Kirkby Stephen to Keld

Today the group set off just 6 miles from our houses, from Kirkby Stephen for a 12.5 mile walk.  They walked a gradual ascent to the 9 standards rigg.  The weather was rainy, as usual, and misty.  They made good time up to the standards but unfortunately there was no view due to the mist!!

Then the group encountered mud!  Mud, mud glorious mud and lots more mud - at times up to their calves.  So they have had the wettest day; the windiest day and now the muddiest day.  This went on for about 4 miles, but felt a lot more.  Eventually the rain stopped, and the mist lifted as they came down from the moors towards the road that led to Keld.  Today marked the half way point of the walk and also into a new county - North Yorkshire. 

After dropping the walkers off in Kirkby Stephen, Carol and I went shopping (again) for wine and beer - the cup final was looming this afternoon.  We then drove up towards Penrith and the Rheged Centre which is a huge indoor shopping, exhibition and 3D cinema complex.  It is set in rocks by the old lime kilns; quite a fascinating place where we saw the national geographic photographic competition entries.  After this we headed back towards Keld to pick everyone up.  After driving through Kirkby Stephen we went onto a narrow road that led wonderfully across the moors and dales - it's the kind of road you want Carol's mini to wizz along,; you could see the road winding around for huge distances.  The scenery was stunning and we are definately entering James Herriot country.  The weather brightened up and we stopped alongside the road for lunch whilst watching a helecopter doing a mountain rescue exercise.

We passed the walkers as they approached Keld and we found the tea shop where they very definately deserved tea and cake :)

 
The football was enjoyed by the boys, and apparently the best team won!

Shap to Kirkby Stephen

Today was a long walk of 20 miles and thankfully the weather was better, with just a bit of drizzle here and there with a little more rain just at the end.  I was able to join the walkers today - I certainly feel that I have had a walk tonight!!   Phil - Carol's Husband had visited for one night so Carol and Phil dropped us off at Shap and then went off to an Osprey viewing centre and saw an osprey sitting on a nest via a telescope, and there were web cams around to see others.

 

 

The walk took us initially over the M6 motorway and onto the moors which were beautiful with rolling hills (big ones!) and after about 7 miles into Orton to buy a pasty or sauceage roll.  It then took us back on the moors and up to Robin Hood's grave - apparently!

Eventually Kirkby Stephen was within reach, but we found these really quaint ponies looking over a gate.

Sorry - can't delete this picture for some reason!

 

 

 

 

We need a caption for this cheeky pony - 'you've walked how far?!!'    'you look a funny lot'    'what no food for me!!'  If anyone has any other captions do email or comment.

At day 6 of the walk there are some poorly looking bodies around here; moving is becoming a bit of a struggle, and feet are feeling the effect of walking 80 miles - only 100+ to go!!  Ibuprofen is being taken by quite a few.
 

Patterdale to Shap

 

 

Patterdale 

Today according to Tim was *******!  There was some discussion last night as to whether it would be too dangerous to do the walk today as it went over some very exposed parts of the lake district and to the highest point of the whole walk which is Kidsty Pike about 2600 feet.  The weather forecast was for very high winds and rain.  The plan however was to leave very early in order to get the high parts of the walk in the morning before the worst of the rain arrived, so we left the house at 6.45am and got to Patterdale about 7.50.  The walkers set off in the dry but soon got some very windy weather as they tramped up the hills, and the rain arrived a couple of hours into the walk.  At times the men had to hang onto the girls to stop them being blown over!  There was a short discussion about turning back but it was decided that it would be almost as bad to go back so they kept going - getting wetter.  It was a long walk of about 16 miles which took them around Haweswater and to the dam, then onto the village of Shap which marks the end of the lake district and near the M6 motorway.

Angle tarn.

 

The start of the day saw us packing up the van with all our belongings as we moved accommodation today.  After dropping the group off at Patterdale, Carol and I drove over to Kirkby Stephen to find the new houses at street farm.  We have one large house which sleeps 8 then 2 small houses which sleep 3 each.  We unloaded the van and sorted out who was going to sleep where and also the kitchens.  After much needed coffee we discovered it was only 10 o'clock - the early start gave us a lot more time!  We had an early lunch then set off to drive the 6 miles into Kirkby Stephen itself.  We found the famous fish and chip shop and ordered the food for our dinner tonight which we would collect later. 

 

 By the time we had wandered around the town (in the rain) it was time to fetch the walkers from Shap which was about half an hour away.  We actually had a phone signal so were able to speak to Jacqui who said they were about 20mins away.  Well a lot longer than 20 mins went by and eventually the phone went and we were told they had come out into the village a lot further along the road having taken a few wrong paths!  So we went and found the extremely soggy walkers who really were feeling the cold by then.  They had had hail; wind and rain all the day; they also found a bit of snow on the higher ground.  So we arrived back at the houses and everyone had lovely hot showers and hot cups of tea - no stopping at the pub today!  Hopefully tomorrow will be better :)  

Grasmere to Patterdale

Firstly sorry to anyone who had a dodgy email from me yesterday, my email was hacked, but BT were pretty quick to shut the account down until I unlocked it which was good.

Also if you are having trouble viewing all the blog posts you need to click on the title - not the comments link.

Now to today - well what a difference a day makes!!  Lots of rain today.  We had the walkers kitted up for wet weather, but still they arrived at Patterdale looking very soggy and there are lots of pairs of boots and coats outside now as the sun has finally come out and there is a nice drying wind.

 

Setting out from Grasmere in the rain. 

It was quite a short walk today as there was no way of extending it unless they wanted to do 26 miles ish in one hit! They arrived at Patterdale at about 1.15 and went straight to the pub - need I say more!!

 

Today's walk as logged by Jacqui on her sat nav.



Carol and I took one look at the rain and decided that any walking in hills was to be avoided, so drove down into Grasmere village and had a good look around with a stop for coffee and to buy everyone a piece of Grasmere ginger cake.  We then went onto lake Windermere where it stopped raining for a while so we could have a short walk around part of the lake.  We then made our way to Patterdale on another narrow, windy but beautiful road.

Lake Windermere.

This is our last night in the house, as we move to Kirkby Stephen tomorrow.  So we will need to get packed up ready for an early start tomorrow.  It is over an hours drive back to Patterdale and then they've got about a 16 mile walk.

Dining room ready for dinner (note the red wine in plastic bottles! - apparently it tastes ok)

 

 

Rosthwaite to Grasmere

Day 3 dawned wonderfully sunny and warm, so it was on with the shorts for some, others playing safe and keeping the legs covered.  We set off just before 8am for Rosthwaite which was about an hours drive.  The walking group set off for quite a hard day of climbing about 3000feet; but the sun made all the scenery all the more stunning.  Part of the scenery was blotted for a while though as a man was seen walking nearby, wearing a pair of shoes and a large rucksack and literally nothing else!!

 

Got to get to the very very top!!

 

 

View towards lake Windermere.

 

Carol and I drove to Derwent water and walked up to a lovely waterfall and then around part of the lake.

We then drove to Keswick and visited the Derwent pencil museum which was really interesting, showing that the graphite from Borrowdale was used to make the first ever pencils.  Graphite was also used as a mould for cannon balls in Elizabeth Ist reign.  We then had a look round Keswick shops and gradually made our way to Grasmere to collect the walkers from the Traveller's rest Inn!

Ennerdale to Rosthwaite

Day 2s 15 mile walk started at 8am from the house in Ennerdale - the gateway to the lake district.  We walked along to Ennerdale water which was looking beautiful in the morning clouds. 

The weather was dry to start but did occasionally rain lightly. The walk went along the side of the lake to Robin Hood's chair and then along and up a beck to the top.  At the top the sun came out and there were beautiful views over Buttermere.  John put a pebble on top a cairn then started the long tricky descent along the disused railway track to the slate mine at Honister.  Carol and I enjoyed a short walk with the group along the lake before turning back and collecting the mini bus for the trip to Honister.  We passed through Cockermouth and stopped again at Sainsburys for more supplies and red wine!  We then drove to Honister along a wonderful road - long, very narrow in places, and windy; fantastic views with the sun trying to shine; lots of bank holiday traffic; and steep at the end - a challenging but enjoyable drive for Carol!  We finally arrived at the Honister slate mine about 12.30.  The walking group appeared from the very steep path at about 1.30.

 After lunch they walked down to Rosthwaite, finding Carol and I sitting outside the tea room having had a cream tea in glorious sun!! We're no fools:)  The drive back to Ennerdale took about an hour.  After a wonderful tea we are now having a table football competition - results will be published tomorrow.

St Bees to Ennerdale

We arrived at St Bees to start the walk at about 8.40 am.  Everyone went to the beach to collect their pebble to take all the way to Robin Hoods Bay.  You are supposed to dip your boot into the Irish Sea, but I don't think anyone did.  Off we went up along the coast path to the head point and the lighthouse.  When you are there you are actually further away from the final destination as it is a bit  out to sea, but soon you turn inland and start the 190 mile walk across England.

  Carol and I turned back at the lighthouse after 2 1/2 miles and left the rest to complete the 14 miles  to Ennerdale bridge.  The walk was good but included Dent hill which was really steep especially coming down and was quite difficult.  The walk finished back at the house - some stopped at the pub in Ennerdale Bridge before arriving back!!  Carol and I made our way back to the mini bus meeting lots of other walkers starting out on their journey including Americans and a group doing the walk in aid of the stroke association.  When we got back to the house we welcomed the Sainsburys delivery man who managed to find the house, so that meant we could eat tonight :)