I was up early, on the trail by 9am, and excited for my last day of walking despite a nagging cough. This was the shortest day of walking. In terms of scenery, the first half was much like the previous day. Trails along a river and rolling pastoral hills.
I caught up with Bobby early on and we walked the rest of the trail together. We stopped in the cool little village of Stavely. I peeked into a medium-sized real ale brewery called Hawkshead, grabbed some cold medicine, and a coffee.
After Stavely, the trail broke for the hills. It was a beautiful climb up through rocky hills with babbling underground streams everywhere. We started to descend into Bowness On Windemere when huge stately homes started to appear. This area is the most popular town in the Lake District for tourists. The enormous scerine lake was revealed just as we reached the marker for the end of the trail.
We walked down a sleepy street onto a busy thoroughfare and boom! Just like that, there was hustle and bustle. People and languages from all from all over the world. The quiet and seclusion of the last week evaporated. It was a bit disorienting.
Bobby and I had a couple of celebratory beers, found our respective hotels, and met up later for an Indian dinner. I’m just as much of a fan of the British pub as anyone but at that point, I yearned for food that was not so heavy. We ate, had a good talk and parted ways.
On my way back I remembered drinking an old fashioned in Bath after my walk last year. I was tired of beer. So I popped into a pub and had a beer… and asked the bartender where I could find a cocktail. She gave me a couple suggestions and after about 30 minutes of talking to random bartenders, I finally found a bar that could make me one. A $14 Jim Beam old fashioned never tasted so good. I met a nice honeymooning couple that was engaged on Britain’s Deal Or No Deal.
Walked slowly in the rain back to my room and slept like a baby.
Daily Mileage Total: 12
I’ll post a walk wrap-up in a day or so. Time to sit in a cafe and relax.
bucolicaholic 