After breakfast we hiked out of Keswick and down to Derwentwater Lake. We paid a couple pounds to catch a long, wooden boat that shuttles you around the lake to six or seven stops. It was windy, cold and cloudy as we set out; we got off the boat at Hawes End, and started walking through the forest. The trees are not that tall, but they are huge and spread way out, providing such a thick canopy that when it suddenly started to rain, then pour, we only heard the drops, but none actually made it through to hit us. So we hung out under the trees until the rain passed, then set out along a rock fence to the trailhead. This hike is the Catbells High Ridge trail, following up a bare ridge that rises to a prominent summit at about 1500 feet. As we started up the trail the clouds broke, the sun came out, and about the first switchback we took off our coats until the summit. The entire hillside is lined by ferns, waist high ferns, more that I have ever seen. A few scattered bushes left here by mistake, one or two trees that got lost, but the rest is rock, grass and ferns. There are a few sheep grazing, lots of people out hiking, and we just walked right on up, a little over a mile in under an hour. We just enjoyed the views and being out in the warm sun. We put our coats on at the summit and tried to hunker down out of the wind, sit and enjoy the view for an hour or so. Then we hiked on past the summit, down into the next saddle and took a little unmarked side trail dropping back towards the lake. We caught the boat for the return trip at High Brandelhow Pier, and were back in Keswick by 13:00.
Well, to celebrate the hike, the sunny day and our good fortune, we ended up at the Dog And Gun pub for a beer and snack: lasagne and soup. I had a pint of the Cumbrian Legendary Ales "Loneswater Gold," a light golden bitter ale served at 12 degrees. It was a nice way to end the walk.
We went back to the room to pick up the car keys and a map, and we set out on a slow, one lane road drive up the Newlands Valley and over the pass. I almost got run over by a huge tractor pulling a fully loaded wagon of manure. Boy, that would've been the shits. We stopped in the scenic village of Buttermere and I had some tea, we sat in the sun and just enjoyed the quiet. Sheep wandered across the road, or right straight on down it. We jumped back into Buddy, headed around the Buttermere Lake and up over Honister pass. There is a green slate mine there, still working, which explains a lot. Most of the houses and buildings in Keswick are made of green slate, with the doors and windows framed in some orangish rock. It looks striking in the sunlight, depressing and moody in the rain. Isn't it interesting that the cheapest, most available building material here is slate? Though the elevations are low, the grade on the road over the pass was 25%. Switchbacks up the head of the valley? Switchbacks are for fowkin' wankers. The road curves a little but just basically goes right straight up and over. We took an even narrower, one lane side road up to see Ashness Bridge, a really typical type stone bridge over a creek. I could barely fit Buddy across it.
We made it back to town in time for an hour of rest before dinner, and spent much of the time sitting in the late sun, on a bench in front of our guesthouse. We ate dinner at Casa Bella, which was absolutely packed. It was pretty good: smoked salmon pasta for me, spinach tortellini for Gail. It was really good, perfect after such a nice day.
Tomorrow we head to the Scottish border, to hike Hadrian's Wall.