Today was meant to be an easy day - maybe 5 hours - but it ended up about 9 hours of steep country. The total distance was "only" about 14.6 km, but "we" made a navigation decision that probably added a few to that total.
Started easy enough, following the Stonethwaite beck (a "beck" is a river. Why they don't call them rivers is beyond me, after all we are in England!) But the route got steeper and steeper and turned into a real slog. In effect, we were walking into a "blind" mountain valley, and at the "end" needed to climb over a high pass to get over a saddle into the next valley (after which we expected the route to be basically down hill). After about 8 km we made it up and over.
The valley started off rather "bucolic" but as we climbed it became rough and unproductive. This has been typical of the last couple of days walks. There was less "bog" today so that was a pleasant break.
Most of the scenery we see is our feet and about 10' of train in front of us. The trails are very rough and rocky, often interrupted by a small "beck" tumbling down the side of the mountain, that you have to rock-hop over. We need to remind ourselves to stop and look at the scenery which has been pretty good. I tend to take photos from the high ground of the "pretty scenes" well below us.
Over the last few days we seem to be splitting up more on the trail. Sharon, Horishi, Keiko and I seem to be up front. The three ladies with blisters tend to hang back a bit. Bryce and Richard have been feeling the climbs a bit more - apparently Richard used to be a smoker!
Because we had expected a short day, none of us had brought lunch. We ended up stopping at Mere beck where the trail split - the "High Trail" and the "Low Trail". We all had 'emergency rations" of some sort and sat down for a break and shared.
Navigation seems to be a constant issue for some in the group. "One of our ladies" tends to ask every passer-by where they came from, where they are going and what way is it to XYZ? Plus she tends to hand her guide book or map to each of us and ask where we are and where we need to go. The trouble with asking multiple people those questions is that you get as many answers, which just causes confusion.
The low trail was reported as boggy, the high trail as offering great views. We (Sharon, Horishi and Keiko) decide to take the high trail around the ridge and avoid the soft ground. All ended up happily, but it turned out to be hard going which lots of sharp climbs.
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| Keiko. |
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| These stone fences are everywhere. |
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| On the trail |
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| Taking a break |
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| You can see the "bogs" in these photos |
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| No kidding, I was buggered. |
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| Our destination |
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| As soon as we arrived in this little town we found the pub. It was nice enough to sit in the sun From the left around the table: Julie, Diane, Richard, Bryce, Wes, Bob & Sharon |
Enjoying the journey Bob. The scenery is beautiful. It sounds a challenging walk. Go well
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