Blogs from Cumbria, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 7

We followed Jane’s suggestion and did a 70min Lake Windermere boat cruise. Very scenic and very relaxing. Keswick, the headquarters for adventurers of any ilk followed. Then … one of the best drives we have done in our short lives … from Keswick to Grange to Stonethwaith to Seatoller through and over mountains by the Honister Pass with gradient of 25-30% in many places to Buttermere, Lorton, Cockermouth and finally our destination, Great Broughton. The road, windy, narrow, with hundreds of metres drop-off on the left of the car for a great part of the slow journey, but scenery so very spectacular that it was unfortunate that we couldn’t stop to photograph whenever we wanted as there were no stopping points. Drop-off one side, stone wall or mountain side and scree the other. With vehicles approaching ... read more

After our awesome and relaxing afternoon yesterday having only had a short walk to complete, I wasn’t too enamoured with the prospect of a long day today. It had been so good to chill out in front of the log fire and rest my weary legs and battered body, but the challenge doesn’t relent and so it was that at 0630hrs I was up and packing my day sack again! A short van drive down to the American groups accommodation was hardly noticed due to the fact I was desperate for the loo, flipping Pete and his relentless nagging about staying hydrated! If he tells me 1 more time about the benefits of being hydrated I swear I’ll get him a water boarding session with the CIA for Christmas!! Anyway we were soon off with quite ... read more

Day Five: The Romans Came...Conquered...Retreated...after 300years ...September 30 The trail today was steep, rugged and of a “be careful” nature. There were nineteen such situations. The walk went along crags/outcrops with sharp drops off the right side of the path and vertigo causing downs for every steep up during the whole day. The vistas to be viewed are the best to be had while doing the Hadrian's Wall Walk. It is the portion most looked forward to by walkers. The only part of this torture-to-my-wonky-knee-walk that I completed was the climb to the Walltown Crag.To get there I walked thru the Walltown Quarry from where much of the stone used for the wall was taken. My day had begun by leaving Old RepeaterStation Inn behind … and not soon enough. The room was reasonably clean. The ... read more

The cold I had started to get came on with a vengence in the army part of the previous evening meaning I had a decision to make about walking.....on the guides advice I decided I would take a day in the van instead and was promptly joined by Pete’s mother and Jess all in the van for a rest!! We drove to Ambleside for a little shopping and then through to Patterdale to await the others who had trekked into location. Pete will write the rest of the blog from here..... I was the last Garrett standing on the trip after a particularly hard previous day for the girls. James our guide for the day gave us a quick briefing on the go as our hotel had delayed the collection of the packed lunches much to ... read more

Another early start awaited me this morning but at least I had slept really well this time, I was a little achy from the first days walking but in good spirits for the day ahead. It was going to be a long day but happily I had been informed it would be largely flat until near the end. After the first day we had decided to dramatically re-arrange the day sacks so that Pete’s mother Judy didn’t have one at all and I would have the one that she had been using. This worked really well I felt a lot better with the new day sack although after Pete had stuffed it with extra water and items he couldn’t fit in his one I thought it was a little on the heavy side. The walk started ... read more