Day 6 - Keswick

Distance Walked: 9km, Booze: 1 glass Rioja

I woke up this morning to pouring rain.  The mountain weather forecast was for heavy and persistent rain that would make conditions up on the fells arduous (their word), not to mention dangerous at heights above 300m. Since I had to climb up much higher than that to get over the pass from Buttermere to Keswick, walking was out of the question today, even if my boots had been in a cooperative mood.

Instead, I caught the bus to Keswick, only to be faced with the problem of what to do with myself until I could check in to my B&B at 3pm.  First stop was boot shopping.  I'm now the proud owner of a new pair of hiking boots in acqua - which match the colour of my hiking poles nicely.  Hopefully, they will be comfortable as well as stylish.  I guess I'll find out tomorrow.  

Next stop was the tourist information centre to pick up a leaflet/book of hikes in the local area for tomorrow.  This accomplished I still had 3 hours to kill.  The town was full of wet tourists all trying to find something to do to pass the time.  I first headed for the Derwent Pencil Museum but so did half the town so I gave that a miss.  Sitting in a pub, nursing a pint was my next idea, but that was what the other half of the town was doing.  I ended up at the local laundomat and did a load of washing.  They kept telling me that I needn't stay, but it was somewhere to sit that was warm and dry.  After all that excitement, I was lucky and managed to find a tea shop with some vacant tables and settled in with a pot of tea and some scones with jam and cream.

Finally, it was 3pm and I could head over to my B&B and rest my weary legs.  I'm sure Keswick is a lovely town but I'm struggling to have warm, fuzzy feelings about it.

Dinner was at Casa Bella as I wasn't in the mood for steak&ale pie or sausages&mash or other pub grub.  I wasn't sure what Yorkshire Italian food would be like but this place was highly rated.  I started with zucchini fritters with garlic mayo (bit greasy but the mayo was yummy) and then I had a pizza with spicy sausage and jalapenos (nice crispy base but too much cheese).  No room for dessert although they had tiramisu so I was tempted.  All in all, Harmless - the day and the food.