UK 2014, Keswick, Friars Crag walk

We are staying in the top floor apartment of Keswick View House, Castlerigg Apartment. The house was built in the 1860s and converted into three holiday apartments and a retail store in 1983 and renovated again in 2007. It is very well run with everything we need and 2 booklets on the living room table. One has all the instruction manuals of everything in the apartment and the other is all about the house, town and things to do.

The living room, Castlerigg Apt.

Dining area, in the kitchen.

View out the living room window.

View out of the kitchen window.

We started the day with a visit to the Tourist Office which resulted in a decision to take one of the shortest, flattest walks we could find. Actually we didn't make the decision based on length and flatness but after finishing it I'm glad it wasn't any longer of steeper.

First stop; The Cornish Pasty shop to take a pasty for lunch on the walk.

So much choice

All looked delicious

I had purchased a map for the Friars Crag walk and we headed down to the Lake, past the Theatre, to the area where the boat launch docks, to start it.

There has been a lot of rain in October and the last few days, with the effect of Gonzales, have
added to the high lake levels.

It was very overcast, dark clouds, moving fast but we were lucky, even though my pictures all look very dark, we were just drizzled on a couple of times.

We watched the launch come in and hope to take it round the lake, Derwentwater, on Friday,
when the weather is supposed to be better.

Walking the footpath beside the lake gives stunning views of the islands and the surrounding mountains.

We walked along one side of the lake and then followed the footpath beside the road, back to Keswick. There were a lot of other walkers out in spite of the damp weather, people come here to walk. The standard uniform, out on the footpaths or in town, is: good hiking shoes, a small backpack and trekking poles, sometimes a dog or 2. The walk took about three and a half hours and we opted out of the extra loop, up a hill, that promised a good view across the town. We decided some refreshment was in order and stopped for beer and cider at the Dog and Gun, a pub we had observed to be quite popular. It was full of other walkers and their dogs, lying patiently under the tables.
For supper we purchased fish and chips and made a salad as we had to get to The Theatre by the Lake by 7:30. We had stopped in at the box office before the walk and found out the play we wanted to see (a thriller in the studio theatre) was sold out so bought tickets for the farce (Simon knows how I feel about farces, Oh well, as Heather said "its the experience we're going for) in the main theatre. It is a lovely modern theatre, opened in 1999 by Dame Judi Dench and holds about 400 people. The set was excellent, the costumes lovely, the acting good but really the play was not particularly funny. This is not just my opinion, there was not a single laugh, by anyone in the audience, for the first act. The second acts got some laughs but not a rousing success as farces go. It was the experience.