...And Far Away

We woke up to gray skies Friday morning--the day of Susan Branch's Picnic. . . .

Turn your volume up all the way to hear the birds singing. . . .
                                       

It was too early for breakfast when we came downstairs at the Tower Bank Arms. . . .

So we went for a walk in the village. . . .
                       

At 8:20 we were back inside at our table overlooking the village. . . .

We helped ourselves to fresh fruit on the sideboard.  There was also yohgurt and cereal.  Ken had the full English breakfast which included blood pudding this time.  Since we were going to go up into the hills after breakfast I decided on stick-to-your-ribs porridge (what we call oatmeal).  I had to include a photo of what it looked like with the cream and raspberries in it.  Yummy!  The toast was always cut from the artisan bread they get from a bakery.  "Brilliant!" as our host would say about anything that was good. . . .

Then on to our walk!

♫Over the Hills and Far Away♫

Our walk would be split up today.  We took the walk up to Moss Eccles Tarn in the morning and the walk down to Far Sawrey in the afternoon after Susan's picnic.  The total walk was 3 miles if you start in Far Sawrey and do the red-dotted line.  We started in Near Sawrey, following the black-dotted line up to  1⃝ then headed north. . . .

Click on map to enlarge

As we headed for Stones Lane (formerly called Smithy Lane) we passed Susan and Joe with Mandy Marshall from Castle Cottage. . . .

The black-dotted line on the map is Stones Lane that runs behind Castle Cottage.  We were greeted by this cat as we made our way up the hill. . . .

Some mornings I can see this horse from my window when it is in the pasture above the cottages across the way.  You can see it in the above video high up on the hill. . . .

Here is a photo from the day before of the horse.  I believe that the outcrop of rock to the left is one Beatrix sat on in 1896 while here with her parents on holiday at Lakeside (now Ees Wyke) along Esthwaite Water.  She wrote in her journal, "I think one of my pleasantest memories of Esthwaite is sitting on Oatmeal Crag on a Sunday afternoon, where there is a sort of table of rock with a dip, with the lane and fields and oak copse like in a trough below my feet, and all the little tiny fungus people singing and bobbing and dancing in the grass and under the leaves all down below, like the whistling that some people cannot hear of stray mice and bats, and I sitting up above and knowing something about them......I remember I used to half believe and wholly play with fairies when I was a child.  What heaven can be more real than to retain the spirit-world of childhood, tempered and balanced by knowledge and common-sense, to fear no longer the terror that flieth by night, yet to feel truly and understand a little, a very little, of the story of life.". . . .

Further up the lane, looking back, you can see the village. . . .

Tower Bank Arms is the white building on the left in the distance.  The white house in the forefront is Castle Cottage. . . .

We passed a farm a little while later. . . .

Then it was open pasture with stone walls, sheep, hills, and views far away. . . .

We had several discussions on how to grow moss in our woods like this. . . .

We started climbing and the scenery began to change. . . .

There were still plenty of curious sheep. . . .

We constantly marveled at the amount of stones that would either have been dug up or brought in to build all these walls! . . .

We'd finally reached Moss Eccles Tarn.  There was no sign--this one was at the other end of the lake. . . .

I felt the pull to walk up a small hill off the path and there it was! . . .

Beatrix owned the tarn.  She and William would go up in the early evening so William could fish from the boat they kept up here.  She wrote, "William and I fished (at least I rowed) till darkness; coming down the lane about eleven.  It was lovely on the tarn, not a breath of wind. . ."

Beatrix and her niece planted these water lilies and apparently these are the same ones or at least their offshoots! . . .

We are at 2⃝ in the directions now. . . .

Once we crossed the boardwalk over the muddy area we were treated to a view of pine trees. . . .

The wind was picking up. . . .
                               

We came out of the woods and rather than stick to the path we walked up the hill. . . .

As I followed Ken I turned to take in a last view of the lake. . . .

From the outcrop of rocks above we could see Esthwaite Water in the distance and the mountains beyond. . . .

We came down the other side to rejoin the path on this side of the wall. . . .

Esthwaite Water in the distance. . . .

Beatrix would probably have loved to draw these Shelf Fungi growing on this tree. . . .

The path had turned and we were now seeing Esthwaite Water from a different angle. . . .

We passed through a gate and joined the lane that passes Broad Howe. . . .

The views once again were dramatic. . . .

Forget-me-nots (oh, I shan't) and Daffodils. . . .

At the end of the lane we came upon the playground we'd seen the night before on our walk through the village. . . .

Some interesting and dangerous looking equipment! . . . .

We were at 3⃝ now.  I took these next few photos the evening before on our walk through the village. . .

In the morning we would walk the 2 miles to Hawkshead to visit the Beatrix Potter Museum rather than wait for the 10:27 bus because we wanted to get an earlier start on our day. . . .

When we saw this Defibrillator at the playground at the end of our walk we speculated it was either for walkers after that climb or the parents watching their children playing on that equipment!  After our walk the next morning we added the possibility of walkers being given heart attacks by the speeding cars along the narrow roads! . . .

We headed back into the village along the road. . . .

Back in our room we waited for noon when the picnic would start.  I saw Susan and Joe were standing outside Buckle Yeats where their friend Siobhan was staying so we decided to pick up the picnic lunch downstairs and wait with the others who were gathering nearby. . . .

You can read about the picnic HERE. . . .

The wind had continued through the picnic and the skies still threatened rain, so after the picnic we went back to the room to put on warmer clothes and headed back up Stones Lane.  There were people still at the picnic at Castle Cottage. . . .

Off in the distance you could see the Hill Top gift shop and the pasture in front of Hill Top behind it. . . .

We walked along the same route for a bit that we'd traversed in the morning. . . .

Then took the path to the right and went through the gate at 1⃝ toward Far Sawrey.  At this point the written directions with the map will be backwards.  Thankfully, the path was straightforward so we didn't get lost. . . .

This time the track descended. . . .

In the distance we could see Tower Bank Arms in Near Sawrey. . . .

We crossed the footbridge over Wilfen Beck. . . .

and soon found ourselves on a paved driveway through a sheep pasture. . . .

                       

It was hard not to take a photo every few steps!  Just too many photogenic scenes!. . . .

Looking back we could still see Near Sawrey. . . .

This seemingly unoccupied house could be seen from the village.  You can see it between the chair slats in my photo at breakfast. . . .

It turns out it is a holiday home called The Old Vicarage. . . .

We passed the entrance a little further down the lane. . . .

A little further and we'd reached Far Sawrey. . . .

This is the road we came in on from the Ferry. . . .

One of two "side streets" I saw in the village. . . .

The stone work on these houses are from another era. . . .

At the end of the village was the former Sawrey School building now used as the village hall. . . .

And another Defibrillator! . . . .

We had an hour before our dinner reservations at the Cuckoo Brow Inn so we found a nearby footpath and decided we'd see where it led.  This wall and gate were attached to a country holiday let we came upon. . . .

We could see Lake Windermere in the distance. . . .

And sheep through the hedges. . . .

The ferry landing was not too far down this road, but we needed to turn back at this point. . . .

We retraced our steps. . . .

Such lovely greenery and flowers growing on the rock walls. . . .

We got back to Far Sawrey with time to spare so we decided to take one of the side streets.  I'm glad we did because we found this church. . . .

The reason it was special to me is I'd found the photo of the church on Google maps and drew and painted it for "Gabriel's Tale". . . .

In my story Gabriel comes through this pasture. . . .

And up to this gate. . . .

This is the view I painted. . . .

Seeing it up close now I see all the detail I missed. . . .

If we were heading back to Near Sawrey we would have taken the footpath just after St. Peter's through the pasture as noted at 4⃝ (but going in the opposite direction).  But we needed to walk back to Far Sawrey for dinner at the Cuckoo Brow Inn, which apparently had been called Sawrey Hotel when the book was published.  We walked back down the lane. . . .

Past a very large house with 10 chimneys! . . .

This house was dated 1700. . . .

We took the other side street back up to the main road to the Cuckoo Brow Inn. . . .

Another great meal. . . .

Lakeland Rump of Lamb, minted mashed potatoes, port wine sauce, baby spinach & mangetout; Free-range Chicken & Mushroom Pie, mashed potatoes, mangetout; Guinness Lager

For the second night in a row, Susan and company came in and sat at a table next to us.  I took this photo of the room as we were leaving (they are on the left). . . .

The rain that had threatened had finally materialized.  I put up my umbrella but soon realized it was just a drizzle so put it away and enjoyed the refreshing spritz of water in my face.  The lambs, as always, were just as interested in us. . . .

I stopped to take a photo of the Far Sawrey sign as we were leaving via the road. . . .

It wasn't far to the footpath that we'd taken the day before.  This is where we sat by the stream.  These two sheep and lamb had escaped their pasture.  Upon seeing us, the one leapt over Wilfin Beck, almost not making it!  Thankfully the other two weren't so foolish.  They returned to the gap in the fence on the left using the path. . . .

Using the long lens Far Sawrey didn't seem that far away. . .

We retraced our steps from the day before. . . .

And arrived back in Near Sawrey. . . .

Today we walked 19,081 steps, 8.99 miles, and 85 flights of stairs!

Don't forget, you can click on the first photo to enlarge them and view as a slideshow.

Up Next:  Hawkshead/Ambleside