Day 4. Grasmere and Wordsworth to Patterdale and the Inn at the Lake

Day 4.  This post was lost in cyberspace despite the save button.  Am reconstructing what I wrote at the end of our fourth day....

Today we began with a tour of Dove Cottage, the residence of William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy.  The main floor of the cottage was rather small and dark on the inside -- very little light shone in from the few windows on this typical overcast day and the cooking fireplace and animal fat candles made it a smokey den.  He later married and had three children here.  We understand that William spent a lot of his time alone in the much cheerier upstairs parlor with the larger windows!  We left with a realistic sense of life in a country home in the early 1800's.

Leaving Grasmere, we resumed our walk through the Lake District, the ever-present stone walls creating a patchwork of fields and pastures.

We climbed up to the left of the waterfalls along the "tongue" and over to Grisdale Tarn, our high point at 1800 feet.

When Ben pointed out our route today, I thought with a shake of my head, "Okay, here we go."  It always looks daunting but we always get there.  He is always bright and cheery and begins many of his informational conversations with, "OK Guys!,..." and starts us walking with "Let's go, Team!"  He is observant and will spend time chatting with each one of us as we make our way.  I've come to believe by this fourth day that we really are walking our way across England!  Can you spot our path?

We lunched below the monument that Wordsworth erected to memorialize the last time he saw his brother, John, who shortly thereafter was lost at sea, called "The Brothers Parting."  More stream beds as we walked the lower Grisdale Valley route.

We came out to a fantastic view of Ben's favorite stone wall -- the longest one he's seen.  Can you follow its path?  Amazing!

Spectacular views today as we descend through woods to our destination, The Inn at the Lake, a rather grand-looking hotel.  We'll be dressing for dinner tonight!

Peter has been conferring with Ben and Dave about the local craft beers and then trying a new one each night.  He also has been ordering menu items that Ben and Dave are choosing, such as whitebait (a sardine-like fish), black pudding (blood sausage for that extra protein pick-me-up), the local savory Cumberland sausage,...  Desserts have included sticky toffee pudding (a gingerbread cake lying in caramel sauce either with a small pitcher of cream or vanilla ice cream), creme brulee, Eton mess (a mix of Chantilly cream, fruit and meringue), tarts, and local/homemade ice cream.  Hard to pass up, but too rich for me to eat given our schedule!