From the Lake District

I'm currently in the Lake District wrapping up a few days of hiking, getting ready to hopefully return to London on Friday in advance of heading out to Oxford on Saturday, when I can finally give up my hobo-like wanderings and officially move into my room at Brookes. However, it's been an awesome few days, which will be capped off tomorrow by cruising around Windermere. That's right-I'll be on a boat.

Pictures will come later, but I kicked off the week in high gear by doing a 10 mile circuit hike from Grasmere. I expected it to kick my ass a bit, and it did. Of course, that's partially because I was a moron and unintentionally went bushwacking at the beginning and end of the hike, thus making the whole thing a lot more tiring and time-consuming than it had to be. Of course, after hiking that massive loop I had to hike another two miles to the hostel I was staying at, since the two hostels in Grasmere were both booked full and I had to go to Langdale to find one with room. Fortunately, dinner was in between the two, which proved to be pretty necessary since all I had had to eat to that point in the day were two cliff bars. Also, only having one nalgene of water for a 10 mile hike is pushing it. It can be done, but damn was I thirsty when I finally got back into town.

Yesterday was therefore a bit easier-a nice walk around Grasmere and Rydal Water, with some stops at Rydal Hall (which has some kicking formal gardens) and Dove Cottage (where Wordsworth lived for 8 years). Probably about 6 miles all told, but much less climbing, and still some terrific views. Today was a travel day, as I hiked from Langdale over Loughrig Fell to Ambleside, where I'm staying for the next two nights. So all told, a very nice couple of days. Pictures will be up when I am ensconded in my Brookes residence with my own computer.