July 11, Keswick

This is the day I did not walk from Keswick to Caldbeck.  Instead I did a bunch of walks in the woods and fields on the western shore or maybe it was the eastern shore of Dentwater.  I was not sorry for the decision, although it seems I have to tell myself that every chance I get!  Oh.....skipping ahead....at the Oddfellows bar in Caldbeck, I was talking with a woman to whom I said, inter alia, that one of the things I worried about on the route was the scrambling, and she said, "No, there is no scrambling.  There are just i a couple of places you have to put one arm way up here and hold on, and your other arm way up there...." and that was enough!  Back to Keswick.

What a way to start out!

So calm!  So majestic!

How do you like your views?  Plain?

With sheep?

With sheep, and trees, and walls, and hills that may or may not be alive with the sound of music?

If only I spoke doggie-language I might have found out what this dog was so eagerly searching for in the stream.  He was having the best doggie-day ever:

Oh, how the mighty have fallen:

An example of a not helpful directional sign:

Example of a helpful directional sign....if you happen to be going in that direction, of course:

One excursion I took through lovely fields was to Stone Circle.  I was expecting some Druid,  or Roman, or Norman or Saxon or whatever mound that an archeologist had determined with utter certainty was the marker of the festival of the full moon on the third month of the tenth year of the ritual of initiating young boys into the clan as warriors by presenting each with a stout club after which roast pig was consumed with mead and much merriment and song.  But, no, It was actually not even a circle but rather two sides of a square.  No matter, the walk was terrific.

When I returned to the hotel a little after 1:00 to await the taxi, I noted with horror that my suitcase was not there!  AND my locator had run out of charge (my fault)  Anyway, it turned out that Sherpa had picked up the bag even though they were not supposed to and were taking it to Caldbeck, which was absolutely fine.  But there was some drama there until it all "got sorted."

Caldbeck is a cute little village:

After making—and consuming— a tuna sandwich, I headed out on a three mile circular walk that someone said was gorgeous. It was hot and I had already walked seven hours and tomorrow is a 15+ mile day, so I did not do the whole thing, which is a shame because it really was a gem of a trail. 

One of the sadder moments came at the defunct bobbin factory.  Even the plaque telling you all about it was illegible:

Ah, yes, once upon a time, these ruins were a factory

As the name might suggest, the Oddfellows is a greasy-spoon pub with rooms.  Very small rooms.  There is a sign on the window of my room:

And there was a great big dead fly in the shower, but they do give you a fan and there are sufficient outlets for charging devices—if you unplug the lamp and the kettle— and the hot water is hot.  Although it is noisy, cooking odors have not escaped up to the second floor.  Fellpack House in Keswick was a whole lot nicer!