Breakfast was marvelous.

One of the joys of B&Bs is the people you meet in the dining room. We met this disgustingly healthy young couple who apparently walk up mountains backwards because walking up the regular way is not much of a challenge. When they discovered that my wife and I were walkers (of a sort) they got excited and started proposing walks that were…unreasonable for my wife and me and I began making the usual appreciative noncommittal comments while desperately looking for any way to end the conversation. Fortunately our landlord came to my rescue and suggested a walk up to Castle Head for the view and suggested we take a sandwich and drinks and have a picnic while we were there.

We took his advice and picked up some sandwiches and drink from a shop in Keswick (which was along the walk!). The weather was wonderful and the view was extraordinary. We made the walk in about two hours including lunch and finished the walk down on the shores of the Derwentwater and back through Keswick to the B&B.

Although we completed the walk in good weather, the weather began getting worse and by the end of the afternoon was quite foul. I mention this to make a cautionary comment. Never go walking hills of the Lake District or Scotland without the appropriate clothing/equipment. Even though our walk began and ended in sunny weather I’d packed both our rain jackets and rain pants in addition to our waterproof hiking footwear.

The next morning during breakfast we learned that our young walking couple had rescued several groups of people caught on top of some hill when the weather got ugly. Never underestimate the weather!!