Day 2 and it rained most of the day

Oh gosh what to wear was the dilemma at breakfast as the rain lashed the windows of the Sheperds Arms Hotel.

Today I dragged out all my new wet weather gear and finally realised I was going to have to wear the glorious wet weather trousers, like them or not.

I don't know why I did it but on a spur of the moment desicion I volunteered to be the back marker of the group or sweeper as the say in USA. We only have one leader so each of us has to take a turn at being at the back so we don't loose any of our group along the way.

Howard, our leader said that as it was going to be a difficult day he was glad to have me there as I was a strong walker. I felt a little warm inside when he said this as that was always my worry that I would struggle to keep up with the pack. 

We set off and the path took us along the side of Ennerdale Water which looked more like sea as the wind was causing "white horses" across the surface of the lake.

We then plodded along the valley on Forest Road for a few more miles just as Alfred Wainwright described.

 

I soon realised that marking the back of the group involved waiting for people while they went behind a bush or when they stopped to take photos. It made the walk less strenuous especially when we climbed the steep trail amongst the purple heather as I was constantly stopping to do my marker duty.

We walked mainly in rivulets of water that ran down the pathways and I hoped my boots would behave and keep my feet dry. As I sploshed through the trail I took time to listen to the sounds around me, small rivers running down the slopes and the wind blowing across the open hills. My feet felt ok, not wet, just warm and I  began to start to hope that my boots and I would get along just fine.

Me in the rain

A view across the lake while Howard was explaining the next part of our walk.

Rosy cheeked and feeling happy to reach the top of our ascent today 630m approx. the rain had stopped for a short while. Look at the heather and behind me you can see where I had just walked up.

Coming down the other side.

Burdock plant, the flowers of which is what Velcro was based on.

Vel stands for velour and cro stands for crochet hooks for the hook part of the Velcro. I never knew that. 

We got picked up and taken to a different hotel tonight with equally amazing food. It was an HF Holiday hotel especially equipped with a boot drying room catering purely for walkers. Our bags had been transported during the day from the last hotel to this and were efficiently waiting for us in our rooms.

We heard owls hooting tonight from our bedroom window and it sounds like it's raining again. :(

I must sleep now as its getting late. 

Xxx