AUTOMATED: 2nd July Estimated Route

Day Two: YHA Ennerdale to Stonethwaite

 Our projected route, once more shown in the palest of green colours.

Our journey to Stonethwaite takes us across Honister Crag, a rather large yet beautiful hill. Honister Crag has been commercially quarried for its high-quality green slate since the 1750s. Slate mining and quarrying at Honister did cease in 1986, but restarted in February 1997.

Wandering through Buttermere Valley, we enter quite a famous bit of Cumbrian history. Buttermere has nothing to do with the creamy, salty goodness of freshly churned butter and more to do with the savage violence of Jarl Buthar - hence the name.

From his hidden stronghold at Buttermere, it is said that Jarl Buthar conducted a campaign of running resistance against the Norman invaders, from the time of William the Conqueror's Harrying of the North in 1069 right up until the early 12th century. In 1072 King William set up a garrison at Carlisle, but the isolated garrison needed constant reinforcement and supplies. It is claimed that the Cumbrians fought a guerrilla war against the Normans for almost half a century, attacking supply wagons, ambushing patrols and inflicting great losses upon them in terms of money, matériel and men.

The extent to which Jarl Buthar is a semi-mythological figure is unclear. He is apparently mentioned in 12th century Norman documents, but much of his story appears to be based on local legend and archaeology, later enhanced by Nicholas Size's popular dramatised history.


As a area of such notable myth, Butterdale has featured in a few fictional books:

• Jarl Boethar's campaign and a final battle at Rannerdale (c.f. Ferguson, "Ragnar's dale") between the Normans and the Anglo-Scandinavian Cumbrians led by the Jarl is the subject of a dramatised history by Nicholas Size, called "The Secret Valley: The Real Romance of Unconquered Lakeland" (pub. 1930)
• Rosemary Sutcliff's YA novel "Shield Ring" (pub. 1956) imagines the lives of Jarl Buthar and his band of Cumbrian rebels, and their last stand against the forces of a Norman army under the command of Ranulf le Meschin, Lord of Carlisle and later Earl of Chester, nearly 50 years after the 1066 Norman Conquest of England. It was clearly inspired by Nicholas Size's history, which it closely follows.
• Mary Robinson (1778–1837), known as the "Maid of Buttermere" and the subject of Melvyn Bragg's novel of that name, was the daughter of the landlord of the Fish Inn in Buttermere village.

A close up of the lake, Buttermere.

We'll be walking through the hamlet Seatoller, whilst an attractive hamlet it does lack the all important pub. Instead we'll be stopping off for a drink at it's tea rooms. No pub... Devestated.

The area of Borrowdale is home to another two hamlets, Rosthwaite and Stonethwaite. The party will be splitting at this point with one of us in Stonethwaite and the rest of us in Rosthwaite. Toby is angling for Stonethwaite so he can go on a black ops mission to the local pub, the rest of us are mildly concerned given his track record for getting up in the morning. We may need to give strict instructions to his landlady to ensure he is at the door for 07:15 and ready for our sherpas to pick up his luggage.

Borrowdale features in the first of Hugh Walpole's series of four novels about the Herries family, Rogue Herries, Borrowdale is the site of a fictional house called Herries, the home of Francis Herries, the protagonist of this novel. Subsequent novels in the series are also largely set in Borrowdale. The valley and its surrounding mountains are described in sympathetic detail. Walpole himself had a house at Catbells overlooking Derwent Water from 1924 until his death in 1941.

Some time before 1565 (some sources say as early as 1500), a major deposit of graphite was discovered near the Seathwaite hamlet in Borrowdale parish. The locals found that it was useful for marking sheep. The graphite was pure and solid, and it could easily be sawed into sticks; the pencil industry was born in nearby Keswick. The graphite find remains unique.

One of us will be staying at Knotts View in Stonethwaite. The farm at Stonethwaite was once owned by the monks at Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire from 1195 as part of lands they owned in the Borrowdale valley. The monks of Furness complained to King Edward II that they objected to the terms of the ownership of what was now a thriving dairy business. The king did not adjudicate but merely sequestrated the farm and then sold it back to Fountains Abbey in 1304 for two pounds.

Three of us will be staying in the guest house at Gillercombe. Close to two local pubs and home to an African Grey Parrot. We'll be moderating our alcohol consumption and sticking to just a quick six.