Too Old Codgers

Statistics:
distance - 13.5 miles
moving speed – 3.0 mph
start – 9.45 am
finish – 4.30 pm
moving – 4h 30m

After breakfast the landlady was keen to show us her garden – a long, narrow manicured lawn and cottage garden tucked away between the neighbours' houses and the rail line. When we left at 9.45 we headed into town on the lookout for apple turnovers for lunch. Alas, we didn't find a bakery.

'Hotel deck over the Kent where we had dinner the previous night'

'Central Kendal'

Rather than retracing our steps to the point where we had left the NoEW the previous afternoon, we headed for Sprint Mill. We followed the River Kent along a graffiti endowed path, crossed a footbridge, then walked along a 'nature strip' (ie weed covered land) between an industrial estate and the junction of the Mint and Kent. We met several dog walkers along the path, and saw a very yellow wagtail. We crossed the Mint on the road bridge we had crossed yesterday, then walked through another industrial estate that led to Gilthwaiterigg farm and fields.

At Sprint Mill we rejoined the NoEW, then followed the road into Burneside where we stopped at the Co-op to restock our snacks. The mill at Burneside had obviously expanded since the guidebook was written, but the new path along the boundary of the mill was easy to find.

'Sprint Mill'

From the weir just past Burneside, we followed the River Kent for the rest of the morning. At the large new apartment development at Cowen Head on the site of an old mill, we stopped for morning tea beside the mill pond. The stretch of river from Cowan Head to Staveley was delightful, with woods along one or both banks, rocky outcrops, riffles and rapids, and dippers at several spots.

'Walking beside the Kent'

'Apartment development at Cowen Head'

'If only all stiles were this easy'

'A delightful stretch of the Kent'

We detoured into Staveley to look around the pretty little village, then set off across pastures leaving the Kent behind. We lunched on a grassy rock beside a track on New Hall Farm where sheep were being rounded up for the sales the following week. After lunch there were a series of long ascents and descents on tarmac roads. We left the road on a bracken covered track.

'Staveley village'

'Lunch beside a New Hall Farm track'

'Graham puffing after a climb to Fell Plain Farm'

The landscape was becoming more rugged as we approached Lakeland. We crossed a series of ridges, with farmhouses nestled in the valleys. At Hag End we were passed by a taxi on the farm track delivering children home from school. With tougher walking up and over the ridges, Graham brought out his walking sticks that had been dangling off the bottom of his pack for most of the walk. A consequence of using the sticks was that, with no free hands, Graham didn't check the map so frequently. We missed the turn to School Knott Tarn, and weren't prepared to backtrack when we realised. We took an alternative path beside a wood and across a stream to emerge on the western urban fringe of Windermere. From there we followed streets full of houses, cars and people to our B&B, Briscoe Lodge.

'Graham struggles to escape a kissing gate'

'Tougher walking over the ridges bordering Lakeland'

'Windermere's urban fringe'

We were shown into a tiny room where we showered and unpacked. We had to put our cases into the wardrobe to make room to walk around the very narrow bed. We tried to book into a restaurant that had rave reviews, and regretted not booking earlier when we found it was booked out for both our nights in Windermere. So we went in search of a pub for a meal. We did the circuit of Windermere and rejected each of the five pubs we saw. We eventually returned to the first pub and had dinner there. It was the worst meal of the trip.

'Windermere pub dining room'

'Windermere from pub dining room'

'Windermere evening'

Next >>>>