Wasdale & Wastwater

The next day we left Buttermere and drove to the coast at Whitehaven where we resupplied and went on a little walk.  We had a discussion over a jellyfish we saw and whether it was dead or not.  When we saw it again on the way back I concluded it was definitely dead.  Rosie was upset and said I shouldn't have pointed it out to her again (?).  We got trapped in Tesco car park for a while when the whole town decided to come shopping, or queue for fuel around the car park or something - we were never really sure what happened.  Anyway eventually we managed to get out of the car park and start the drive to Wasdale Hall YHA.

We arrived in the early afternoon so we stocked up the hostel fridge with our food, filled up our waters and went on a walk around the lake (Wastwater).  It was very beautiful and also quite warm.  After going a short distance we had to go back to the hostel so I could put on shorts!!! Then we went on a longer walk.

The next day we decided we didn't feel up to a walk of Scafell Pike, instead we walked along Wastwater to Greendale and then to Greendale Tarn and Middle Fell.  Despite encountering Bog Factor 7 - my shoes were covered in bog mud and full of bog water, we had a great time.  We managed to find the route with just a few moments of confusion - finally a navigational success, and now we know what a tarn is too! :-)

It had been cloudy all day but it started raining on our way to Middle Fell so the trusty rain jackets came out and we still enjoyed the views from the top.  After we walked back to the hostel we treated ourselves to dinner and dessert and ate all of it, including Rosie eating all of the jug of custard that came with her apple pie! We had built up an appetite!

Greendale Tarn

Middle Fell

A change in the weather

A rest on the walk back down from Middle Fell

The long road home

Rosie's hotpot

No food wasted here!

Buttermere

The next day was a bit rainy so we started out with an easy walk, all around Buttermere.  We took a minor detour at the start when were heading in the wrong direction, towards a whole other lake!  But once we got on the right track, the rain mostly stayed away and the scenery was great.  We even saw a few people swimming in the lake, we discussed whether or not they might be crazy.

At lunchtime we drove to Cockermouth for supplies and ate another Sainsbury's meal deal in the car park, our new favourite activity.  In the evening we attempted a walk along the river from Buttermere and up into the hills.  When getting lost and walking up some very steep slopes stopped being fun we went back down to the hostel and made sausage pasta.

Buttermere

The new extreme rain jacket - not yet tested

Sausage pasta mmmm!

The next day the weather had improved so we did a more difficult walk along Buttermere Edge.  We ended up not completing the whole walk due to yet another navigational failure!  There are just so many paths in England! But we still had a good time.  We finished the day with another well earned meal in the pub.

Rest please!

Up above Buttermere

A Mini Adventure in The Lake District

After Snowdonia, a few days back home with mum and dad, and the purchasing of the water proof trousers, we started off on our next little adventure - to the Lake District.
We didn't have a great start to the road trip because it was raining and we hit a lot of traffic.  Fortunately we had stocked up on a meal deal from Sainsbury's that we ate a a services en route.

A dreary start to the day - and traffic

Blue skies appear, and some hills

In the afternoon we arrived in Keswick.  We sorted out our parking and found a bathroom, we had a shortage of coins, so that was a bit of a trial.  We purchased a scenic postcard for mum and dad to get some change.  (We later forgot about this gift and left it in Rosie's glove compartment for a few months)!  After everything was organised we set off on our first walk in the hills around Derwent Water.

Checking the route

The start of our walk along a lane from Keswick

Bog factor one.....

Taking a rest and enjoying the views

Heading back down through the bushes

We had nice weather and soon layered down from our rain jackets and the scenery was beautiful.  We headed back down towards the lake on a path that was hidden in a field, then we took a shorter route back to the town alongside the lake.

We were in need of a rest after the walk so we drove to Buttermere and our hostel for the night.  We encountered our first roads only wide enough for one car, and we encountered a lot of them!  Rosie did an excellent job driving.  The navigation was not so good!  We found Buttermere easily enough but we couldn't find the hostel and spent a while (felt like hours) driving up and down the narrow roads and trying different places.  We were getting pretty hungry by now and we had no phone reception and not really any idea where to go.  Eventually I remembered that I had loaded the email confirmation from the hostel on my phone and luckily the phone had cached it.  We were able to get the postcode of the hostel and put it in the sat-nav and then it was easy!  

We checked into the hostel and we had the room to ourselves (another woman was supposed to arrive, but she never did).  We walked down the road to the pub for a well needed dinner, then we came back and went to sleep to the sound of the sheep outside our window.

Day one on the road

First selfie of the trip

At the pub (no pics of the food, it got devoured pretty fast...)

View from the pub