Accommodation: Ivy Dene
There was a fire alarm in the middle of the night - "Should we get up?" "Nah." We're still alive
today, so no harm. We caught a ride with Linda and John, along with Johann, this morning down to Seatoller. After we got off D said, "Wouldn't it be terrible if we find out that Johann gets murdered?" Me: "They ate Johann!"There was a quiet walk through Borrowdale - saw a lovely old graveyard by a stone church, with ripe blackberries growing on thewall. I wanted to pick and eat some but D was against it - gastronomically and, I guess, morally. "But these are the only ripe ones we've seen!" "Exactly - why do you think?"
I wore my trainers all today - not a bad climb up but it became miserable at the top of Greenup Gill - boggy. This after 2 very steep climbs - and my feet got wet up to the ankles, though I tried to test out the tussocks as much as
possible. We got up into a bunch of fog and were joined by the women from Tomlin House and a couple we saw dine at the Queen's Hotel. We all got our bearings and hiked down. I was miserable in my wet shoes (no socks, being forced to take them off earlier) sliding around inside them. Torturous over rocky path - supposed to be a "nice amble" to Grasmere, but NOT.
But we entered the idyllic valley of Grasmere - "Then wonderful things began to happen to her." First, we passed by lovely homes tucked away on the edge of the valley - like homes out of "KiKi's Delivery Service". Then into the quaint village. We went for tea at the Rowan Tree and it was heavenly. Pot of tea and Wensleydale sandwiches with ale fruit cake and scones - possibly the best scones I've ever eaten: perfect firmness/softness, amount of fruit, and no taste of baking soda (which I detest). We took tea on their outdoor porch which looks over a river and is across from St. Oswald's church, the location of the Wordsworth family graves.
Lovely, idyllic, picturesque Grasmere
Cream tea - the best tonic for sore feet
After a short jaunt through the museum we headed to 1) Graveyard and 2) Gingerbread shop and finally 3) to Ivy
Dene, our lovely B&B, a plush cottage-y room with a brilliant hot shower waiting for us. I was feeling so mucked up by this time that the shower was absolute heaven - especially after taking off my wet and bog-fungused shoes!After showers (the window of our room, BTW, looked out on the lovely mountains) we hobbled up the road to the Traveler's Rest Pub. I thought we might just get some fish 'n' chips and maybe some lamb. It turned out to be a hidden treasure. The dining room was clean and spacious with quaint wooden booths for our sore bums. We had Westmoreland Game Terrine for starters, which was terrific, and then Barnsley Lamb - that was gorgeous, red currants on top of succulent lamb chops on top of perfect mashed potatoes swimming in lamb gravy. Heaven. And good Jennings Bitter. We were well contented. Then I thought, Well, the entree was so amazing, let's split a dessert. What followed was like a dream - sticky toffee pudding - after a bit of which Devin paused in shocked delight. It was so toffee-y and perfect it brought tears to my eyes. Seriously. We wanted to shake the chef's hand on our way out. And what a walk back to our lovely room - gorgeous hills and the quiet sounds of sheep baah-ing in the distance.
Back in our room we smeared ourselves with Tiger Balm and I wrote postcards while D considered the routes. Helvellyn and Striding Edge tomorrow!
The view from our room at Ivy Dene
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