October 26, 2009
For sheer scenic splendour, few places can measure up to the Lake District, where Wordsworth and his Romantic compatriots sought poetic muse in the 19th Century. The area is justifiably popular, with its sweeping panorama of humpbacked mountains, razorblade crags and scree-covered hillsides. The immense greenness of the Lake District makes it one of the most beautiful corners of England, but unfortunately its greenness is largely dependent on it being in the wettest place in the country. Almost constant cloud cover is the norm on any given day, but when the sun comes out – usually for only minutes at a time – it transforms the landscape into one of outlandish beauty.
The Potter’s cabin is near Windermere, the main gateway to the Lake District since the arrival of the mid-1800s, and remains one of the regions busiest spots. The entire town and all the visitors in it seem to be permanently decked out in hiking gear to take part in many of the treks around the lake and up the surrounding crags.
Today we went on one such hike. I felt a bit silly getting into waterproofs and hiking boots for a ‘jolly walk’, as Dave (Alison’s father) called it. However, the jolly walk turned out to be an epic trek up Helm Crag to Easdale Tarn – a mountaintop glacial lake formed over 10,000 years ago. It was a visually stunning walk, over creeks and rivers and past Sourmilk Gill, a waterfall breaking down between two mountains. It was quite an adventure, there was a path but you had to climb over rocks and jump over bogs to get to the top. I felt rather like a hobbit doing this and once we reached the lake I felt obliged to throw something into the lake, akin to destroying the One Ring. Rather lame of me, but we actually went through so many different landscapes reminiscent of the different places in Middle Earth. Would have been so much better if someone was there so we could quote Lord of the Rings to each other. But alas, no.
We packed a picnic lunch and had it by the lakeside. It was a lovely day; we didn’t get rained on once which was quite a miracle I think. The lake is apparently 70ft deep and there is said to be perch, eels and trout in there – though how they got there when it’s a glacial lake is beyond me. The entire hike is 11.6km long though I don’t think we walked that far. Instead of going around the back of the tarn we crossed a river – slightly more epic than it sounds when you consider that the crossing was less than 20m away from the top of a waterfall. Spent about an hour trying to figure out how to get across without getting wet socks but it didn’t work all that well. Ended up doing a combination of leaping across rocks and splashing through the shallowest parts. Ended up with wet socks despite our very best efforts unfortunately, but the walk down the other side was worth it. We went through the valley at the bottom of Helms Crag and through all these little English farms with sheep and sheep dogs and green fields with little stone fences. It was stunning.
Made it back down to Grasmere after a total of five hours almost constant hiking. Everything from my knees down was drenched and my hands were all muddy from clambering over rocks and through mud and I was absolutely freezing but it was so worth it. Before we headed home we found a pub and drank mulled wine in a corner near the fire – the perfect end to an amazing day.
