Miles walked today: 18

Total trip miles: 36.3

Elevation gain: A guess…2300 ft.

Total elevation gain: 5,690 ft.

Accommodation: Yew Craggs B&B

Today’s figures are a guesstimate since twice today I accidentally turned off the Garmin tracking and another app that was recording elevation gain! We thought today would be about 15 miles but Nancy recorded 18 miles on both her phone and Fitbit. That sounds right since we walked some extra at the beginning and the end.

Today was a perfect day for walking. It was cloudy when we started out, but by the time we reached our high point of the day, it was blue sky. A slight breeze kept the sun from making us too warm. We took the north path around Ennerdale Water. It is a bit longer than the south path but easier walking and better views. The lake was so still and clear, we just kept stopping to take pictures. Along its shore we saw a red squirrel frisking about on one side of the trail and then the other and we heard a cuckoo calling. It was a lovely way to start the day.

The next part of the trail was a bit tedious as we walked through another tree plantation, although the trees weren’t as ugly as yesterday. We arrived at Black Sail Youth Hostel and ate our lunch there. Then it was on to the most challenging part of the day…following Loft Beck up about 1000 feet in less than a mile and a half. About 700 feet of that is in a quarter to a half mile. Let’s just say it is extremely steep! Nancy and I just took our time, though, and stopped whenever we needed to. About 2/3 of the way up we sat down and just had a long rest, enjoying the view, the cool breeze, the sounds of the creek and birds singing. It was so pleasant!

The trail up was often steps of rocks and sometimes water was coming down over them. At the top of the steep climb, we still had some climbing to do over more rocky, rocky trails. Then when we started our descent to Honister Mine it was still rocky but very steep. That last part follows an old tramway line for the slate mine. At the Mine we had a refreshing reward from their cafe before starting our last section of the day.

We headed off to Rosthwaite again enjoying the views down into the green, lush valley. We went through Johnny Wood which I remembered doing and had to scramble over some boulders on a narrow trail for a ways down by the river. There were chains to hold onto on that part. Neither of us remembered doing that in 2015. We got into our B&B at 6:05, had dinner here, and promptly headed for our rooms. We both are looking forward to tomorrow. Remember, this is our Make-it-easier C2C so we are going to take a bus to Grasmere and walk up the valley to the junction and back for just ten miles!