Sitting on the train back from Ulverston yesterday, having completed the Cumbria Way (north to south, unconventionally), I re-read Jim Watson’s introduction to his Cicerone guide. He ends with the warning ‘Don’t underestimate the Cumbria Way’, and, given our experience over the past few days, I’d say it’s good advice. To be honest, Tim and I decided to do the Cumbria Way, when the sun was blazing in mid-April, on a bit of a whim – a few relaxing days in our favourite National Park to use up some annual leave. I’m more of a Great Mountain Days in the Lake District sort of girl – 6 hours walking but back by the stove with the cat in the evening – than a Three Peaks, Ten Tors challenge walker. (Although when a man came into the office to buy the guidebook just before we went – ‘Got a couple of days off – thought I’d take my tent and do it’ – I did feel rather a wimp for taking the five-day, b&b option.)
(more…)