Grasmere and Rydal Water

Distance: 10.3 km (6.4 mi)
Time: 2 hours 31
Average Speed: 4.1 km/h (2.5 mph)

This walk started with much hassle trying to find a place to park. I eventualy ended up parking for 5 minutes in a short stay slot while buying a newspaper to get enough change for the longer stay. It's all very well saying that you can use your phone to pay for the ticket instead of hunting for change, but I have never managed to get a signal in Grasmere.

With the car safely parked I headed off to Rydal over the scenic route. I was a little concerned that the signs said I was following the "Coffin Trail", but it turns out that this was the route they used to bring people to be buried before they built a church a Rydal. Seems that in those days, death was also hard. Those carrying the deceased would have got nice views mind.

At Rydal I decided that, despite the total cloud cover, the warm jacket wasn't needed and stuffed it into the backpack with the waterproof. I did think I'd be getting the waterproof out later. Across the main road, then over a bridge and onto a side road to walk the other side of Rydal Water. With fewer trees in the way there were better views on that side.

I followed the path past a couple of caves until I was overlooking Grasmere. By now there were plenty of people sharing the path and I was starting to see the merits of Wainwright's opinion on acknowledging other walkers.

Getting close to Red Bank I checked the route I was following in the book to find I must have passed a downward path to the lakeshore. Looking back I couldn't see a real path and nothing like a path I'd want to follow, it being too steep and too wet. I ended up following a path just below Red Bank, which wasn't looking as steep as it seems going up it in May. It had started drizzling.

Eventually I found a path down the shore and rejoined the route. Just before leaving the shore I admitted that drizzle had become rain and put on the waterproof.

The final stretch was the K2B route in reverse to the car park where checkpoint 1 is. That was supposed to be the end of the route, but I'd parked in another (cheaper) car park. There was also a sausage sandwich and a cup of coffee to be considered.

It's now later in the afternoon and still raining, so now to see what there is to do indoors in Bowness.