Day 8 - St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge

Distance Walked: 21.3km, Time Taken (elapsed): 8h 11m, # Beers: 1/2 point Stonewall IPA

Today we set of for the first of our 16 days of hiking, after having our picture taken at the start, all wearing our spiffy Badger Aventure t-shirts.  Our guide, Paul, is on the right in last year's t-shirt.

The route first took us north and west to get views of the Irish Sea before turning east and starting our journey to the other coast.  The start with the sea views was lovely, but we spent a lot of time stopping to admire the view, which I found a little annoying given how far we had to go today.  Luckily, it turns out we all walk at much the same pace, which is convenient.  It's dreary either panting along at the rear, desperately trying to keep up, or waiting impatiently for stragglers to catch up.

The first three-quarters of the walk were relatively easy, which lulled us into a false sense of security.  The last bit involved a steep climb and an even steeper and more hair-raising descent.  Two of the group fell over on the way down.  Fortunately only egos were bruised.  

Our support person, Tim, meet us 2 times along the route, with offers of extra water or lifts if we were tired.  They were very anxious we had enough water as it was a mild (17C?) day and very sunny.  Tomorrow it is going to be much the same.  I threw in a sun hat and sunscreen at the last minute, never thinking I'd need it.  I'm still lugging around all my wet weather gear, just in case.

This initial section, before the climb up Dent hill and getting into the Lake District proper was rather ordinary - mostly.  For some reason, here in this part of Yorkshire they only have grey sheep in the family.  Also some rather odd birds.  Somehow I don't think he's a local.

When we finally got to Ennerdale Bridge Tim met us for a 3rd and final time and drove us all to our hotel.  A lot of people set out on the C2C today and there wasn't enough room at the inn in Ennerdale for us all.  Tim drove us all the way back to the coast, to a hotel just on the top left of the map.  It took around 20 minutes to cover a distance it took us the best part of 6 hours to walk.  Very demoralising.

Our hotel, the Moresby Hall Hotel, is an historic building.  The first building on this site dates back to the time of William the Conquerer.  Most of the current building dates (I think) from around the 17th century.  All the rooms are different shapes and sizes and are fitted out differently.  I just have an enormous bed, while Liz has a 4 poster bed.  We all have different bathrooms with different fittings too.  My shower was so elaborate I had to get the receptionist to show me how to turn the water on.  Liz struggled to fill her jacuzzi bath and only discovered by luck how to drain it.

We had dinner here at the hotel.  I had steak and chips which was Harmless.  We all had dessert.  I had the raspberry creme brulee which You Could Eat.

I'd post more about how the day went but I'm just too tired.  We have much the same distance to cover tomorrow.  Wish us luck.