Day 4: Stonethwaite to Grasmere

Wow! And we thought yesterday's walk up Loft Beck and the long slog in the rain across Grey Knot was rugged... wait until you read about Day 4, which a guide we ran across called "a short day." Hah!

We set out from the charming little village of Stonethwaite (for Barbara Ravage: dinner consisted of a goat cheese salad and pork schnitzel, both very good) at the leisurely time of 9:15 (mistake No. 1). The skies were remarkably clear (that was good.) But, it was also unseasonably warm (not so good for the exertion we were to experience).

We said our goodbyes to the herd of Herdwick's in the pasture behind our Hotel.

... making up little tongue-twisters for our grandsons Theo and Jules: "A herd of Herdwicks heard it was hard to hike here from Hardwick."

This little fellow watched us leave.

But just a little later, we made our first mistake.

The day was so delightful and the stream we were walking along (Stoneswaithe Beck) so peaceful... 

... that we missed our turn and were now instead walking along Langstrath Beck on the Cumbrian Way (not the Coast to Coast pathway).

Luckily we ran into some day-hikers and chatting (this is one of those moments when Therese was thrilled that Peter wants to chat up every person he meets), we mentioned we were going to Grasmere, and they quickly and kindly pointed out that we were headed the wrong way. We hadn't come far, so we weren't much worried. It may have cost us 20 minutes in time out and back to where we made the wrong turn, but the guide ad said this was to be a short day, so, no big deal...right? Wrong!

We began our gradual ascent of Greenup Gill, taking our time and lots of photos, looking backwards toward the peaceful Borrowdale vale from which we'd come...

... and ahead to the stony pathway up the side of the Gill, which was occasionally interrupted by brooks running into it...

 by waterfalls....

 and Eagle Crag with Lining Crag behind it looming in the distance.

The day was becoming warmer, so we stopped to cool off and have a bite to eat. Therese was feeling a little fatigued and wanted to linger, but, after yesterday's experience of being caught in the rain in the late afternoon at the top of a featureless crag, Peter wanted to move on.

We passed through a hanging valley of drumlins (low oval mounds or small hills, typically one of a group, consisting of compacted boulder clay moulded by past glacial action).

And then the hard work began, as we ascended Lining Craig, which our guidebook described like this: "...the noble path engineers have saved you from a nasty scree scramble by making stone steps."

This was the start with the stone steps... would that it had been like this the whole way up.

Well, that was true at the beginning of our ascent, but apparently since the book was written, rock slides had obliterated whole sections of these steps, forcing us to scramble over not "scree" but boulders and their ilk. (No photos as it was all we could do to climb without falling.)

We did, eventually make it to the top where Therese took this panoramic shot despite the flies and sickening smell emanating from a dead sheep rotting just behind me. (An omen?)

It was "bloody" hot up there on the top and we had a long way to go yet. Therese was really beginning to feel the results of the heat.

One last look back at from where we'd come.

Now, going forward, it was going to be tricky according to every description we'd read. Small cairns would guide the way through a featureless wasteland to a pair of old metal fence posts that would point us to the way down into Grasmere.

 Peter consulted the guidebook description and the GPS again and again. 

The path kept disappearing in streams and muck only to reappear off to our left or our right or visible in several hundred yards ahead with no clear route to it. As for a pair of old metal fence posts, we actually saw a whole chain of them??????????

Finally, after hours of slogging, we arrived at the promised dual metal fence posts and realized we were still many miles from Grasmere...and it was already late afternoon.

Ah, finally, civilization...

...the outskirts of Grasmere.

We're going to post this now and add a bit later.