Sheila, Barb, Mickey and Penny walked today. We took a planned detour off the Cumbria Way onto the Coast to Coast Walk in order to go to Grasmere. Grasmere was one of the places where William Wordsworth lived and his home, Dove Cottage, is still there. We remembered entering Grasmere years ago when we walked the Coast to Coast. The memory was of a windy, vertical descent. And what we encountered this time was…a windy, vertical descent! The English don’t do switchbacks. Up is up, and down is down. Grassmere sits amid high fells, and there is no way in or out that isn’t vertical. So with wind howling all around, we made our careful way down the wet, slippery stones to the lake and town almost directly below.
The Wordsworth theme plays throughout the very touristy Grasmere. But Dove Cottage is still a very small, simple place, and you get a sense of the sparse living Wordsworth and his family did there. One amazing fact from the little tour: between family (William, sister Dorothy, wife Mary, several children, Dorothy’s sister Sara) and frequent visitors, the four tiny rooms of Dove Cottage sometimes held two beds per room, with two people in every bed. No wonder much of Wordsworth’s composing occurred orally, as he walked the countryside. No wonder he walked the countryside!
The Wordsworth theme plays throughout the very touristy Grasmere. But Dove Cottage is still a very small, simple place, and you get a sense of the sparse living Wordsworth and his family did there. One amazing fact from the little tour: between family (William, sister Dorothy, wife Mary, several children, Dorothy’s sister Sara) and frequent visitors, the four tiny rooms of Dove Cottage sometimes held two beds per room, with two people in every bed. No wonder much of Wordsworth’s composing occurred orally, as he walked the countryside. No wonder he walked the countryside!
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