We checked out the directional sign in town and headed to Ennerdale Water. Here in the Lake District, they call just about all their lakes "Water". Go figure the British.
It was about a 2 km walk down the road to the "water".
A local advised against the traditional south shore walk due to a recent fatality of someone slipping on a rock while taking a selfie in the rocky section. We heeded the advice and did the northern shoreline loop which filled a very coarse gravel road for several km. hard on the feet to walk on but we did have some nice views of the lake.
We saw some British sheep. haven't been able to figure out why they have dyed wool. Red white and blue, maybe Brexit sheep?
We passed by a nice old farmhouse.
At the eastern end, Jim & Mark diverged for a high level passage to Red Pike, a climb to 755 m.
Meanwhile we trundled along the coarse gravel road to the Black Sail Youth Hostel.
By this time I needed some foot maintenance on my right paw.
We also took in the beautiful scenery here as we ate our lunch in anticipation of the climb to come.
It was a little tricky picking up the trail from here but Chris asked the cow for advice and she put us on the correct track.
The climb was really tough for us. A combination of step rocks, broken shale and running water. I think it took us at least an hour to go the next km or so. The view back into the valley was spectacular.
Finally it transitioned to a more gentle ridge climb but it was still a difficult surface to traverse. You could see Buttermere to the north-west.
Finally we get to descend from the ridge but on a very rocky path. By this time we were really tired and our feet were having a difficult time negotiating the surface.
Finally we got down to Honister House, or rendezvous point for the two peak hikers.
We arrived a little later than Sharon and Marie and still had to wait for a little bit for Jim and Mark. At this point it was after 5:00 pm and we had at least an hour or so to make it to Rothswaite. We called the taxi that was going to meet us there and had him come to Honister House to pick us up and take us to our B&B's in the town of Keswick. We had travelled 22 km and were beat. Our estimate of the total length of this leg would have been 29 km.
Tonight we are staying in separate B&B's. We are staying at the Tarn Hows B&B. Typical English room with not enough room to change your mind.
A ten minute walk down the road and we were able to rendezvous with the others at the Bank Tavern.
I managed to sample a couple of new beers to help take the pain out of my feet.
We are both hurting a bit after the last two days and tomorrow has another steep 600mm climb so we decided to stay in Keswick for the day tomorrow and catch up with the other four in Grasmere tomorrow.
So far my opinion of the Coast to Coast Trail is a bit mixed. It's no where near as enjoyable for us as trails in the US National Parks with poor footing and negligible directional signage in a number of places. The scenery however is splendid. We will see what the sections of the trail after Grasmere have to offer.
No comments:
Post a Comment