03/11/14 - Sheep Worrier

Walk from - More Lakeland Walking on the Level
Distance - 3.5 Miles
Geocaches - 1

Last Night
After discovering that it takes 90 minutes to upload 7 photos to Flickr in Ambleside, most of the post Spa afternoon was taken up with blogging.  Sonia encouraged me through her gentle snores.

We then hit the high spots of Ambleside.  Best pint of the weekend is in the Unicorn - Black Sheep in the Thai, music in the Royal Oak and then the first bar room banning that I have seen in a long time.  Mid serving of my Coniston Bluebird in the Queens Hotel, the landlord kindly asked me to excuse him whilst he sorted out an old age lover's tiff in the Snug.  It remains to be seen if the two gentlemen will be allowed back into the pub today.

The Walk.
Yesterday's walk was only a little fell but there were still minor complaints from my better half.  So today, there can be no arguments with a walk picked from "Lakeland Walking on the Level".  As long as the rain holds off.

Short drive down to Hawkshead and the same complex parking arrangements as for Loughrigg.  Only this time, the camera has failed to pick up my registration number and the machine insisted I told it how long I had been parked for.  Sometimes, a good old ticket cannot be beaten.

Hawkshead lays claim to be the prettiest village in the Lake District.  I, for one, am not going to argue. I counted at least four decent looking pubs amongst its winding streets.

First stop is to find the only cache on this trail.  Fortunately, its quiet enough to have a good hunt in a very public location and we can record a success.

We head out through the impressive churchyard, seeing the school where William Wordsworth was educated.

School of Wordsworth

Living up to its reputation as prettiest village

We are less than a mile out on the walk when the heavens open for a 10 minute blast.  It soon blows over and we are left with a wonderful rainbow.

A slightly wider angle lens and I would have got both pots of gold in

We head north, passing the remains of Hawkshead Hall and into more countryside.  The peace and quiet is shattered when from the road we hear the mighty bellow of "Get off the road, you woolly backed bastards".

What can be causing this commotion?  A man is chasing a flock of sheep down the country road in his 4x4.  We debate long and hard about whether he was the farmer or just a short tempered local in a rush.

Country folk with their country ways.

The turning point of the walk is Outgate.  Nothing here but a pub, which we are too early for.  The path runs around the back of it and again rewards us with great views of the fall off fells.

All you need is a pub.

Far off Fells

After a nice stretch through some woods and a encounter with a dog that can only be described as "Direwolf Sized", the village comes into view.

Hawkshead Ahead!

We have the benefit of entering the town and exploring the winding streets.  It really is quite special.  Of course, we expected the pubs to be still closed as it is only 11am but were surprised that the first tea shop was also closed.

In this part of the world, there's always another around the corner.

That is Sonia's Carrot Cake in the Background