Day 9 - Ennerdale Bridge to Seatoller

Distance Walked: 23.6km, Time Taken: 8h 14m, # Beers: None

 

 

I actually enjoyed today which I think puts me in the minority.  It was challenging enough to give you a good sense of achievement when you finished it, but not so challenging you wanted to give up.  The first stretch along Ennerdale Water was fairly uneven underfoot.   This made it more interesting to walk that just trudging along a lakeside.  Robin would disagree as she slipped and sat down hard at least 3 times.  She is a tiny little thing.  She is fit enough to keep pace with us all, but lacks the muscles to keep her balance.  I look at her and want to tell her to eat more food with iron and/or calcium or just eat more food.  Ennerdale water was lovely to look at, when you could spare a moment to look at the view rather than looking at where you were putting your feet.

 

The middle section was a reasonably gentle slope up forest logging paths to Black Sail Hut.  This lulled us into a false sense of security as the climb up out of Ennerdale into neighbouring Borrowdale was anything but gentle.  Below is a photo taken about 10 minutes from the very top of the pass.  We started from the river that is running from left to right in the top third of the photo and climbed more or less straight up.

 

The descent was worse.  Again, it was slippery rocks.  These can be an interesting challenge on the flat, but are pure evil on steep descents.  Tim had parked the van at Honistor slate mines, halfway down the descent, and met us at the top of the pass.  Once we got to the van Robin, and her husband Aaron, decided to call it quits and get a lift the rest of the way.  The rest of us walked on to Seatoller.

I really like our hotel for this stop, the Langstrath Country Inn.  It was originally a cottage dating from 1509, but has been considerably extended and altered since then.  It's not nearly as posh as last night's hotel but it has individually controlled radiators in the bedroom and bathroom (cool for sleeping, warm for showering) and a shower that I can use without an instruction manual.  These are more important features when you want to get a good night's sleep while your laundry dries.

We ate here at the hotel.  I had the steak and ale pie which was sadly Not Very Good.  The filling was overcooked and very dry, while the pastry was burnt.  For dessert I had the apple crumble with custard which was Harmless.  The most entertaining part of dinner was the waiter.  It was his first day, both here and as a waiter.  He got our dinner order wrong, in spite of writing it down.  Next, he cleared away half our dirty plates and then got distracted and wandered off to do other things for 15 minutes.  Finally, when he brought out 2 plates of cheesecake, he announced it was apple crumble.  We didn't see him again after that.  I don't know whether he was hiding in embarassment or had gotten the sack.

 

Tomorrow is a relatively short day.  We are headed for Grasmere which is about 18km away.  At our pace, included time for photo opportunities, lunch and just the occasional rest, it should take us 6 hours.  Timing is important as we want to get to Grasmere before the gingerbread shop shuts.