We had the most beautiful walk today, following more passes and valleys than spectacular ridges. We started from the hotel and walked gradually uphill through the valley, then angled more steeply up to a pass. We crossed to the next valley by way of a pond called Blea Tarn(there are several by this name). To someone from Alberta, this tarn (small mountain lake) unremarkable, but it seemed to be a point of interest to many people and is subject of a painting in Grasmere.
From here we started an adventurous clamber along the side of the valley to the down from the higher hills. The first geology lesson was again useful to understand that each valley has a stream originating between two higher hills, which then drops precipitously to the valley floor where a glacier lake once was.
Along these rocks, in my enthusiasm for videoing, I fell, catching myself with my hands. Unfortunately, the filter of my video camera was scratched - I was glad that was all that had happened. This was the first time I had ever fallen with my camera, and it was because I had been thinking about something other than
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the walk through this valley. We passed some National Trust houses, preserved from the time of the Civil War, which put me vividly in mind of a book, I read recently, set in that time. This area was so unspoilt that I could imagine the characters riding and walking up to the house and action taking place, just as in the book.
We had lunch overlooking the wide valley and then walked on. Nearer the bottom we saw huge piles of slate stones, from slates when there were mines here, according to Vince. As we walked farther away and looked back, we could see these were enormous piles, looking in shape if not in size like slag heaps, overgrown now with grass and moss.
This brought us to Elterwater, a popular little town. I joined some others at the big corner pub with an outside patio at the main traffic circle. I had an orange fizzy drink rather than beer, because we had a long way to go yet.
down, however, was intolerable for me, formed of relatively loose stones about the size of a foot in an almost unrelenting downward direction. My feet lost confidence. Vince took pity on me and waited for me as I negotiated through my disorientation.
We ended then in Grasmere town. A few of us had coffee, and I had fruit cake (white cake with fruit in it). We wandered individually and made our own way back to the hotel.
In the evening was dancing and games. Since my room was cold, I joined in and surprisingly enjoyed it. The dancing was social, i.e., changing partners throughout the dance. Unlike the first evening, this time the games were less dependent on ones knowledge of Great Britain.
