After a windy & wet night, we woke to a much calmer morning, with the tent surprisingly dry. Making use of the pleasant weather, we had some coffee and porridge in bed, and then got ourselves ready, packed up and headed on out at about 9am; noting our German friend, who planned to walk double what we were doing, had already left bright and early. Todays planned walk for us was shorter then yesterday but almost the same elevation, and we definitely felt it!
Similar to yesterday, we followed the river into a valley, initially climbing steadily, and then more steeply, before finding ourselves watching a couple of others zig zag up what looked like a rock face up ahead. Thankfully, as we got closer we saw there was a scrambled trail there, mixing steps with rocks as it went up. Its here that we were overtaken by the taxi American, and where we then overtook the older camping couple!
After admiring the view at the top, we continued following the path across boggy moorland, with the sunny weather changing back to the grey clouds with on&off rain showers once more. As we began the descent, we noticed a
couple of runners in the distancethen a few more, then a whole herd. A fell running race; now that is crazy! After a brief snack stop, we then chose the lower route down (as opposed to the high route skirting along the top of several fells) into the valley following river water falls all the way down which was beautiful, despite the grey drizzling clouds. This section was surprisingly long though, and with the constant weather changes and craggy wet rocks, took us longer then youd think. The American brothers then passed us (weird as we thought they were already ahead!) as we continued to plod along farmers tracks and country roads into Grasmere.
The most bustling place on the trail so far. There were cafes, shops and pubs (plural!), famous gingerbread shop, a brewery and even a couple of outdoor clothing gear shops. After a needed coffee and scone we could then check in to our bnb for the next two nights (Victorian house hotel). With a upper market feel and young staff trying to be hip it had a cool feel, and our room was lovely with an amazing view! Pricey but ideal for our rest day;
cue washing, charging battery packs, checking gear (one dented walking stick but still useable and two broken sporks easily replaced here), checking ourselves (feet getting wet making them look a little gross but being managed well so far, and no new blisters!), having a mooch around the town (beautiful place even in the rain, with its gardens, lake and connections to the poet Wordsworth), eating and drinking (Tweedies - best veggie food of the trip ?) and of course, resting.
