2023 England C2C

Pretty boring day today with no pictures to share. Found a laundromat in Penrith, so we now have clean clothes to start our walk. Not sure when we’ll find another laundromat on the route, so I may be washing clothes out by hand going forward. Given how damp the weather’s been, not sure how quickly they’ll dry though. We arrived in St. Bees @ 3:30 pm in the middle of a heavy rainstorm. Looks like we’re going to be walking in rain on muddy trails most days. So different from our Camino walks! Cindy, Judy, Pam and Gary got in @ 7:00 pm. Nice to have us all together.  We’ve decided to start our walk tomorrow, rather than Wednesday. Our innkeeper said there’s not much to do in St. Bees other than visiting the town church and she suggested we walk @ halfway to Ennerdale (our lodging for Wednesday night). She explained where we could find a path that would bring us back to St. Bees. It adds @ 1.7 miles to each day’s walk, but breaks up the two large climbs we would otherwise have on Wedne...

We left Keswick and the Lake District this morning for a short trip to Northumberland to hike a portion of Hadrian’s Wall and visit the remains of the 2nd century Roman fort at Housesteads. Roman emperor Hadrian had this 73-mile stone wall built in 122 AD to fortify Roman Britannia from what was then unconquered Caledonia to the north. At every mile of the wall, a castle guarded a gate, and two turrets stood between each castle. Much of that is gone now, but we were able to view the ruins of one of the milecastles.  Over the centuries, many of the original stones in the 20-foot high wall were carried away by peasants during the post-Rome dark ages for use in other structures. What’s still standing today is only @ 3 feet wide and 3 to 6 feet high. Much of the wall has been covered over by centuries of sod, making it effectively disappear. Luckily, the area we hiked still had a large portion of the wall visible. What is also impressive is that the entire wall was built over a 3-year ...

Our plan today was to take a scenic drive through Newlands and Borrowdale valleys, hike the 4-mile path around Buttermere Lake and see the Honnister Slate Mine. After discussions with our innkeeper and the tourist information office, we were convinced to take the bus instead. We’re both so glad we did. The road through this area is very narrow and windy, reminding me of the time we drove the Amalfi Coast from Sorrento to Positano. Let’s just say, it would not have been a fun experience if we had decided to drive it on our own. It was @ an hour bus ride to Buttermere Lake. On the way, we passed through Rosthwaite and Seatoller, towns we’ll be walking through on day 2 of our Coast to Coast hike. We also viewed some of the “hills” we’ll be climbing. The topography and scenery of this area are breathtaking and the hike around Buttermere Lake, ringed by tall, rugged hills, was no exception. The weather even cooperated, staying cool and dry during the hike, although we had a brief rain squal...

Rented a car this morning in Penrith and drove 17 miles to the charming town of Keswick (on the shores of Lake Derwentwater), where we’ll be staying the next two nights. It’s a little nerve wracking driving on the left hand side of the road, especially making right hand turns and negotiating roundabouts. I’m sure Rich was ready to push me out of the car a number of times. At least it was only 17 miles on mostly country roads. We’re planning a more extensive scenic loop drive tomorrow. Hope we’ll both feel a little more comfortable navigating the English roads. Took a boat ride on Lake Derwentwater, but got off at the first stop so we could do the Catbells High Ridge Hike. Rich was a little confused…he thought we were just doing a boat ride around the lake…silly man! The Catbells hike is a steep 1.5 mile climb from the boat dock (1,480 feet elevation gain), with the last bit a rock scramble to the top (Rich and I started this scramble, but then I chickened out and he didn’t try to talk ...

We had a relatively uneventful 24 hours of travel:  * Direct flight from Portland to London Heathrow (yay!) * Connecting flight from London to Manchester (flight was delayed an hour - boo!) * Two hour train ride from Manchester to Penrith * Half mile walk from train station to B&B Arrived at our B&B @ 8:30 pm London time (12:30 pm pdt). Exhausted, but in one piece. Learned the following: * Heathrow airport is an absolute zoo!! Had to go thru passport control (this I understand), but we then had to go through security again. I failed the security scan (no idea what the machine thought it saw), which resulted in being frisked and patted down. If our connecting flight hadn’t been delayed, I’m not sure we would have made it. * English scones with clotted cream and jam are a new favorite.  * The British rail system is relatively easy to navigate, but we still don’t have our Two Travel Together discount rail pass. Thought we could buy it at the train station, but they need a...