June 28 Windermere to Ambleside, almost

 Walks to Ambleside, the far end of Lake Windermere, Bowness being the near end, depending on where you are, of course, get lots of stars; I am all for that!  I had downloaded one, then I saw another that looked easier, and I thought that since I would probably walk the walk in both directions—about 6 miles each way, I opted for the easier one. You know what?  It was not so easy! Major ups and major downs:

In fact, the reason it was an almost walk is because close to the end was a rocky descent that was muy muy steep and long.  It was either do that and take the bus bak or turn around and walk back.  

And there were several navigational challenges and rain, but not hot!  And I think I bound my bad knee too tightly, so it was hurting.  It was a beautiful walk, though.

Here is a sample of an easy part:

Rain clouds gathering:

A highlight near the beginning of the walk, Orrest Hill, offers a spectacular view of Lake Windermere:

Rain clouds gathering in earnest:

You probably have to enlarge the photo to see that someone tied the lid of the garbage can to the fence.  Very enterprising!

Wouldn't it be nice if you could ticket vehicles that block entries to the path you are looking for.  Oh, they live there, so they would be perfectly happy if no one wanted to pass through?  Well, even so!

As I was going up these not-steps, I wondered what it would be like to go down them in the rain.  Push that thought aside!  Fortunately, it was not raining on the return and I descended sideways:

Bridges give one such a sense of perspective:

On the return, at about 1:30, Orrest Hill had attracted slew of visitors

The rain clouds had disappeared:

One could access the view point the blue way, Miles without Stiles, or the red way, "Why not  make it really hard?":

I did the red way going up!  

Another fine, and somewhat exhausting, day.