Day 4: Grasmere to Patterdale

We had a pleasant walk today (probably our easiest so far) from Grasmere (Wordsworth territory) to Patterdale. Tonight we are staying at Old Water View, an excellent guesthouse where AW Wainwright, who is credited with making the Coast to Coast walk a well loved adventure trail for hardy folk willing to tolerate blisters and stiff muscles (at best) lodged on many occasions.

On the road from Grasmere to Patterdale

William Wordsworth, in Extract from Poems on the Naming of Places: IV, wrote:

A narrow girdle of rough stones and crags,
A rude and natural causeway, interposed
Between the water and a winding slope
Of copse and thicket, leaves the eastern short
Of Grasmere safe in its own privacy:
And there my self and two beloved Friends
One calm September morning, ere the mist
Had altogether yielded to the sun,
Sauntered on this retired and difficult way.

The opening stanza of Sir Walter Scott’s poem ‘Helvellyn' is reproduced below. The tarn on one side of Hervellyn is portrayed in the photo.

At the base of Hervellyn

I climbed the dark brow of the mighty Helvellyn,
Lakes and mountains beneath me gleamed misty and wide;
All was still, save by fits, when the eagle was yelling,
And starting around me the echoes replied.
On the right, Striden-edge round the Red-tarn was bending,
And Catchedicam its left verge was defending,
One huge, nameless rock in the front was ascending,
When I marked the sad spot where the wanderer had died.

Thankfully, the dead wanderer was not one of our party!

And penultimately, a photo taken on our arrival at Patterdale. Tomorrow we embark on one of our most challenging walks, Patterdale to Shap.

Patterdale

Two of our party, The Lactic Acid Drop and Coconut Milk, are leaving at first light to travel upstream on a steamer, and then walking the next 16km to Shap. The rest of our party (Butterscotch Stayer, Lemon Sherbet, The Water Tank, and Tea Bag), are taking an alternative 23km route up a mountain (or two). 

Soon I will be letting you know about our accommodation (sheets, eggs, and advice on (non) realistic timeframes for walks) and people we have met along the way (Heathcliff, Mountain Man with mountain bike, The Canadians, the Viking, the Duke of Eds, and the Octogenarians).

Day 3: Rosthwaite to Grasmere

Too exhausted to type. Long walk. Lovely. Here are better words than mine…

Thomas Gray, ‘Journal in the Lakes’, 1769, October 8th said:

“…now begin to see Helm-crag distinguished from its rugged neighbours not so much by its height, as by the strange broken outline of its top, like some gigantic building demolished, and the stones that composed it flung across each other in wild confusion. Just beyond it opens one of the sweetest landscapes that art ever attempted to imitate.

The opening three stanzas of William Wordsworth’s, ‘Lines written at Grasmere On Tidings of the Approaching Death of Charles James Fox’ are also worth reciting:

LOUD is the Vale! the voice is up     

With which she speaks when storms are gone

A mighty unison of streams!  

Of all her Voices, One!          

Loud is the Vale;—this inland Depth     

In peace is roaring like the sea;         

Yon star upon the mountain-top         

Is listening quietly.     

 Sad was I, even to pain deprest,        

Importunate and heavy load!

The Comforter hath found me here,   

Upon this lonely road;           

Stonethwaite

Day 2: Ennerdale Bridge to Rosthwaite

Our journey was 23km today. The scenery was magnificent and varied. We walked many kilometres along the shores of Ennerdale Lake, and then through the fells to Moses Trod. Then we followed cairn upon cairn to Honister Pass, and walked down the hill to Seatoller. Longthwaite, Rossthwaite and Stonethwaite (where we are staying tonight – in a 500 year old house) are delightful. Tomorrow we walk to Grasmere.

There was a plinth made of Honister slate (at Honister Pass) on our route, which is inscribed with Rudyard Kipling’s ‘If’ (1910). This is an extract:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,  

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

This pretty much sums up Day 2. A difficult walk (partly because we were still recovering from the Day 1 effort) but the scenery was wonderful. Nothing tastes better than a cup of tea and a digestive biscuit on a stone bench when your feet are tired!

Day 1: St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge

We walked 22km today (egads!) plus another kilometre or so because we were staying slightly off route. Lovely countryside and challenging walking but delightful dinner and accommodation at the Shepherd Arm’s Hotel. A memorable moment (of many that will be recorded when the internet is more reliable) is the image of (as we called him) Heathcliff emerging from the mists. A young man, tall and well built with wild black hair, walked past us. We had been climbing up a fell for over an hour (through bog and low lying cloud) when Heathcliff emerged from the mists. He had no bag or hat. He was wearing a cotton shirt, rolled up to the elbows, jeans and leather shoes. He gave us a smile (unHeathcliff like, admittedly) so we assumed he was en route to see Cathy in the early stages of their relationship…..

Over the fells

Some thoughts from writers of the region are:

Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean!) Attended St Bees School. He said,

 The older you get, the more you realise how happenstance... has helped to determine your path through life.

We left the Irish Sea behind at Saint Bees’ Head. Here is an extract from William Wordsworth’s ‘Stanzas Suggested in a Steamboat off Saint Bees.’

…no one plucks the rose, 
Whose proffered beauty in safe shelter blows
'Mid a trim garden's summer luxuries, 
With joy like his who climbs, on hands and knees, 
For some rare plant, yon Headland of St. Bees. 

…Up, Spirit of the storm! 
That Courage may find something to perform; 
That Fortitude, whose blood disdains to freeze
At Danger's bidding, may confront the seas, 
Firm as the towering Headlands of St. Bees. 

At the base of the rise to the top of the fell

Shire horses in Ennerdale

A Coast to Coast walk...

I’ll post most days about the route and the adventures we have along the way. Some wonderful authors have lived, written about, or set novels in the districts we’re visiting, so I’ll draw on them for inspiration.

Firstly, some details about our walk!

Walking Days: 15 days walking, 16 nights accommodation.

Daily Commitment: Rise early each morning and have breakfast. Walk purposefully and jauntily, in an animated, determined, and energetic manner, to our destination.

Day 1 St Bees: Stay at Fairladies Barn; walk from St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge (22km)

Day 2 Ennerdale Bridge: Stay at Shepherd’s Arms; walk from Ennerdale Bridge to Rosthwaite (23km)

Day 3 Rosthwaite (Stonethwaite): Stay at Knotts View Guest House; walk from Rosthwaite to Grasmere (23km)

Day 4 Grasmere: Stay at Thorney How Independent Hostel; walk from Grasmere to Patterdale (12km)

Day 5 Patterdale: Stay at Old Water Inn Guest House; walk from Patterdale to Shap (24km)

Day 6 Shap: Stay at The Hermitage Guest House; walk from Shap to Kirkby Stephen (31km)

Day 7 Kirkby Stephen: Stay at Black Bull Hotel; walk from Kirkby Stephen to Keld (24km)

Day 8 Keld: Stay at Butt House Guest House; walk from Keld to Reeth (17km)

Day 9 Reeth: Stay at Hackney House B & B; walk from Reeth to Richmond (18km)

Day 10 Richmond; Stay at the King’s Head Pub (rest day)

Day 11 Richmond: walk from Richmond to Ingleby Arncliffe (32km)

Day 12 Ingleby Arncliffe: Stay at Somerset House Guest House; walk from Ingleby Arncliffe to Clay Bank Top (Chop Gate) (19km)

Day 13 Chop Gate: Stay at Buck Inn Guest House; walk from Chop Gate to Blakey Ridge (13km)

Day 14 Blakey Ridge: Stay at Lion Inn Pub; walk from Blakey Ridge to Grosmont (20km)

Day 15 Grosmont: Stay at The Gallery B&B; walk from Grosmont to Robin Hood’s Bay (25km)

Day 16 Robin Hood’s Bay: Stay at Victoria Hotel. Party party party….

I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.  Robert Louis Stevenson

What our six member travelling party hopes to do is to keep moving…. Here is our 16 day itinerary for the coast to coast walk from St Bees on the West Coast of England, to Robin Hood’s Bay in the East. We’re planning to walk from the Irish Sea to the North Sea.

A pathway at St Bees, our starting point on the irish sea

Plotting and Pantsing

The Scottish novelist and playwright, and creator of Peter Pan, JM Barrie wrote:

The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it.

This brings to mind writing generally. Some novelists are 'plotters' who plan (sometimes to the last detail!) what is going to happen in their stories. Others are 'pantsers' who 'fly by the seats of their pants.' They start with the characters in their novels, and a basic plot (if it is a romance the hero and heroine will enjoy a 'happily ever after'), but the journey the characters take will depend largely on them….

I am a panster. Which can lead to a certain amount of anxiety as the writing progresses. I want my characters to have a happily ever after, but sometimes I'm not sure how they are going to achieve this!

Todays pictures were taken at the Crinan Canal, a 10 mile stretch of canal on the West Coast of Scotland. Numerous photos were taken (not by me…) of the way the locks operated, and how the water levels changed as a boat moved from lock to lock in the canal. What did I find interesting? The houses along the way. I imagined who had lived there in the past. And who could live there in the future….. 

Is blogging the modern form of diarising?

Walter Scott, one of the great Scottish writers, said:

What is a diary as a rule? A document useful to the person who keeps it. Dull to the contemporary who reads it and invaluable to the student, centuries afterwards, who treasures it.

At the risk of sounding dull to the contemporary reader, this is what happened today….

We had a flat tyre, and it cost an exorbitant amount of money, time and effort to get it fixed.  We found out the hard way that Hertz doesn't provide spare tyres in many of its hire vehicles (who would have known?)

On a happier note, we stopped the car next to a paddock and a herd of curious cows joined us as we cursed. I spotted this calf just before we drove away. The calf's wonderful heart shaped marking just had to be recorded…. 

Croabh Haven

We're staying at a small villiage on Scotland's western seaboard. Croabh Haven is around three hours north of Glasgow. It has a marina (and its own pub - The Lord of the Isles). There are a multitude of islands with historical significance (not to mention amazing scenery) off the west coast. Mull and Iona are just two of many. Here are a couple of shots of Croabh….

On the road to Ardfern...

Lovely five kilometre walk to Ardfern today (actually four kilometres, but we got lost). Boots and rain jackets a must. Scenery beautiful.

Scotland

Oban, on Scotland's west coast, is grey and wet and beautiful. We'll be staying in the Argyll region for a few days before moving south, to the Lakes District in England. The scenery here is magnificent. Lochs and pastures and picturesque villages aplenty. 

England Walk

So I guess these are the essentials for walking 309km in fifteen days - from St Bees in the West of England, to Robin Hood's Bay in the East. Wordsworth to the Brontes and everything in between. Boots for walking. For the day pack there's a Guidebook, mug (I need tea), note book and pen. Plus something to sparkle for when I'm cold, wet and tired. Wet weather gear too but I'll work that out later…..

Blogging

So….last night I dreamed I was to teach a two hour blogging course to a group of students who wanted to improve their skills in blogging.  One of my biggest fears was that I had to connect to all these blogging people doing my course via Skype (or was it a conference call?). Whatever it was I didn't know the number/ address to connect with them, so I couldn't even get to the point of bluffing my way through two hours of telling them what to do in the blogosphere. This dream is obviously linked closely to my current state of mind.

But all is well because I have signed up for a two hour course on blogging. It will be held on Wednesday evening so I will report here. Or maybe I won't have to. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating…. 

Photo for today is of Daphne (and Donald Duck). Its only relevance to blogging is that it was taken at 5am this morning (after I awoke from my dream). Daphne represents my blogging students. I am Donald Duck, the blogging teacher.

Website Activation Day!

It's been a long weekend for the Queen's Birthday, but I haven't managed to do much writing. Then again, I have made a few useful notes. As Agatha Christie said, 'The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes…' I was driving to Woolies when I had my useful thought of the day. Can't wait to record it!

Pathway for today is from the Ku Ring Gai Chase National Park...

Pathways….

Characters in literature go on a journey… and it's often a turn in the road, or the selection of a particular pathway, that determines where their stories will lead them. I'm walking across England in a few weeks time, so I thought this journey of mine might be a good way to start my blog. I'll also share my writing news - I'm waiting for my edits on In at the Deep End now - and give you updates on how some of my writing friends are progressing on their own roads to publication. Many are already published, so I'll be able to share their exciting new book news too.

A Blue Mountains pathway...