It is always good to be back in the Lake District, but this time I was really tired due to outside events before I got there. My initial plan for this holiday had been to start in the town of Skipton and walk across the Yorkshire Dales before crossing the Lake District on the Coast to Coast route. Just before booking my accommodation however, I turned it around so I that I started in the Lake District, and then after booking my accommodation in the Lake District I decided not to go to Skipton but to continue along the Coast to Coast route across the Yorkshire Dales as far as Richmond. When it finally came to actually doing the walk I found that I was so tired I wouldn’t be able to manage the mammoth first days walk across the hills south of Ennerdale to Wastwater that I had planned, so I got off my train along the Cumbrian coast a couple of stops before the usual start of the Coast to Coast walk at St Bees. Instead, I was in Ravenglass where there is a miniature railway (known colloquially as the Ratty) that climbs from the coast up into the hills to the spectacular valley of Eskdale.
I previously visited this wonderful railway during a tour of the country back in 1997 when I must have actually gone into the Lake District for the first time (sadly on that occasion I got back on the train and came out again). Thirteen years later I was returning after having now become very familiar with Eskdale and its surrounding fells, but it was a real treat for me to be on this train again, and after the winter we’ve had, with such good weather. Despite grey clouds over the fells, the sun was shining by the sea as our tiny train pulled away from Ravenglass station and chugged up the steep gradient around Muncaster Fell and into Eskdale. One thing that impressed me during the ascent was the presence of many daffodils by the track side. After the long and harsh winter that Britain has just endured, daffodils were later this year than has been usual of late. Throughout this holiday I saw thousands of daffodils when ordinarily I see none at Easter. From the Eskdale terminus of the railway, at Dalegarth, I headed along a road into the tiny village of Boot (I had never been to Boot before, and it seemed I’d missed out on a tranquil and picturesque place). Passing the iconic Boot Inn I climbed over a bridge and up a steep path to the start of a traverse from Eskdale to Wasdale. The path climbs beside a wall out onto the open fellside with a good rocky surface underfoot that soon deteriorates into, at times, a boggy path, that wasn’t as boggy as I’d feared. I had never taken this route out of Eskdale before and as I was climbing it seemed quite good, but when I reached the picturesque Burnmoor Tarn it became really enjoyable. I had finally reached the top of the pass and started to descend steeply down an excellent path with the stunning scenery of Wasdale Head ahead of me brilliantly lit by the surprising afternoon sun.
This fabulous descent sadly was not to last and I was left with a tedious and tiring walk along a road beside Wastwater all the way to the Wastwater Youth Hostel at the southern end of the lake. I could have taken a shorter route that would have involved climbing over the hill direct from the terminus of the railway, over Whin Rigg, but I chose this longer, easier route. I was so tired coming into this holiday that I chose the low level route as it minimised the climbing. I would need all the energy I could save for the days to come.
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