Date: Sunday 15th July 2007
Mileage: 16 Miles
Weather: Sunny then showers then a downpour...
Fantastic weather until lunch time - blue skies, wheeling sea-birds, azure sea and dramatic sandstone cliffs. Thoroughly enjoyed the cliff top walk. There were lots of wild flowers including heathers and harebells. Once we turned inland we saw a barn owl...sat on a post....fantastic! Also saw a dead shrew and a dead mole. I managed to get stuck in a kissing gate and I was helped out by a Canadian father and son combo as D was obliviously striding manfully into the distance. They helped me through two gates as my pack was too big and had to be taken off and lifted over.
Lunch was purchased in Cleator - a village on the edge of things. We passed a pub, The Three Tuns, which had a sign outside encouraging walkers to come in "We don't mind muddy boots!" said the desperate hand- written sign placed in the window. The local shop did sell everything as promised by the guide book. The girl working there did not seem too willing to sell anything though. I persuaded her to part with two sandwiches and other edible dainties for our lunch stop which we had sat under a hedge as a shower passed over.
I was glad we tackled Dent Hill after lunch. This was our first climb of the trek and it was bit of a slog straight up through a conifer plantation on a muddy, slippery path. I had plenty of stops to admire the view and give my pounding heart time to slow down a bit - oh it was hot and strenuous but the view was worth it. At the summit we looked back and we could see the sea and all the distance we had covered so far that day. We looked forward and there were the fells - magnificent and brooding with a topping of rain clouds. At the cairn D met a dutch couple and the man was running round and round the cairn (What's this? More later). We rounded Helm's Crag and then we lost the path. The guide book was no help - too vague. We realised immediately we had gone wrong and then we met up with the Dutch couple again who had also lost the route with a different guide book. We pooled resources and stepped out confidently along Nannycatch Beck only to completely lose the trail but we did get talking and exchanged names (Yurik and Ineke from Holland doing the C2C in three weeks. Yurik was being chased by a hornet - that was why he was running round the cairn - not from the excitement of it all). Eventually came out at a road, pinpointed where we were on the map and walked down the road (two miles, in the pouring rain) to Ennerdale Bridge.
Once in the village we decided to go into the Fox and Hounds for a drink. In the pub we found the Canadian duo. Two rounds later and we were all having a great time - rain forgotten, vague guide books dismissed and international relations running very smoothly. We all decided to order food and roast beef dinner was the unanimous choice. The pub was great - the staff very friendly and organised. I persuaded the Canadian dad to try sticky toffee pudding and he loved it. The American duo from our B&B arrived to join the party - they were knackered after a day carrying very heavy packs. Josh rang the baggage carriers and they will carry his pack for the rest of the trip. Yurik and Ineke are doing likewise. They all seemed to think this walk was going to be a stroll in the park - oh no I don't think so. Dent Hill is just the first teeny tiny hill of many bigger, steeper, more ardous fells to come. The truth, I think, has slowly dawned on them all......and on me.
Lunch was purchased in Cleator - a village on the edge of things. We passed a pub, The Three Tuns, which had a sign outside encouraging walkers to come in "We don't mind muddy boots!" said the desperate hand- written sign placed in the window. The local shop did sell everything as promised by the guide book. The girl working there did not seem too willing to sell anything though. I persuaded her to part with two sandwiches and other edible dainties for our lunch stop which we had sat under a hedge as a shower passed over.
I was glad we tackled Dent Hill after lunch. This was our first climb of the trek and it was bit of a slog straight up through a conifer plantation on a muddy, slippery path. I had plenty of stops to admire the view and give my pounding heart time to slow down a bit - oh it was hot and strenuous but the view was worth it. At the summit we looked back and we could see the sea and all the distance we had covered so far that day. We looked forward and there were the fells - magnificent and brooding with a topping of rain clouds. At the cairn D met a dutch couple and the man was running round and round the cairn (What's this? More later). We rounded Helm's Crag and then we lost the path. The guide book was no help - too vague. We realised immediately we had gone wrong and then we met up with the Dutch couple again who had also lost the route with a different guide book. We pooled resources and stepped out confidently along Nannycatch Beck only to completely lose the trail but we did get talking and exchanged names (Yurik and Ineke from Holland doing the C2C in three weeks. Yurik was being chased by a hornet - that was why he was running round the cairn - not from the excitement of it all). Eventually came out at a road, pinpointed where we were on the map and walked down the road (two miles, in the pouring rain) to Ennerdale Bridge.
Once in the village we decided to go into the Fox and Hounds for a drink. In the pub we found the Canadian duo. Two rounds later and we were all having a great time - rain forgotten, vague guide books dismissed and international relations running very smoothly. We all decided to order food and roast beef dinner was the unanimous choice. The pub was great - the staff very friendly and organised. I persuaded the Canadian dad to try sticky toffee pudding and he loved it. The American duo from our B&B arrived to join the party - they were knackered after a day carrying very heavy packs. Josh rang the baggage carriers and they will carry his pack for the rest of the trip. Yurik and Ineke are doing likewise. They all seemed to think this walk was going to be a stroll in the park - oh no I don't think so. Dent Hill is just the first teeny tiny hill of many bigger, steeper, more ardous fells to come. The truth, I think, has slowly dawned on them all......and on me.