Anything Relevant

We were back on the Cumbria Way on day four, hiking from Dungeon Ghyll to Keswick, and it was probably our best day on the trail. I did 16 miles and Brodacious did 17 or so, due to my leaving his sunglasses on the desk in our hotel room back in Dungeon Ghyll. After discovering the glasses were missing, I sat down on the trail with our packs, while Brody ran back to Dungeon Ghyll.

As it turned out, I wouldn’t really need the sunglasses on day four. This was our one day of stormy weather. Once we’d gotten to Stake Pass, about three miles into our hike, the rain was coming down pretty hard and we were pulling out the rain gear. The rain even turned into hail for a little while, which was exciting because the trail on the Pass was being renovated and was a big muddy mess.

The Langstrath Valley on the other side of the pass was really beautiful to walk through, and luckily the rain had subsided by that point. We passed a few small villages and farms, stone fences, bridges, mounds of slate, mossy boulders, and the most gorgeous tree-lined paths along Derwentwater, the lake just south of Keswick.

Both of us really loved the town of Keswick and its surroundings. Keswick had a nice little market centre and a friendly pub where we had the best bowls of Hungarian goulash. We stayed in a small bed and breakfast on Southey Street (Robert Southey, author of the Three Bears being their claim to fame) run by a nice Scottish couple, where we had a fine bowl of porridge the next morning before getting back on the trail.

[click the images above for the full image set]

At only thirteen miles, day two was our shortest trek the whole week. We started the day with a stop–off at the store to buy more bandages for our blistered feet. And by the second day I had become converted to using the trekking poles. I had been skeptical about the purchase, but Brodacious thought the poles would be a good idea, and one of my friends is a dedicated Nordic trekker and raved about how using the poles provides a better workout and increases your walking speed. The poles definitely ended up being one of our best purchases. They helped give sure footing through the streams and down the slopes, and took some of the pressure off my back and knees, which was no small thing after hours carrying a backpack.

The final stretch of day two, up the Great Langdale and down into the valley to Dungeon Ghyll, was absolutely gorgeous. This part of the Lake District, and the miles leading up to Keswick, were the best. We lodged at the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, which was a really nice hotel nestled in this beautiful, green valley. We stayed two nights so we could spend one entire day hiking through the surrounding hills. This was the part of the trip Brodacious was most looking forward to.

[click the images above for the full image set]