Ennerdale Bridge

Ennerdale Bridge

Coast to Coast Day 2

Our first cooked breakfast served by the first of our many hosts with a cheery disposition, and two beautiful dogs that Colin wanted to adopt...again likely to be the first of many!

After a minor diversion backwards to see the fake stone circle we set off at a good pace to Ennerdale Bridge with the intention of stocking up on fluids & maybe an extra sandwich for lunch...there was nothing there let alone anything open!!!

Not too deterred we set off along the path that hugged Ennerdale Water. There were heavy clouds on the fells but a refreshing breeze for us. All banter & chatting came to an abrupt end when we had to spend the next 30mins running the gauntlet of a midgey assault, Colin's head looking like a battle had happened on it!

A short rest at Robin Hood's Chair and then our first climb of the day...yeah right in hindsight that wasn't a climb...but keep reading for more on that! Colin very bravely helped a lady on a steep path, well it was for her...Colin was so brave!!!

Cows...again Richard was nervous but then got distracted by their ear muffs...yeah fluffy eared cows, oh the pictures will look so good. 

A quick skip hop & a jump through a Lord of The Rings style wood brought us to a major delight...a YHA that had a self catering kitchen & an honesty box!!! Queue a respite for tea & cake...yum yum!!!

Little did we know this little relaxing detour was only to lull us into a false sense of security for the next hike which was almost vertically up for the next few miles. We had however been warned in the YHA as we read Wainright's guide that in his opinion people choosing to do this path could claim to be 'super men'. Whilst writing this in the evening over lunch Richard is wondering if his super man name is 'stupid idiot boy'!!!

The views made using this alternative route so worth the effort...really worth it. The weather then in true Lakes style closed in and we had to don our waterproofs. A minor navigational error almost took us down to Buttermere but we soon realised our error & retraced our tracks to correctly head along the ridge towards to what we both now know affectionately as 'Darth Vadar Mountain' a name it earned by the sinister gathering of culminous-ominous clouds above it!

Although we thought we were foolish to still be batteling on through the rain, it was the sight of a climber the other side of a valley clinging to the mountain as the wind & the rain assaulted him that made us glad to be where we where.

The path ahead was hard to make out. I think the problem was we didn't realise quite how far we still had to go and so were looking for paths much closer than they actually were. We had the hilly hights of haystacks infront of us and realised that despite bring a hike up it was still better then the long walk round. 

Walking up haystacks was actually more of a scramble and colin was getting tired. I lost count of the times colin managed to trip up by this point in the day as the total was more than double figures...after I'd had my stumbles earlier in the day on the flat ground near along Ennerdale Water & in the woods.

Then it arrived 'the fall' not water fall but colins almighty skid fall. I'd just got to the end if a sentence 'oh how strange this rock is dry' when Colin slid sideways his feet went from under him and he fell with a thud. The 'dry' rock was in disguise and proved to very slippy! Colin giggled then reality must have hit him as hard as he'd hit the rock that he had to get up or he'd cease in the position he'd fell. I gave him a helping hand, some magic Haribo & a couple of painkillers!

Although still wet & windy there were slight respites just long enough for us to gather our thoughts & for Colin to keep checking the map..."not long now, only another couple of hours"!!!

Honistor was our next major 'landmark' & as we dropped out of the clouds Richard realised that his 'coast to coast coaster' would have to be purchased another time as the shop was shut...Colin was more disappointed that he couldn't have the '99 ice-cream' cone he'd promised himself, the difference of our priorities!

It was all down hill from Honister and a painful downhill at that as both of us suffered from tired legs & sore feet. Seatoller has never looked so inviting but we passed by and headed for our campsite just outside of Rosthwaite.

The tent went up in no time and after a very relaxing shower we went for some food. "The Scagill Hotel is 5-7 mins walk from here" we were told, it's true to say that folk in The Lakes must have different timepieces to us - 15mins later we arrived...both of us recognising it but neither of us knowing which ODL event we'd ended up there!

Two very substantial pie & chip meals & large glasses of lemonade later meant a brisk 15min walk back to the tent and sleep...zzzzzzzzzz.