Lake District weekend - day three - second walk

From http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.com/

It had poured down all night and it was still lashing as we had breakfast. The forecast indicated that there was a possibility of it relenting a bit later on, so it was a fairly simple - and unanimous - decision to postpone our departure. Fortunately, the Australia - Ireland World Cup match was just about to start, so we settled down to watch it - great game it was too - and when it was over, the rain had eased off, so off we trotted along the valley floor.

After 4 or 5 miles, the stroll ended abruptly - the only way was up, to get out of one dale and over to the next one. As we climbed up a path adjacent to a mighty waterfall, the sky started to lighten and there were even glimpses of the sun. We took a last look down the valley before going over the top:

Ian had been showing a slightly unnatural interest in sheep all weekend - he said it was his upbringing on a farm coming out - and insisted I photograph the rather pretty white faced ones on the hill:

By the time we got to the high point between the two valleys, the sun had worked its magic:

Between the valleys was a pretty hilltop walk:

Soon we were looking down the next valley:

Going back down was tricky in places - Ken was seen trying to avoid the slalom shaped path, sliding down on his rear, and Dave had a couple of tumbles, one of which drew blood. When he did get to the bottom, he washed his hands in the stream as a rainbow formed in the distance:

The rest of the walk was on the level and, unsurprisingly, given the amount of rain that had fallen overnight and early morning, underfoot conditions were exceptionally wet - there were streams tumbling down from the hills everywhere - some of them tricky to cross, as I found out the hard way.

It was certainly a longer walk overall than we had initially thought - 14 miles in all - but, just before the end, we turned a corner and - lo and behold - a lovely little pub - the Langstrath Country Inn. There was no debate - we were stopping for a beer:

We had a bit of a job persuading Mr. Sharp not to have a second round - our hotel was only 15 minutes away - but we soon strode off for hot baths and a change of clothes - and to put our wet boots in to the drying room at the Scafell Hotel.

The pub at the rear of the hotel was another former pub of the year. The Riverside Bar was exceptionally busy but Ian sportingly formed the advance guard and grabbed a table for us. On the menu was Steak Pudding - enormous it was - so we were well filled before dessert. We retired to the hotel's quiet front bar for nightcaps - Ken and Ian were soon deep in conversation:

We almost got involved in a quiz, run by a group of 28 members of a tennis club from London, but, with CK missing, there was a chance that our virtually unblemished record could be spoiled, so we desisted.

I'm afraid the stats for the day suffered an upload error and have disappeared in to the ether. Ken will never believe now that today's walk was almost twice as long as originally planned!