Day 3 C 2 C, John’s Adventures

Off I set on the local bus around the lakes to Kerswick to go to the hospital. Margie who was having a day off came with me.  The bus went around the lakes.

At the hospital I was seen within 30 minutes at no charge.  I had strained tendons in my ankle and needed to rest use anti inflammatories.  I would be off the walk got 2 to 3 days.

We then took the bus to Grasmere to wait for the walking party  

There were some technical difficulties with loading photos from day one of the walk, so here they are as a  separate load

John

Day 1 of Wainwright Walk, 14 miles, strenuous.

Started from Stonehaven Farm B&B at 8.45 am and walked to the beach.  Group photos all round.  Then started walking up towards the lighthouse at St Bees Head, mostly along the cliff edge.  Lots of wild flowers including heather in bloom.  Views back south and north to Whitehaven and Workington.  Clear and quite warm with not much breeze and at times quite humid.

Turned inland eventually toward Sandwith (stopped for a coffee) then across Moor Row to Cleator where we stopped and had lunch in the Church Yard.  Then walked through pleasant farmlands toward Dent Hill.  The initial route straight up the hill was  very boggy.  Beyond the tree line it was a steep slog up to the top.  Views back to St Bees, the Isle of Man and Scotland.  Amazing views all round including the Lake District.  Very steep descent then a slog down Nannycatch Beck to Ennerdale Bridge.  Pub ok but no wifi hence the delayed upload of the blog.tried Aviator ale.  Not bad.

Early train from Manchester to Carlisle.  Getting our pre booked seat was not as intuitive as you may expect. However nice trip.

We changed to a local train in Carlisle to get to St Bees.  Train spotters were everywhere.  Not sure why.  Photographing passing trains, on the end of platforms doing more photos, talking about why a particular carriage was no longer in service!

Arrived in St Bees around 1.30 pm.  After checking in, we walked around town including the Priory Church.

Met the group for a pre brief – all experienced walkers, 3 from USA, 3 from Australia with the remaining from UK.   Had a meal from the local pub. Not bad.

For lunch we enjoyed a couple of real ales and burgers in a quaint old English pub.  Chatted to locals about visiting Australia and New Zealand.

In the evening we went to an Italian bistro which was really jumping.  Full on Italian staff, food, noise and atmosphere.

Working on getting over our jet lag.