Sunny walking

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Day 2
Up for a full English breakfast. Humungous. After having starters of cereal, fruit and juice out comes a plate of Cumbrian sausage, bacon, grilled tomato, baked beans and a poached egg - oh and of course all the toast and coffee you want. So far all the English people we meet never have this for breakfast but that is the norm for B&B’s. At 9:00 am we were at the beach where we started yesterday and we waited for the bus which came at 9:07 (exactly as stated on the bus timetable Ross had downloaded from the net). The bus took us to the bus stop we had waited at yesterday in about 10 minutes time. We continued our walk from there. I am so glad we broke up the first part of the walk into 2 sections. After half an hour walking we layered down as the sun was shining and no wind. Today Ross learned a bit more about reading the book and actually finding the landmarks where we should turn. Luckily there is a fair bit of signage as well. We went uphill and down dale - actually pretty idyllic at this point. In the first little town (Moor Row) we stopped for tea and lemon cake. A very cheerful and friendly retiree was running the shop and kept us laughing. When she got on a roll talking we couldn’t understand a thing she said. Don’t know what accent she had but it wasn’t TV British. On to the next town and passed soccer fields where little kids were out for Saturday games. Everyone we meet is smiling and very helpful even when we don’t need the help. From here we headed into a forest and a nice young English couple who were tenting the C2C talked for a bit and then passed us. We tend to meet a lot of people passing us. Further along we saw them stopped and checking maps. We came up and checked our maps. This was a place where they warned you not to take the wrong path or you would end up in an unending maze of trees. Finally they got out their GPS and apologized to us since it was such an old version. Ross got out his compass. With their help we found the right path and headed up Dent Fell. I thought a fell was a meadow. No. It is a mountain. As we went up I thought every little knoll was the top but as we got to it, it was only a lump and the Fell continued higher. This happened many, many times. Not time to complain yet as this is grassy and the sun is shining. Finally we got to the top and we could see all of our walk from the day before as well as the Isle of Man and some of Scotland. Fantastic pics. We had our packed lunch here but since this was so high it was too cold to stay very long. Good thing because it took us forever to get down the other side. First we had to cross a bog using stepping stones and once my pole went halfway down in the bog. I slowed my pace considerably. After we got passed the bog we looked back and from the better vantage point we could see a nice clear path around the bog. After crossing a field we had to go over a very high stile. I wish my legs were 6 inches longer. They don’t think of short people when they build stiles, fences or place stepping stones! Next it was down a very steep hill - incline much like the Cook Is experience but grassy and with bog spots. My toes were scrunching in my boots. We took a long time getting down yet it looked so simple. The rest of the walk to Ennerdale was on stony paths by a rushing stream and then a public footpath into the town. The road would have been quicker but the cars go fast and there is no shoulder and the cars do not move over. At the village Ross called the B&B (this took awhile since he had to figure out how to use the phone and there was no manual with instructions) while I sat on the “village bench”. The host said he would be there in 25 minutes and would pick us up at the pub - glass of Harvey’s Bristol made the wait short. Our B&B had a hot tub and as soon as we showered we were in it. Two glasses of wine were served to us while we relaxed with another couple (Simon and Jane from Devon). Dinner was here and then we slept soundly. 25,651 steps, 10.1 miles

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