The Hikers: Day 2 - Ennerdale Bridge to Rosthwaite

To quote our guide book: "Ennerdale Bridge is the first of the self-consciously pretty Lakeland villages, occupying a wonderful location spanning the River Ehen in one of Britain's least-developed valleys."

The day breaks forth beautifully, almost too good. We are experiencing much warmer weather than we expected, which makes walking more tiring. But then we are heading into the wettest part of England - the Borrowdale Valley, so we will see what happens and be glad for the good weather.

Our first big decision was which side of Ennerdale Waters would we walk. We went with the South which was beautiful, yet they say the North side gives better views, so can only imagine what we missed. I think, if it's incredibly wet, the North walk is the only option, but we have such great weather so we rejoice that we are able to take the South side.

You would have to call this walk much more than a dreamy lakeside stroll - it does have its challenges.

There are some hills to climb today..

The view as we approach the shores of the lake, which is surrounded with fells of great heights.

Apparently this lake is the least visited of all the Cumberland Lakes. We wondered why...

The conifer forest Wainwright disliked so much on the north side of the lake

Looking across to the North side of the lake.

Ennerdale Waters shone with reflections

The still waters created a beautiful mirror

Another photo opportunity

Lord give me strength!

We paused at Robin Hood's Chair to reflect on the journey ahead -
to Robin Hood's Bay, a long way off!

The long and winding track that leads to ...

a lovely woodland where we stopped for our first break for the day - it was just perfect!

It took us 2 hours to reach the end of the lake

Looking back to Angler's Crag

Looking back across Ennerdale Waters we felt satisfied with our work so far. The view was spectacular

Now the hard work begins! A long, hot and tedious walk through a very large forest plantation along the River Liza, real Pete Manfield country. The loggers had been working in the forest; we passed big piles of cut logs, waiting for the log trucks to carry them wherever.

Pillar Rock

We were heartened to hear all the trekkers we met were equally unimpressed with this part of the walk. Eventually we reached Black Sail Youth Hostel where Allan was eagerly awaiting a cold can of coke. But alas, the Hostel was shut because they had run out of water; even the toilets were shut!! There hasn't been any rain in this area for three weeks.

As we all sat around eating our lunch, there was a wonderful sense of thankfulness for the beautiful surroundings we were sitting in and the opportunity to be here. A stunning spot, said to be the loneliest and most romantic of Youth Hostels.

Strengthened by our lunch, we proceed to make the steep climb up the side of Loft Beck

But the strength didn't seem to last that long!

And then down a long descent where the views across the top of the fells were magnificent.

The Buttermere Valley with Crummock Water

The Honister Slate Mine was a very welcome relief and refreshment stop. At last Allan got his cold can of coke and an ice cream. The slate gift shop was a great temptation but unfortunately the slate coasters were too heavy to carry across England..