Cumbria Way, Day 9, Keswick to Caldbeck

Our final day of walking - how sad! And, while the day had some spectacular views, it was not the most pleasant of walks. We began our ascent out of Keswick in rain. The day stayed at least partly socked in all day, so we did leave the area without ever seeing Skiddaw. We did, however, walk much of the way around its bottom. The route went through some very bleak and uninhabited moors; the rain continued off and on.

As we approached a lone building in the middle of nowhere (now a youth hostel), a walker was sitting alone under a striped umbrella eating his lunch. We were wet and cold and getting hungry. Barb's comment: "If he had had Coleman's (mustard), I'd have been right there under that umbrella." As it was, we found a minimally protected spot to eat a hasty lunch before we froze our fingers.

We had to abandon the day's high route as it remained lost in fog. The alternative route was longer by a couple of miles (making it a 17-mile day, much of it on roads). But the descent into the Dash Valley was stunning and was even accompanied by a bit of sun. Judi had chosen the taxi route that day, so we met her in the pub in Caldbeck where we made the delightful acquaintance of a dog named Alfie. That's one of the greatnesses of English pubs - dogs are as welcome as humans!