W4 Grasmere to Patterdale - lovely

We have driven through Grasmere before but never stayed. I would highly recommend it as a base: it has a good choice of restaurants, a small co-op plus camping shops abound. We are now the proud owners of 2 Vanda rucksack covers. Not that we have used them yet because today was lovely - no rain. The walk from Grasmere to Patterdale has been the best yet. The walk up to Grisedale Tarn is steep but manageable and for the adventurous you can branch off to with Helvellyn or St Sunday Crag. We did neither and instead, like most, headed down Grisedale Beck into Patterdale. So today was a further 11 miles with 36000 steps and the biggest climb yet (equivalent of 100 floors). Great day.

Longer version
Grasmere is a thriving little place. A bit spread out but the centre has quite a few eating places and at least 4 outward bound shops. We ate at Tweedies - very good and great selection of beer.: been in the Good Beer Guide for 10 years.  I would recommend the Lakeland Golden. Their food was good too.

After a sleep in the nicest room of the stay so far we headed off for Patterdale. Within 30 minutes Speedy had caught us up. We are, however, getting faster because the Americans (with the baby) did not get to Patterdale before us !Andrea is a huge fan of her walking poles btw: feels quite bereft without them:

Tongue Gill is full of ferns and sheep. Its a deep v shaped valley that some of you may have done in geography. At the top there is a fine view of Borrowdale and the mountains we have left behind.

Just when you think you have reached the tarn, it just isn't there. There is a further climb of about 100 feet to it but its well worth it: tranquil and calm - almost brooding.

It was here that we met a cheerful couple from Kansas. At this point we could see Speedy (who is Matthew if you were wondering) doing the zig zag up to Helvellyn (which is the 3rd highest peak in England) and also is the gateway to Striding Edge. The other route to the south, St Sundays Crag, supposedly has better views.

The walk down to Patterdale is far better than the one yesterday. We met the group of American's  (with their 1 year old) again plus a few others. It even had someone flying a drone recording the walkers - you never know we maybe on television somewhere. On the way down we also met a student from Warwick who was  doing the Coast to Coast the cheap way: sleeping rough with a hand drawn map from google earth and no walking shoes ! It takes all sorts and he was very happy - he even hitch hiked to St Bees - excellent. So I will almost leave you with this view;

Tomorrow we leave the Lake District. We are going to have a hearty meal at the White Lion first because tomorrow is the biggest climbing day of the whole trip.

Tips for walkers
Buy walking poles - Andrea is very keen on hers