From Borrowdale (Stonethwaite) to Grasmere was around 12km. There was a high route option that was longer and higher, but as you will read that was not a viable option.
On leaving Stonethwaite you immediately start climbing. There are great views back over Borrowdale as you climb higher. The track follows a beck (perhaps a river or stream in Australia) that has waterfalls on the way up and has “Mountain Ash” growing on the banks. Mountain Ash is actually a Rowan Tree over here – nothing like a real Mountain Ash!
 |  |
The wind had been getting stronger as we climbed so we found a sheltered spot alongside a beck for our elevenses. In the small valley at the top are something called “drumlins” – we still aren’t sure what they are other than small looking hills. By the time we had finished elevenses we had to don the waterproofs (again). As we climbed, the wind got stronger and the rain more horizontal, and we found ourselves negotiating a bog. For those who aren’t familiar with this concept, it is topsoil that is floating on a bed of water that has enough vegetation to make sure that when you step on it you sink in and the water flows over your shoes. Just to make sure that things only got worse, when we started downhill into Grasmere over the pass we had to negotiate tracks that turned into streams, or perhaps they were just streams :-).
 |  |
 |  |
This all meant that I couldn’t take many pictures (but Steve’s waterproof camera was fine!) and that by the time we arrived at Silver Lea, our B&B in Grasmere, we were very wet. Jill, the owner of Silver Lea took it in her stride and told us to leave all our wet and dirty gear with her and she got it cleaned and dry, including our shoes, before we set off the next day.
 |  |
Sylvia also discovered that her so called waterproof did not function as advertised. We went into Grasmere proper and found an outlet store for outdoor gear. We bought her a 35 pound (can’t be bothered working out how to get a pound symbol) jacket that has proved to be an extremely worthwhile investment. (Yep – more rain coming!)
While we were cleaning (and recovering), Jill brought us her phone which had Kath Bowness on the other end. Apparently (so she tells us) she was “just around the corner” and was joining us for dinner. We went to the Rowan Tree for pizza where they (fortuitously) had a happy hour running where all pizzas were 5 pound (still can’t be bothered) and they were pretty good!
 |
A pretty tough day where we missed out on the high route option but had an enjoyable evening with Kath. It was really nice to catch up after all these years!
No comments:
Post a Comment