Trail Day 2-11 to go

Started the day with a hearty English breakfast at the Butt House (seriously): fried egg, toast, grilled tomato slice, bacon rasher, sausage link, coffe and tea with orange juice. Walked to town to meet the group of hikers we'd befriended yesterday, all from England and Australia. Spent the day together walking the relatively flat and easy trail along Ennerdale water in our first of 3 national parks. We stopped for lunch at the Black Sail Hut Hostel where we brewed coffee and tea and braced ourselves for a steep and treachorous climb up Dale Head. As is common in the Lake District, it began to rain when we were half-way up the mountain and continued to rain the rest of the day. Once up on top, we followed the cairns (piles of rocks) to stay on the trail and found our way to Rigghead Quarry where they still mine slate. We stopped for a rest, to dry off a bit and group up with yet another English walker we'd met the day before. We all stayed together the rest of the way down the mountain, dropping our Australian friends in Sea Cote, our English friends on the road to Stonesthwaite and we marched on to our hostel in Longthwaite. All are in the Borrowdale region.

We had a great hot dinner (potato and carrot soup and red pepper and lentil pie) with fresh peach cobbler and custard for dessert, now it's off to bed. We've completed 31 of our 190 miles and have 9 miles through the mountains again tomorrow. Found some great blister bandages and learned that trekking poles make a huge difference in the ability to navigate the uphills and the downhills. More tomorrow.