towns don't bother us that much, especially while we're walking higher up. So, for example, if you think July is best for the walking, so be it; the priority is the walking. Based on early research, we're leaning towards May, but we could go any season.
We are also aware of companies like Contours or HF Holidays and we may decide to use someone like that, but for now we are looking at doing it ourselves.