Day 1 and Day 2, St Bees to Borrowdale

Well, first internet access so a quick update before I fall into bed.

Day 1, just managed to get five of us, with our Yorkshire lass joining us, into one car and over to the other side of Kirkby Stephen to find the mini bus. It left exactly on time, with us tucked inside. A delay at the seaside of St Bees, while we had sandwiches made to order, then the obligatory pebble finding and dipping our boots into the Irish Sea.

Finally we started walking... due North, along the coast. Map reading successful with a slight deviation over the Dent fell.

Lovely sunshine all day, cormorants, butterflies, a deer, and good company. The rain started as we stepped into the porch of the pub. Food, beer then straight to bed.

Accommodation: The Shepherd's Arms, Ennerdale Bridge. More modern pub, recently updated, by put suffering from flooding two weeks ago. More upmarket than the previous night.

Day 2. Woke to rain, big debates over exactly what to wear and what we could get away without carrying in our bags, sorted out the bill and finally set off. Weather improved, overcast but dry until well after lunch. Highlights were our new Chinese friends, who were carrying ALL the stuff and camping. Scary bits for me especially were scrambling at great height on rocks above Ennerdale Water, where one little slip would have been disastrous. Our Chinese chaps needed us to help them get their bags, and expensive cameras, over the rocks.
   

A Forestry Commission imposed detour took us through Ennerdale Woods from where we made our own brew at the isolated Black Sail YH. our friends turned up so Sue made them one too. An interesting walk up Loft Beck, once we crossed over it. Finding our Chinese lads later we learned that they had struggled here and one of them had lost both of his trekking poles in the process. They kindly waited at the top near the cairns to check that us oldies had all managed to get up in the visibility of about 20m. We saw them go into Honister Slate
Mine...never to be seen again. We found Drum House and walked along the old tramway down to
the slate mine, then mainly walked along the road to get to Borrowdale YH.
By this time we were DRENCHED. For the first time we got washed and changed for dinner!

Accommodation: Longthwaite YH. Excellent drying, good grub and good company.