Last Days Across the Pond.

Holy Cow! were my hamstrings sore from the race. No biggie. We were in England and were going to make the most of our last days in Keswick.

Monday seemed to be fairly decent weatherwise so we thought we'd take advantage and visit the west coast of England. It was an easy drive over to the wee village of St. Bees and before we knew it we were admiring the waves of the Irish Sea. St Bees Head is a stunning red bluff with sheep pasture. the C2C trail starts here and ends on the east coast. We spent a lot of time admiring the stunning rocks on the beach. Each was like a different color of the rainbow. We did come home with our pockets full of rocks!

the next day, the weather seemed much the same and we knew we'd have a chance to get to Catbells. The last time we'd been to this area, we had started this hike but when the weather deteriorated mid-hike had cut it short.

Catbells catches your eye from the lake. When on the water or on the shores of Derwentwater, you can see little figures on the ridge climbing. We drove over to the trailhead (my hamstrings were still sore!) and then started the climb up.

it goes up quick but we had to keep stopping to take photos as teh sun would peak out and make the valley and lakes below sparkle. It's a well cared for and well loved path. There are a couple of sections where you are scrambling straight up rock but it's nothing too terrible. In the rain, I'd not want to climb down however as it would be slippery.

Basically it was breathtaking. At various times, squalls would move through with rain, wind, rainbows and hail. On the back side of the ridge, the wind was so strong and biting that I honestly worried about frostbite if we stayed long. the decent was quad pounding. All too quick we were off the fell and contemplating the last evening in Keswick. I haven't mentioned the local ales at the local pub but they were just as good as I remembered. Yum!

The next morning we were headed to London via a train from Carlisle. The train was very enjoyable and London was a shock after the peaceful quiet of keswick. I'm glad we'd made our focus of the trip non-London!

see ya next time England!

On a sad note, just two weeks post trip Keswick and the entire cumbrian region has been hard hit by devestating and deadly floods. The B&B we stayed at had been flooded in the last flood event in 2005. This event according to all reports is much, much worse.

hike course: garmin connect
photos: click here