AUTOMATED: 1st July Estimated Route

Day One: St. Bee's to the YHA Ennerdale

 

 Our projected route (shown in pale green and sadly not overly visible).

Our first stop off will be at The Handmade Scotch Egg Company, a local shop at St. Bee's that sells over forty varieties of scotch egg amongst other treats. In particular they do rather good lunch boxes, including the 'Boy's Own' lunch box which has a title just misogynistic enough to get Gemma steaming with rage.

As advertised:

Two handmade Scotch eggs, a bottle of local beer and a jar of pickle/mustard rounded off with a full bodied Fruit Cake... bliss

Old Stager scotch egg - a free-range pickled egg wrapped in our classic sausage meat and then rolled in broken crisps - unforgettable
Braveheart scotch egg - free-range pork with a delicious fresh lime and chilli chutney mixed in, for a lovely clean, satisfying taste
A bottle of real ale from one of our brilliant local breweries such as the Teme Valley Brewery and the Friday Beer company -   

Plus a jar of taste bud tingling, local chutney/mustard  AND a Rich Fruit Cake...mmmm

 

Our next destination is the St. Bee's lighthouse, this tower was built of local sandstone topped by a lantern that was originally destined for Gibraltar with the single lamp supplied by Messrs. W. Wilkins & Co., of Long Acre.

Fleswick bay is on our route and this stretch of coastline is the only designated Heritage Coast in Cumbria. An RSPB nature reserve on the headland is home to England’s only colony of Black Guillemots. Puffins, terns and other sea birds can also be studied. There are observation and information points all along the headland. Whilst it can only be accessed via an 18ft climb down a rock face, we've been assured of ample handholds.

The Fox and Hounds is our scheduled dinner spot for an obscene amount of chips, they specialise in food cooked using local ingredients (so hikers and tourists will be on the menu) and have local ales. So a quick six pints and then off towards Ennerdale Water.

The beautiful vista you see above is Ennerdale Water. Ennerdale Water is the most westerly lake in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It is a glacial lake, with a maximum depth of 150 feet (45 metres), and is ½ mile to a mile (700 to 1,500 metres) wide and 2½ miles (3.9 kilometres) long. The lake lies in the eponymous valley of Ennerdale, surrounded by some of the highest and best-known fells in Cumbria including: Great Gable (899 m), Green Gable, Brandreth, High Crag, Steeple and Pillar.

Notable Facts:

• Though the Lake District is a popular UK location for film shoots, Ennerdale has been left relatively in the shadow, with only a few brief exceptions. The closing sequences of the film 28 Days Later (2002), directed by Danny Boyle, were filmed around the Ennerdale area, and include a sweeping, panoramic view of the lake.
• In 1810 a large carnivore killed hundreds of sheep in and around Ennerdale before it was hunted down and killed. The locals dubbed it the Girt (dialect: "great") Dog of Ennerdale, though it was said to have had the traits of both a dog and a large cat.
• Former US President Bill Clinton first proposed to his wife Hillary on the banks of Ennerdale Water in 1973.

The Youth Hostel Association Ennerdale, was formally known as Black Sails Hostel, before that it was a shepherds hut. Either way, it will be where we finish our night with a selection of horror movies and a bottle of single malt scotch.