We started our week in the Lake District with a walk to satisfy a few questions left over from our C2C. You may remember that our second day started well, but ended lost in the cloud above Loft Beck: Ennerdale to Stonethwaite, so we decided to re-do the section between Honister and Blacksail hut to see where we went wrong! We started from Honister slate mine and were joined by our friends Dan and Hatti. We headed up to the drum house before branching off West to the top of Loft Beck; this was where we’d got lost last time and it was amusing to see that when we were “lost” we were actually just a few metres from the path we’d been aiming for! That cloud had a lot to answer for; turns out we were just a little to west and north last time; I can’t believe one of us didn’t cross it or spot it. Happy that we’d done the trip properly this time, we continued down to Blacksail hut.
We’d been singing it’s praises to Dan and Hatti, unfortunately when we got there it was crammed full of youngsters, so we were forced to sit outside for our lunch and make do with tea from Dan’s flask. It was nice to shelter from the wind for a while and chat to some coast-to-coasters before we headed up to Scarth Gap and Haystacks. Here the wind got even stronger and it was quite an effort to not get blown over at times! We all thoroughly enjoyed the scramble up to Haystacks and agreed with Wainwright that it’s an excellent little hill 😉 After a little bog-hopping around the tarns we rejoined the tramway and headed back to Honister for a drink. It was a lovely walk; good to show Dan and Hat some of the C2C and great to satisfy our curiosity as to what the top of Fleetwith actually looks like!
We’re off to the Lakes tomorrow for a week packed with walks, so expect lots of posts once we return. Our plans include Scafell, Helvellyn, Dale Head, Patterdale-Grasmere and a wander around Black Sail & Honister Pass…time will etll which we achieve! Finger crossed for wonderful weather please (we’re camping!)!
This bank holiday Monday we finally managed to dust off our walking gear and stretch our legs. We didn’t stray far from home; just over to Thornden and West Blean woods near Canterbury, parking at Gypsy corner. It was a fairly flat, but pleasant walk through the woodland (a short stretch across fields) enjoying the many bluebells and nice weather. The surroundings were a bit mixed at times, as there were large expanses of deforestation which looked a bit like the end of the world! Despite this is was an enjoyable walk in the sunshine.
Since the 3-peaks is just over a month away it was comforting to find that our boots still felt comfy and familiar, and we had no trouble covering the 7 or so miles in a little figure of 8. We might try to getout on our bikes for a change this weekend, before a much-anticipated week in the Lake District – hooray!
2 friends and the coast to coast walk 