Dungeon Ghyll to Rosthwaite
The sun shone and the forecast was good which was encouraging; we had breakfast and got an early start. Well 9.30 was early for us! After Steve made sure we were ”Tickety boo and ready to go,“ we were off. We joined the trail at the back of the hotel and had a short scramble, another tough start after a hearty breakfast. Whilst following the track into Mickleden Valley, with Bow Fell on one side and the Langdale Pikes the other, we met up with two couples who were on their way to Scafell and discovered they were from France and from Argentina. We bade them farewell and continued towards Mickleden Valley where we could see some activity going on. It was the S.A.R.D.A. (Search and Rescue Dog Association) trainers preparing for an exercise.
Onwards we walked to the where the track divided
up and around Black Crags and Langdale Combe to Stake Pass.
On the way up the views were fantastic
and we could also see someone pushing a mountain bike up the zig zag path. Next we met a lone walker who had wild camped on the tops for two days and was making his way back home to Norwich. At the summit of Stake Pass we posed for a photo
with the help of the cyclist, who just happened to be one of the tutors monitoring the Duke of Edinburgh group we had seen the other day. We then made the very steep descent into the beautiful Langstrath Valley
and after stopping for lunch out of the wind we were on our way, following the stony trail alongside the beck to
Stonethwaite and Rosthwaite, when the weather looked like it would improve.
We found we had arrived early
at Rosthwaite for our stop at Yew Graggs Guesthouse, so it was back to the village, which happened to be another 5 minutes walk. At the Flock-It tearooms we had a well deserved ‘little’ (a pint!) mug of tea and a slice of cake.
On the way to the B&B we met a local walking his hounds in preparation for tomorrow’s fell run following an aniseed trail.
Arriving at our accommodation a hot shower was much appreciated and following a brief rest we ventured into the village for yet more fish and chips, accompanied by refreshments to replace any lost liquids of the day. Making our way back to the B&B it was good fun trying to name the masses of stars in the night sky and as we had very little idea the names took on a humorous tone.