- Miles walked: 8.2
- Elevation Gain: 1,352 feet
- Accommodation: Lu Lu’s Station House
Nancy and I both had trouble sleeping last night, so we met before our agreed upon time to leave. That was a good thing because our train for St. Bees was leaving from Central Station, not Queen Street as we had been thinking. Central was only eight minutes walk away so with the directions from several people on street corners we made it with time to spare. We arrived in St. Bees, walked out of the station, looked right, and realized we were at our B&B. It is in the old railway station. My room looks out over the rail lines. It’s on the small side but has a large bathroom with both a shower and a tub.
After we left our bags off, we headed for the trailhead. We hadn’t got farther than the sign that pointed to the beach and were standing there staring at our maps and guidebook trying to figure out if that was the road we needed. Nothing looked familiar to us since after all, it was seven years since we were here before and we rode in the back of a horse van to get to the trailhead! Anyway, a friendly older gentleman stopped and asked if we were doing the walk. He assured us we were on the right road and we chatted a bit before starting out.
Our make-it-easier plan is that we did all the first day stuff and walked around St. Bees Head today. Tomorrow we start out and head straight east, so instead of one long day, we have two shorter days. The weather was a mixed bag today but not particularly unpleasant. It was sunny and lovely, then cloudy and cooler. As we went over the head, though, there was a very strong wind at our backs hurrying us along. It was fun to see the countryside that was enshrouded in mist and fog our other time. Leaving the coastline, we found our way along country roads back to St. Bees. Nancy and I both are tired enough we think we will sleep better tonight!
