Fairfield Horseshoe

For those of you unfortunate enough to not know the Lake District, Fairfield Horseshoe is a 12 mile (ish) walk from Rydal Church covering 4 summits in excess of 2500 feet and reaching a high point of 2900 feet or about 885 metres and finishing back in Ambleside on the banks of Windermere. Not much in terms of Himalayas or Alps, but a wonderful walk in majestic scenery.

I suspect that few if any of the days on the Camino will be as extreme as this in terms of steepness of slope ( particularly on the descent) so the fact that a) I managed it and b) went out in the evening for a meal and a few drinks and c) did another 5 miles or so on  the following day was particularly pleaseing.
Thanks to Cotswold outdoor shop in Preston for taking a lot of money off me for my Meindl boots which were superb. No blisters, no sore feet and putting them on again on the second day was great.
Looking forward now to 5 days in Keswick next month with the wife.

We stayed at the Youth Hostel in Ambleside which has the best views from the bar of any place I've ever stayed. Although when the one below was taken, it was a bit early for a pint!

Training Weekend!

Yes, it's time for the second annual Leyland Road Methodist Church Walking Weekend! 2 nights at the luxurious Ambleside YHA, right on the banks of Windermere with bar and restaurant. The view from the lawn in front of the bar is shown below.

Stroll round Ambleside tomorrow aftrnoon, Fairfield Horseshoe on Saturday and, weather permitting, another walk Sunday. Possibly a pint or two in between the walking.
Fairfield will be harder than any of the Camino days, so should be a good test. Hope to get a good walk on Sunday as well just to see if I can do 2 days walking together! Should be a good test for the boots too. My main problem may be trying to have a conversation while walking uphill.

Stocks Reservoir

Got out yesterday in the Forest of Bowland. Beautiful countryside and we took a well loved walk around Stocks Reservoir from Slaidburn.

Slaidburn is festooned with signs warning of the passage of the Tour of Britain bike race on Monday. I'd really love to get up there to watch but, sadly it can't be done.
My boots are wearing in nicely, and I'm getting more used to their weight.
The scone at the end of this walk was really nice, but they offered it me with whipped cream not clotted cream! I mean, come on! As far as I'm concerned, they could have added another £1 to the price if it had come with about 30p worth of clotted cream. On the other hand it was a proper MUG of tea!!!