Sunday 6th April 2025
I set off around 10.15am from Cleator. I had heard about the diversions at Dent so decided to take my own alternative route rather than risk getting lost with the diversions. I’m glad I did that because I heard some tales of people climbing over trees and walking miles extra. I walked to Cleator Moor and then onto Ennerdale.
There was a cycling event going on, lots of MIL (men in Lycra) and even a few LIL 😁 Onwards to Ennerdale Bridge where I came across a lovely little cafe called The Gathering, where I bought a bacon roll and a couple of tired looking bananas. I was going to eat my roll by the lake but it was difficult to balance it whilst carrying walking poles and a gurt big backpack, and I saw a sign which said the lake was 1.5 miles! So I sat on a bench opposite the school and scoffed it!
Next, off to the lake!
And there it is! Quite splendid, the walk around here was awesome.
I took the left path, which is much easier than the right as it involves a scramble and I was not up for that! There has been a lot of work here with the path, some great improvements apparently.
I read somewhere that it is a good idea to take off your boots whenever you stop, so I did, and I had a paddle! This was very welcome, albeit cold. Feet refreshed, onwards!
The Ennerdale valley is picturesque. My journey to Black Sail Hut continued through Ennerdale Forest which seemed to go on for ever!
And there was my first glimpse of it I forgot to take any photos when I was actually there because I got talking to people who were staying there. Black Sail Hut is a youth hostel and extremely remote. They do serve beer! I might have had a couple of ciders. The sun was shining and we were sat outside watching the chaffinches flying around and singing away, but when the sun dropped it became quite chilly so it was time to move on a bit and pitch my tent for the night.
This was my view🥰
And that was pretty much the end of Day 2 and I don’t know how many miles, I will have to work that out. It was definitely more than yesterday 🙂 Picture from my tent location to finish off.
