Following Wainwright -- The Invisible Fell

Day 2: St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge (some fell walking, boggy with stream crossings)

Eastward Ho!

This morning we set out again from St Bees, rejoining the path at yesterday's point of departure
around mile 6.5.  Although our on-and-off approach earned us 19 miles on a 15-mile leg, we agree it was a sound decision to get the feel of the trail (feet and brains) by kicking off early.  We set out in the rain today through grassy fields that validated our C2C fashion ensemble of rain jackets, rain hats, shorts and gaiters.  Cliff (above) was more than happy to strike a catalog pose with the C2C monument at mile 7.

There's a feeling one gets, churning one's way to the top of a fell (mountain) in a blinding mist, that falls somewhere between hesitate elation (hallelujah, we've made it to the top (we think)) and outright exasperation (so we suppose we've made it to the top because the gasping uphill has ceased and the bone-jarring descent is underway).  Such was our experience over Dent Fell today.  The photo to the left was taken just after the summit.  You can see from my stairway to the clouds (actually a very tall deer stile), that our misty walk continued into early afternoon. Luckily, since Alfred Wainwright's Coast-to-Coast trek first was published in 1973, navigation greatly has been enhanced by satellites and signals. And grateful were we for the validating electronic burps issued from the GPS at the top of the fell, because with zero visibility terrain association was pretty much out of the question. It was all waypoints, compass headings and distances across the invisible fell.

All said it was day of steadily improving weather as we made our way through woods (incredibly dense and dark), over the (misty) fell and across a series of boot-soaking fords before the sun finally made its appearance just before we reached Ennerdale Bridge (and our B&B for the night) mid-afternoon.

Coming into Ennerdale Bridge
Out of the Clouds