Ep. 6: The One Where Peter Took the High Road

05 June – Grasmere to Glenridding

Today’s walk was from Grasmere to Patterdale over Grisedale Hause (narrow passage between hills).  We left our quirky accommodation early with ham and cheese croissants wrapped in napkins for our lunch in an attempt to get our walk underway before the heat of the day.  We walked past St Oswald’s churchyard where Wordsworth is buried (no daffodils, but the rhodedendrons are amazing here).  The track up to the hause began gradually (see photo above), but as we neared the summit, got very steep indeed and quite busy.  We encountered Stick Men (four English men all equipped with walking poles), the cast from Gilligan’s island (an American crew of 6 with one hapless husband who seemed to be the butt of all the jokes) and Crocodile Dundee across the day. At the top of the 600m climb was Grisedale Tarn, a mountain lake and the legendary resting place of the crown of the kingdom of Cumbria (945 AD). 

Below: nearing the top – and at the top! In the first photo, we’d climbed up from the trees in the distance.

At this point, the track had three possible routes of descent/further ascent. 

• Option 1: over Helvellyn (950m) (meaning pale yellow moorland in Norse) – the third highest peak in England. No takers.
• Option 2: St Sunday Crag, (841m with a very steep descent)  – an option which Peter chose to take. 
• Option 3: a descent down the Grisedale Valley (very little further climbing required, but very rocky underfoot) – the remaining three adventurers chose to take this option, being not quite as intrepid as Peter. Mind you, it was still rough in places, as the photo below shows.

Peter’s climb up St Sunday Crag was a joy at first; a well-marked trail, leading up from the Tarn towards the hills on the Crag, from which he looked down to see Adam, Barbie and Val on the main trail below. Peter’s slightly smug sense of potential achievement had the gloss somewhat taken off it when he realized he had followed a trail which turned out to be a dead end.  St Saturday’s perhaps? He scrambled up the hill feeling more and more like one of the mountain sheep, to reach the ridge trail. He debated whether or not to tell the others, but the scrapes on his knees gave it away.  The panoramic views from The Cape (841m) were stunning and made it all worthwhile. 

The less said about the 800m descent to Patterdale, the better ….

Below – Ullswater on the way down

We were reunited in a sheep-poo littered field just above Patterdale, where a short rest on the grass was required to replenish energy levels before continuing along the road to a hotel garden looking over Ullswater. Unfortunately, the bar staff were cleaning the lines of the beer taps and Peter had to have a Coke. Those of you who know Peter will understand what a disappointment this was.

Sadly, our bags did not have such a straightforward journey and were both late and heavy – Adam and Barbie have been unable to meet the 20kg requirement, despite already purchasing another bag and moving half of the contents of the suitcase into it.  The weight of Val and Peter’s bag seems to vary day to day, despite containing the same items. We await copies of the calibration records for the scales used by the company.

Dinner was at a very authentic pub called the Traveller’s Rest, clearly a favourite with walkers.  Our B&B is Beech House in Glenridding, run by an Aussie from Brisbane. We hope we sleep well as tomorrow is supposed to be the longest and toughest day of the Coast to Coast.

Distance today 16 km. Total travelled 86 km.