Pikes

by Kevin | Jul 7, 2023

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Major Plans

The plan for today was to do a massive mountainous walk. Minimus wasn’t bought into the idea so she decided to stay home and have a day of chillin’ in Ambleside. The rest of us had an appointment with the Langdale Pikes. Langdale is home to a seven Wainwrights in close proximity, which offers the opportunity for a monster hill walking day. Of the seven, we’d all done Pavey Ark before. I’d also been to Harrison Stickle, Thunacar Knott, High Raise and Sergeant Man. That was on my weekend with the lads in 2018. So two new Wainwrights for me, and six for Ami and Kas.

My day began with a light breakfast and the by now traditional fetching of sandwiches from the shop down the high street. From there, we fetched my car round to leave it outside the house. We all jumped in Kas’s car to head up Langdale.

The accommodation we were in had streetside parking and provided a permit for one car. We had both with us though, because Kas was off to Swansea for an event at the end of the holiday. They also provided a permit to use in multiple public car parks in the south lakes. That meant we could always have one car at the house and one in a public park. During the day, while we were out, we made a habit of leaving a car outside the house, just to make sure we had the space available when we came home.

We left home at about 9 am.

Up We Go

So at about 9:40 we were in the National Trust Car Park at the foot of Dungeon Ghyll and ready to rock.

The walk up to Stickle Tarn took us about 80 minutes, which I was quite happy with given my poor state of fitness. We had a short break at the tarn before setting off for Pavey Ark. As ever we decided to climb the so called North Rake, which leads fairly steeply up the eastern side of the mountain’s crag. The weather had been distinctly iffy all the way so far, with the peaks going in and out of cloud and there being a bit of breeze. When we got to North Rake it was also raining.

The weather forecast said it was due to get better as the day went on, so we didn’t shirk. The walk up the rake was quite slow because of the damp, but it’s still the best route, in my opinion.

We reached the top of Pavey Ark at about midday and decided that was good enough for lunchtime. After peering over the edge and taking photos we found a sheltered hollow and nestled down for our sandwiches.

The Other Pikes

After lunch we made our way over to Harrison Stickle. It looks easy from Pavey Ark, but in fact it was a pain in the backside. I think we chose the worse of the two paths across, and as a result we were doing a lot more ascending and descending than we needed as well as it being uneven underfoot.

Harrison is the highest point of the four pikes though, so it was always going to be a bit uphill from where we were. Finding the top of Harrison Stickle proved a challenge, but by this time the weather was improving and the views were pretty spectacular.

From Harrison, the walk over to Loft Crag was the next in sequence. Loft Crag is relatively modest compared to the peaks surrounding it, but nevertheless the view was impressive.

Next up was Pike of Stickle, which is much more prominent. When we got to the foot of this one we started the scramble up and I frankly had a bit of a moment where I nearly didn’t bother. It seemed really steep and craggy to me. Sometimes my onboard defense mechanism kicks in, especially if I’m a bit tired. Ultimately though, I decided to go for it.

The view from the top was excellent again, and we took the time to have a second lunch break. It had been more than a couple of hours since the previous lunch break at Pavey Ark.

All the time I was up there I was a bit apprehensive about having to come down again, but once I got into it I gained a lot of confidence and we were down in no time. Looking back, I wonder what I was worried about, especially after looking back at North Rake on Pavey Ark while we were walking back down.

Over the Flat(ter) Bits

Next up was a long but flat-looking walk over grass from Pike of Stickle to Thunacar Knott. It wasn’t as flat as it seems, to be honest. We actually descended about 50m and then ascended another 70m, but you don’t notice because it’s a long way. It was sufficiently far that we needed a little rest halfway over.

From Thunacar Knott, the walk over to High Raise is similar to the last stretch. It’s about a mile and a half with about 30m drop and then 80m climb. It takes a long time to notice you’re going upwards though. Eventually you reach a point where you can no longer see the summit from the path, and it gets a bit steeper from there.

The top of High Raise is good from the perspective of having a view around most of the area, but you can’t see any lakes and can only see the (unimpressive) backs of the Langdale Pikes. It is the highest point in the area though.

By this time it was nearly 4 pm and I was getting tired. The others were a bit too. So, one more Wainwright to do, which was the barely noticable Sergeant Man. Wikipedia describes this as a secondary peak of High Raise, but notable because it is rocky and craggy. The rest of High Raise is grassy. To be honest though, the grassiness means the paths are tricky to follow. We needed the GPS maps to show us which bit was actually Sergeant Man. When we were there, there was another guy there who was unaware he was on a separate Wainwright.

Where’s The Path

The best reason for going to High Raise and Sergeant Man is that you get to avoid descending the North Rake. That means a flatter and grassy way down, but also, as I should remember, a route down that is very difficult to follow. We strayed a bit and kept ending up on seemingly impassable bits. Eventually, we were at a point where we could see a clear route over grass back to the path around the tarn.

By the time we got back to the tarn it was well after 5 pm and the sun was well and truly out. So much so, that I topped up on suncream, just to make sure. It was a gorgeous evening, but we were feeling the press of time by now. A while back, Minimus had asked what time we’d be home, and I’d estimated about 7 pm. At the time though, we were still on High Raise, and it was a wild guess.

So the walk back down the Stickle Ghyll was quicker than the climb. I was about out of beans but we made it back to the car for 6:40, and hence we were back in Ambleside not long after 7.

Restoratives

While I was getting changed and showered, Kas and V walked down to the nearest chippy to get some dinner for us all. They were good. Especially because of the wonderful supporting performance made by a couple of beers.

In total we’d walked about 14km over the flat, but had climbed a total of 1200-1300m. We’d been away from the car for 9 hours. We’d earned a beer or two.

Infinity Pools

by Kevin | Jul 6, 2023

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What the Actual?

When we were planning the holiday, all of, ooh, a few days ago, Minimus made a request that we had a few days that didn’t involve massive amounts of walking. Fair enough. So we had to find a few other things. One of the suggestions was from a blog about quick walks to do in the Lake District. That suggestion was to go to Buttermere and walk up to find the infinity pools. I think the blog concerned is walkmyworld.com.

To be honest, I’d only ever heard the phrase before in the context of a swimming pool. You know, the ones where at least one edge of the pool is absolutely level with the water. What was new to me is that the term is also used in the context of pools in a stream. And at the head end of Buttermere is one such place.

Before All That

So before all that, I had some toast for breakfast and Kas wandered over to our favourite sandwich shop in Ambleside to get some stuff for lunch. The plan was to have a lazy drive and walk up to the place, then have a freezing cold swim before eating lunch and coming home. All very laid back and non-strenuous, you’d think.

The drive over involved us going to Keswick and then down Borrowdale and over the Honister Pass. We could have gone the long way round, but in summer this is probably the best route, despite the big hill. Anyway, we parked at Gatesgarth Farm, in a public car park which was great apart from having to pay by cash. Thankfully, I had my pot of coins in the car with me.

Legging It

The infinity pools were about 2km away from where we parked, in the valley at the head of Buttermere. The pools themselves are in the Warnscale Beck, and accessing them required a walk along a (mainly) flat and well-maintained footpath. We were not alone, though. Two women walked past us as we were on the way, and we could see another group of people already there as we walked.

It would be fair to say the weather was marginal too. It had been raining for much of the way over. Well, it always rains in Borrowdale, so that’s no surprise, but it was raining when we parked up too, and it continued to drizzle a bit while we were walking. Thankfully it was quite warm still.

Anyway, we followed the exact walking instructions whilst also just heading for where everyone else was.

In We Go

At the pools we found a set of rocks we could easily use to form a base camp. Kas had gone up in her swimming cozzy, and I had my swimming kecks on under my trousers, so we were both prepared. I’d also anticipated I’d be better off if I took my “floppy feet” that I’d bought a year earlier at the water park in Crete. I knew they’d come in handy one day.

Neither of the kids had either dressed in, or taken with them, any swimming clothes, so they had obviously both settled beforehand for just having a plodge in the water.

Kas went straight for a swim in the main pool. I was a little more circumspect and started by going upstream a bit and plodging in the stream up to my knees. The water was really quite cold. I was glad I had the floppy feet with me, because the underfoot conditions were rather unforgiving in the top pool. After a while, and once a few of the others had left it, I decided to gird my loins and go for a dip in the main pool.

The pool itself was maybe 4m across and 6m long. Not very big at all, but it lived up to the description. there was essentially a flat lip with a barely discernable lip where, I suppose, the water flows when water levels are low. There was a bit flowing out all the way across on the day we went, but then it had been raining quite a lot. I have to say that whilst the water was take-your-breath-away cold, it wasn’t an entirely unpleasant experience. I was able to bum-shuffle over a smooth rock and then gradually ease myself into the pool. There’s a nice rock slope that allows you to climb in gently rather than just diving in all at once. So in I went, admiring the view down the valley as I went.

I won’t say it was a life-changing experience, but it was certainly worth the trip and definitely not something I’ve ever done before. I didn’t last very long though. Becuase the pool isn’t big enough to move around in very much, you get cold really quickly. So out I climbed and grabbed my towel to get dry and warm. Kas wasn’t far behind me.

As we were getting out, a group of older ladies from (I believe) Hartlepool arrived to have a go at it. So while they were getting ready to go in, we were getting ready to go back. We left them alone at the pool.

What Now?

First of all we walked back to the car, and it was very conveniently where we’d left it.

On the way over I wasn’t over keen with driving over Honister Pass. Descending the Buttermere side seemed a lot steeper than climbing from Borrowdale, especially at the top. But I manned up a bit and went for it. A part of that is that there’s a National Trust cafe at the car park in Rosthwaite and we were about ready for some warming refreshments.

The refreshments ended up being hot chocolates and coffees and some cakes. What else are National Trust cafes for? That experience was made better by being able to par in the NT car park for nothing.

Evening

That was about our lot for the day though. It was supposed, after all, to be an easy day. So from Rosthwaite we made the 45 minute drive back to Ambleside and got back home quite early in the afternoon.

We’d booked dinner at Ishaa’s Indian Eatery and we had ample time to get ready for it. It turned out to be very good. I was also quite impressed with both kids exploring the menu a bit. Both orderied things they normally wouldn’t order at home. Maybe they are growing up a bit.

Back at home, I had a beer and read for a while. It had been another good day, doing an activity I wouldn’t have chosen. I really enjoyed it though. It turned out to be one of the best things on the holiday.

Helm Crag

by Kevin | Jul 5, 2023

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In the Morning

Our fifth morning in the Lake District and not a lot going on for three-quarters of the family. I’d half-agreed the previous evening with Ami that we’d go for another hill walk in the afternoon. Notionally I needed to test out my new walking boots. Hmm! Anyway, we’d picked Helm Crag as a target.

Back at the plot, I did myself some bacon. mushrooms and toast for breakfast, because you can’t walk up big hills on an empty stomach. After that, Ami and me both had a final piece of equipment to go get sorted. When we walked Baystones she’d commented that the insoles in her boots were moving around. Eventually they got completely rutted up and were a bit useless. Cheap, giveaway insoles in boots that weren’t massively expensive… So we decided to go get that fixed. She’d initially suggested getting some superglue, but I thought a better idea would be to get some decent insoles. So off we went again to Gaynor Sports for a chat. We came out armed with some new insoles for Ami that made the boots fit more snuggly. And we came out with a similar item for my new boots, because, well, why not?

Where are we going then?

All of that insole buying meant we now had an urge to get out and walk up a hill. First of all we had to make sure Kas was back from her outdoor swim near Rydal Water. We swapped the cars around to leave hers outside the house, while me and Ami jumped in my car to get going.

Helm Crag is best accessed from Grasmere, and as it happened, one of the parking permits the house provided allowed for free parking in a number of car parks in the area. One of these was in the middle of Grasmere village. We did a single full lap of said car park before on the second lap the Gardner parking-karma kicked in and somebody backed out of a space right in front of me. Result. Put that permit in the window, Ami, and lets get our boots on!

Up to Helm Crag

From where I’d parked we had a bit of ground to cover through the village and up Easedale before reaching the footpath up the mountain. In fact, it was a mile or so, but at least it was over flat ground.

The path that leads from Easedale up to Helm Crag (the one closest to Grasmere, anyway) takes what you’d call a direct route. At the bottom it’s well marked with stones and is quite wide. A coupe of hundred metres off the road there’s a couple of gates and junctions in paths and then you come out of the trees and start to hit the steeper bits. By steeper, I mean steep. There seem to be two options and I remember reading that one is described as a scramble. We went for the other. That one takes a slightly gentler route but at least it was a discernable path of small stones through the bracken. Wherever it got really steep there were the usual built-in rocks forming irregular steps.

The climb up is not very long, because to be honest it’s not very far, despite the steepness. It’s about 300m of altitude above Grasmere village. The steepness made it a challenge but it was definitely quicker and easier than the walk up Baystones.

Once we were at the top, we were treated to excellent views back over Grasmere and Rydal Water to our south-east. To our north-east was the Helvellyn range and the top end of the Fairfield Horseshoe. Over the western side there was a decent view of Silver How, Blea Rigg and the more distant Langdale Pikes.

We decided to treat ourselves to a snack break whilst watching the skies and guessing how far away all the other hills were that we could see.

Gibson Knott

We were peering across to the west wondering which of the peaks along the ridge was Gibson Knott and which was Calf Crag. It all looked pretty flat and as a result we weren’t really sure. Estimating the distance was tricky and there are multiple, small hilltops there. But we were feeling full of energy so we decided we’d set off and try to get to Gibson Knott anyway. It looked about a mile away, but after a sharp drop from Helm Crag it wasn’t too steep.

It took us under half an hour to walk over to where my GPS said was the top of Gibson Knott It was the nearer of the two bigger crests we could see. The weather was still good so we sat for 10 minutes having another snack break. Ami decided this would be a good moment to fill in the relevant two pages in her “Diary of Doing the Wainwrights” that she’d acquired from Amazon. Thankfully it wasn’t raining or windy. That made for a pleasant 10 minutes for me staring at the clouds and along the views.

We decided that we were getting a bit short on time though, and the next stretch up to Calf Crag looked like further than the walk from Helm Crag. It also looked uphill. So we decided that would be enough for the day. We still had to get back down the hills, and heaven knows how long that would take.

Is it a Path?

Between the afternoon’s two peaks we’d noticed what looked like a better route back down into Easedale. It didn’t involve climbing back up to the top of Helm Crag to get to the original path, anyway. That made it better.

It turned out to be a challenging route back down, because it’s a footpath still under construction. What looked from above like steps below us were just big bags full of the stones used to make the steps. So the footpath was more of a loose gravel-covered slope with a few bits of grass. At least it was mainly dry though, and not very far down. Soon enough we were on much more level ground and close to the footpath that runs all the way along the base of Easedale.

The path at the bottom was mainly flat, so we walked it pretty quickly and got back to Grasmere Village. We’d been away from the car for a little under four hours, which seemed good.

In the village I persuaded Ami to let me go and do a couple of geocache stages near the church, and then we jumped into the car to come back to Ambleside. There were a couple more stages by the museum out on the main road, so we did those two.

Getting Fleeced

Back at home, all was well and the two remaining members of the household had decided we were having dinner at the Flying Fleece in Ambleside. It turned out to be a good choice. We had some moxed starters. Venus picked a tomato soup, and it was very, very good.

After hill walking I felt I’d earned a pie of the day, and they confirmed that it was indeed a proper pie, rather than a casserole with a hat on. The pie-ness was enhanced by it being served with chips, mushy peas and gravy.

And that was us for another day. Nobody had the space or energy for pudding, and the girls were tired, so they all jacked it in as soon as we got home. I probably stayed up for a while typing notes for blog posts or reading a book.

Wray Castle

by Kevin | Jul 4, 2023

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Lazy Morning

I had quite a slow start to the morning. Breakfast was a quick affair for me. We’d pre-booked tickets for a boat on Windermere which would take us over to Wray Castle. We’d picked an 11am sailing and the pier was a mile down the road, so allowing for general mucking about we left at 10am.

Climb Aboard

My online receipt was exchanged for a physical ticket fairly quickly at the pier and we were directed to a particular jetty for our boat. It wasn’t due to leave for half an hour though, so we popped into a nearby cafe for coffee and hot chocolate. That passed the time for a bit.

The weather was a bit variable. It looked like rain, and the sky was grey and cloudy.

The boat turned up on time and we were fairly close to the front of the queue, so we grabbed some decent seats inside. We’d booked tickets for the “Green Cruise”, which only allows travel to Wray. That meant a short 15-minute ride out and we found ourselves at Wray around 11:20.

Wray Castle

Wray Castle is a Victorian neo-gothic building on the west side of Windermere. It’s been in the possession of the National Trust for a hundred years or so. We were expecting there to be something significant to look at, but there wasn’t really. Most of the house is still being renovated. Two of the downstairs rooms have a photo exhibitions. One was of the family that built the house and the Potter family (of Beatrix fame). The other was an exhibition of “old skool” photos contrasting the work of a Victorian gentlemen and that of more of a rustic local. Forgive me for not remembering their names.

So that made us conclude it was lunchtime. Well, by most measures, it was lunchtime. In that it was well after nreakfast, and it was about 12:30. And we were hungry. The cafe at Wray Castle is an all-vegan affair, which I didn’t notice until we were in the queue. It’s not like there was anywhere else to go though, so what the hell. Turns out it was really good. I had a steakless pasty, which was essentially a meat and vegetable pie in pasty form, but with no actual meat. It was really good, to be honest.

What to do now

Because wandering around the house didn’t take long, we were left wondering how to fill our afternoon up. There were a few geocaches around the site but on questionning I wasn’t surprised to learn the girls didn’t want to do that. So we agreed I could go for a walk while they occupied themselves wandering around the grounds and searching for the beach on the lakeshore.

There were about 10 caches and they took me about an hour to do. Halfway round I bumped into the rest of the family, who were trying to get to the beach at the time.

We were ready for the return boat at 2pm. It really hadn’t taken long because to be honest there isn’t a lot there. We could just have lazed in the grass for a while, but equally we could go back.

Back we go

The Green Cruise took us straight across Windermere to a different location before going back to Ambleside. We weren’t bothered, but it meant the return took half an hour instead of 15 minutes.

We walked back into town and stopped off to buy a new raincoat for Minimus – I mean, everyone should have a coat that actually fits, right?

All this put us back at home quite early in the afternoon, but nobody was really in the mood for anything else, so we chilled until dinner time.

Dinner consisted of enchiladas for me and Minimus, with snacks and reheats for the others.

It had been a gently-paced day, to be honest.

Baystones

by Kevin | Jul 3, 2023

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Always start off with a good breakfast

On the plan today was our first mountain walking expedition of the holiday. Just outside Ambleside is the moderately-sized Baystones. It can be reached (for us) without needing to use the car, which was a Brucie Bonus. I decided the key to successful walking was a good breakfast, so I got up nice and early to make some sauges, mushrooms and bacon.

Setting Off

We were all ready to leave at about 9am, which was remarkable. The route to Baystones from where we were staying involved walking through the twon centre and (almost) past a nice-looking sandwich shop we’d spotted. We’d provisioned ourselves with drinks, crisps and fudge already. That meant we only needed some sandwiches to make lunch complete (and to fill up the remaining space in our rucksacks).

Anyway, the route up to Baystones goes up the road that leads to Stockghyll Force. That’s somewhere which seems to be on our “every trip” roster for the Lake District. We went there in 2019 and 2021. We are creatures of habit really. But back at the plot, walking that way was a little more interesting than walking up the road. The waterfall was, as ever, watery and falling. We took a few photos before beginning the serious business of trying to get up the hill.

We made a slight error at the top of the waterfall. It looked likethere might be an exit out onto the road if we followed the path around the top. There wasn’t. So we had to go back down a bit and follow the sign (who’da thought it).

Up We Go

Once past the waterfall, the ascent starts with a short walk along a road. It then turns right onto a steep path that can be seen from most of Ambleside (if you know what you’re looking for). And by steep, I mean really steep. Baystones might not be very big, but the sides are steep and from Ambleside there isn’t really any other way.

We’d made a plan that we would try to walk for 45 minutes and then break for 15 rather than just walking until everyone was tired. Our first break came, very conveniently, at a gate alongside a wall that was good to sit on. There was also a geocache right nearby. Kas and me went to find it while the kids sat for a while.

It became clear as we were walking that the 45 minute / 15 minute policy was not adequate. We were basically having to stop for a breather every 5 minutes or so, and as a result we switched to walking for 10 minutes and then having a standing rest for a couple. By the time we reached the end of the second 45 minutes were were maybe two-thirds of the way up from the road and we decided it would be a good time to sit in the shelter of some rocks and have some pringles and fudge.

We were also slowed down, to be honest, by the constant need to adjust clothing as the weather swapped between sunshine, cloud and rain. The rain was heavy enough to warrant a coat, but the sunshine was strong enough to warrant no coat. There was a shower about every 15 minutes, and as a result, one or other of us was stopping to change clothing every few steps, or so it seemed.

Up Top

Surprisingly, the top took us just another half hour from this point. The first “top” you reach from Ambleside is actually Wansfell Pike, at an altitude of 482m. For some reason, Alfred Wainwright decided that this particular hill is only notable for Baystones – a second peak a mile to the north and a few metres higher. Wansfell doesn’t get much of a mention, despite many fell walkers (apparently) thinking Wansfell is much the nicer of the two. Anyway, back at the plot, the view from Wansfell Pike is awesome. You get glimpses of Windermere as you’re walking up but from the top you can see the whole thing, as well as excellent vistas across most of the fells in the south-east, south and south-west. The view to the north is rather obscured by the peaks of the Fairfield Horseshoe. Basically, you can’t see Helvellyn or Skiddaw because Fairfield is in the way. Ho hum!

Baystones peak is, as I said, about a mile to the north. On Google streetview it looks like a short and easy walk, but it’s far from that. We made our first mistake of the day here by trying to walk there before lunch, rather than taking lunch where we were. It was only about 11:30 so we figured it wasn’t really lunchtime. So off we went, across an undulating and boggy surface. It took us maybe an hour to get to Baystones, by which time we’d had enough. We should really have taken a break but the lure of the next peak took over from any commonsense. This lead to a slightly grumpy child for a while. Fair enough. We said we’d keep stopping, and then we didn’t.

Baystones

At the top of Baystones the weather seemed to have settled into being sunny and windy, but the threat of rain seemed to have gone. We joined a bunch of other walkers and sat down on the grass near the summit cairn for our lunch. We took time to pick a spot in the lee of the wind, which meant we were facing east towards Yoke and the Kentmere Horseshoe. The view was pretty good for such an average-sized mountain. And to be honest, once you got down out of the wind it was lovely weather and I could have stayed there for ages.

However, we had other appointments to be getting on with. First up was the walk back to Wansfell. On the return, we split into two parties. Kas and Venus walked straight there, and discovered it was much quicker and easier if you know the route. Ami and me ducked downhill towards Troutbeck halfway along while i attempted a geocache. It proved to be a steep descent to get to it and quite a tricky find. It also meant we were now 60m or so below the other two, but at least we had a good path to walk up.

Get Down

You’ve gotta get up to get down, as it were. We’d done the getting up, so we were suitably positioned for getting down. As we were staying in Ambleside we had little choice but to go back the way we came. Descending the path seemed just as hard as climbing, although we did go a little quicker. I think mainly we were taking fewer and shorter breaks.

Once we were back on the road we were accosted by a family in a car that was looking for the waterfall. We showed them the route, but as can be the case in Cumbria, there was no nearby parking. They parked up at the cafe we were about to walk into, but discovered quickly that they weren’t supposed to park there. So they left again.

The cafe concerned was The Force – a place so new that the attached hotel and car park were still a building site. However the cafe was open and had a fine terrace overlooking the town. By this time the sun had been out for a while and it was quite warm. The girls wanted to sit in the shade, which seemed a waste to me, but they’re in the majority. i snuck over for a peer over the edge though. The cafe treated us to drinks and some chips, which we felt we’d earned. I had beer, because I knew we only had downhill walking to do. A rather nice, locally-brewed stout, as it happened.

Back to Town

The walk back down was all along roads, so we got through it quickly. We gave the kids the key so they could go home, but Kas wanted to do a bit of retail therapy. I decided to stay with her. She wanted some new walking shoes. I was in the mood for a purchase too. First thing in the morning I’d tried my walking boots on but they were hurting, so I went up in walking shoes. These were OK but not ideal, so I decided to discuss boots with a guy in a “proper” shop.

His recommendation was that I’d been wearing boots that are way too small for me. The trick, apparently, is to take the insole out and stand on it. The insole should be about a finger’s width longer than your foot. That allows your feet to spread and move while you are walking, and prevents your toes from impacting in the front of the boot when you’re going downhill. The key to success though, is that you also need to be able to tighten the bridge of the foot and the ankles so that your feet don’t move. That causes me a problem because I have long, thin feet and narrow ankles. As a result it took me a while to get a boot that felt OK. And, of course, the ones they had in my size weren’t in the sale.

Oh bum to it! I wasn’t going to do a lot of hill walking without good boots, so I went for it. They had a policy of being able to return boots within 30 days so long as you’ve only worn them indoors. Given the location and the fact that it’s a tourist town, I suspect very few people exercise that option.

Dinner Time

While we’d been up on the mountain, Ami had been exchanging emails with an Italian restaurant called Luigi’s and she’d managed to get us a table reservation. So after the retail therapy there was a bit of snooze time available before we had to get dressed and go out.

The restaurant turned out to be really good. So good, in fact, that we picked it for our final night meal, and booked a table while we were in there.

And then we went back home. The family dispersed, as they usually do when we’ve been out. I sat in the lounge and read a book for a while before hitting the hay. It had been an excellent day. Baystones was an excellent little mountain on which to test our levels of fitness.