We left about 1PM to drive to Carlisle which is just over the border in England (about 185 miles from Kinlochleven to Carlisle). It was a beautiful drive, especially along Loch Lomand. The roads during the first part of the drive weren't very big, but we finally hit the motorway when we got to Glasgow. After that, I really made good time and the cars really move along. I drove 80-90 miles per hour almost the whole way from Glasgow to Carlisle and there were cars passing me no matter how fast I drove.
We got to Carlisle after the information place had closed, but we were able to get a brochure that had some accomodation listings. We tried calling the Youth Hostel but it was closed, so we called a couple of B&Bs listed in the brochure and we ended up at the Craig House. It is a lovely, big Victorian house and Mrs. Smith, the woman who owns it, lets out 5 rooms to guests.
Shari, Richard and I have a huge room with one double bed, 2 twin beds, a sink, table and chairs and our own TV, and Mrs. Smith will cook a full English breakfast in the morning. Not bad for 17 pounds each.
After we brought our stuff into the B&B, we drove around town to locate the laudromat and the train station. We need to drop the car off tomorrow by 11AM at Hertz, which is right at the train station, and then we can take the train to St. Bees. We will stay in St. Bees tomorrow night and then start our hike on Friday.
After we ate dinner we tried to find an internet but no luck again. No internet cafes here and almost every store closed by 5 or 6PM. We also just missed the grocery store, which closed at 8PM.
I did get to make a few phone calls and I connected on all of them. I got to talk to Joshua, Margie and Susan, which was very nice. After I got back from making my calls, I organized stuff in my backpack. It seems like I'm carrying a lot more stuff than I did on the Appalachian Trail. Oh well, I'll work off all the desserts I've been eating lately.
6/26: We got all cleaned up for our hike (showered and did laundry) and had a wonderful breakfast cooked by Mrs. Smith. Then we did some errands and returned the rental car and got the 11AM train to St. Bees. We arrived at St. Bees about 12:30m went to the post office/mini-mart/info center, bought some stuff for lunch and a couple of coast-to-coast maps.
We ate our lunch and then walked .5 miledown to the beach, which is the official start of the walk. The custom is to dip your feet in the Irish Sea at the start of the walk and then dip them in the North Sea at the end. So we took off our shoes and socks and dipped our feet.
The first 3 miles of the walk are along cliffs overlooking the ocean and it was a beautiful sunny day so we had lovely views of the coastline. My pack is so heavy though, I wish I had left half my stuff back at Kevin's. Oh well, I'll survive.
The recommended first day of the walk is 14 miles to Ennerdale Bridge, but we originally hadn't planned on doing any walking today. It was such a nice day we decided to walk for about 5 or 6 miles and then have another short day tomorrow, so we wouldn't overdo it on the first couple of days. Then we can get back on the recommended schedule so we'll end up in or near a town at the end of each day.
We asked a few people about a place to camp, and one fellow told us the Bell Farm B&B might have camping. We asked at the B&B and originally they said no, they had no facilities for camping. We said we didn't need any facilities, just a place to pitch our tents so they let us stay in in one of their hayfields. They also filled up our water bottles for us. The price is certainly right - free.
I haven't set up my tent since New Zealand, and I'm looking forward to sleeping in it. We have our tents all set up overlooking green rolling hills and we are sitting cooking our packaged pasta dinners. I'm sitting in my chair and I'm very comfy, drinking tea while I'm writing my notes.
6/27: It started raining about midnight and it rained all night. I was laying in my tent thinking, "Oh no, I don't want to pack up all my gear and tent in the rain." Luckily, it stopped raining about 6:30AM and we were able to pack up and get going by 7:15. Even though we ate some of our food to lighten our packs, we more than made up for the weight by having to carry wet tents.
Unfortunately, it started raining again just as we started off and it rained almost all morning except for a short break mid-morning. We got to Ennerdale Bridge about 11:15 and asked about accomodations. There was a hotel and a B&B or camping in Ennerdale, but no hostel. The nearest hostel was 5 miles further along the trail. I think Shari would have been up for going further and camping, but neither Richard nor I could face the idea of more hiking or more camping. We were all soaking wet and we had just hiked about 8 miles.
We decided to stay at a B&B managed by the woman Jill who runs the post office/general store (a very tiny store that doesn't sell much of anything). The B&B is new and doesn't actually open for business until tomorrow but Jill called the owner to check if we could stay there and he said yes.
What a relief to have someplace dry and warm where we could shower and change our clothes. Jill also took all our wet clothes to hang them to dry so we can use then for hiking again tomorrow.
After we cleaned up we went to the bar/dining room at the hostel for lunch. I had a nice pint of local ale and a battered cod dinner. Both were delicious! The only problem staying here is we are spending more money thn we had planned on. We were hoping to mostly camp during the walk so I hope the weather improves. It had cleared up a little in the early afternoon, but it is 3PM now, and it is pouring out.
John, the owner of the B&B, came by to do work on the place and he told us we could use the kitchen to cook our dinner, so we each cooked a packaged pasta dinner that we would have eaten if we camped. Then we watched TV (we were the only guests) and went to bed about 10:30.
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