The Walk
Day 4 – Tuesday 17th June, 008 – Grasmere to Patterdale
I woke up at around 4.30am, which is about my usual time.
Slept well despite the B&B being on the busy A591.
It’s a great time of the day to read Stedman’s book about our
walk for today, and to sort out my gear including maps & GPS,
and repack the bag for the Sherpa Van pick up. There is an art
to repacking your bag day after day, and by the end of the walk
we had all mastered it!
We had decided (with the exception of Celia), that the
breakfasts were way too large and went for a light option of
scrambled eggs, which were cooked to perfection.
Once we had got our bags down, paid our bill and started to put
on our boots, it started to rain, you know the stuff… light and
misty where you get soaking wet very gently.
The climb out of Grasmere was fairly easy going, we stopped
often to get our breath and give our legs a rest. The views were
often marred by the mist and rain, the route up was slippery in
places and Di fell, fortunately not far with no injury, but it
did shake her up a bit.
We decided to take the Tongue Gill path, and the rain decided to
get heavier, about half way up the rain eased off and we got the
most spectacular views of the valley we had just climbed out of.
It was good to see how far we had walked and that there were
others C2Cers following us.
Looking
back down the Tongue Gill Path
Nearer the top the path became very rocky and it was a difficult
walk mainly because the rocks were wet and slippery, fortunately
no one slipped and there were no injuries. When we reached the
top the cloud was low and it continued to rain albeit much
lighter than we had encountered during our climb up.
After about 200 yards, the wind got up and we had a lovely clear
view of Grisedale Tarn, Helvellyn and the beginning of the
Grisedale Valley, and saw a lot of walkers strung out ahead of
us. As the weather was rough, well windy, we took the Grisedale
Valley route. It was a long and rough track down, with a strong
wind at our backs. The rocks and stones were much drier here,
although we had to watch our footing, because the views were so
beautiful, we were not always looking where we were putting our
feet.
As we came to Ruthwaite Lodge (used for outward bound training),
most of the walkers ahead of us, had stopped there for a break,
the lodge was open as workmen were doing some repairs to the
shutters, so we were privileged to see inside…. It was rather
dark inside but looked welcoming, and I could imagine arriving
there after a difficult walk in rain/snow, freezing cold and
starving hungry, just what you would need in such bleak terrain.
It’s remoteness reminded me of Lingy Hut and the comfort it
afforded when the weather was bad last November on my hill
walking course with GPS Training.
http://www.GPStraining.co.uk/index.html
Our fame had gone before us again, as we arrived a young man
(Ian), asked me if we were the ‘Famous Five Grannies’. Ian and
his wife (Jeanette) had read about us on one of the websites and
on the blog that I have been writing about our training. What a
lovely couple. They were walking for their local children’s
hospice, and I have just heard that they raised £280.
Jeanette,
Ian & Heather catching up at Ruthwaite Lodge
We continued our walk along Grisedale towards Patterdale with
grey clouds, but no rain, and a little peek from the sun now and
again to remind us what it looked like.
As we neared Patterdale our route took us off to the right and
uphill again… groans all round. It was worth the pain to see
such lovely views over Ullswater with a steamer docked framed by
nearby trees.
Ullswater
It started to rain as we neared the river by this scenic route.
We strolled along the road to the YHA, as we were in sight of
our overnight stop we were not bothered by the rain. We had
arrived nice an early, with time to catch up on laundry and time
to chill, the first time we have had this opportunity so far.
Reception was closed, but there was tea/coffee making facilities
available in the self catering kitchen. We had a well earned cup
of tea and a relaxing hour in the common room. By this time it
was raining hard, but this did not stop us putting on our gear
and visiting the local shop, which was only a short walk away. I
bought a postcard to send to my grandson, some milk for the YHA,
as I felt we should replace some for other walkers arriving.
(needn’t have bothered there was some in the fridge) We wandered
through the village, where Di, Celia and Val found a small
church which they wanted to go into. Jenny and I went back to
the YHA to write up postcards, and generally chill. On the way
we met up with Ian and Jeanette who were looking for their B&B.
At 5pm when reception opened, we checked in, and were given a
large room with 10 bunks, with just two other women sharing it.
Jenny posted the cards, and dragged the others out of the pub,
while I hired towels for each of us at a small cost of 50p each.
We ordered and paid for our evening meal, and spent another hour
relaxing in the common room.
A quick shower, hand washing done, outer gear in the drying
room, and it was off for our meal. This was the just about the
tastiest, well cooked and well presented meal I have ever had
for under £7. Complements to the chef. It’s a lot of years since
I last stayed at a YHA, and I have to say it was a pleasure, and
boy have they moved on since the 60’s.
The drying room is as expected with the YHA, large, with a
washing machine and a sink for hand washing. Although our
clothes were dripping wet when we hung them up, they were dry by
the time we got up next morning.
After our meal, the rest of the group decided to do their
washing and take showers, I decamped in the common room again,
there was a football match on TV in the far corner, with two men
watching it, eight large leather settees with one woman
stretched out on one, me on another, (writing up my log) and
Jenny came in and stretched out on another.
The facilities and welcome here are just what one wants after a
long wet walk, YHA please don’t change a thing at Patterdale,
it’s perfect.
At around 9.30pm we decided it was time to get some shut eye as
we had a long walk tomorrow, with our highest climb up to Kidsty
Pike and then onto Shap.