Walking through Westmorland

Westmorland County.  I guess it must be my favorite English county -- at least I keep returning.  I hiked through it, west to east, two years ago, as I walked the first half of the Coast to Coast path.  Then, last year, I started off in Westmorland, before immediately hiking up over the Pennines and through Yorkshire, ending up at the North Sea.

Before hiking those two segments, I read Jane Gardam's classic story of rural Westmorland life, The Hollow Land, which takes place near Kirkby Stephen -- the town where the first segment of the C2C (as we veterans like to call it) ended, and the second segment began.  As a result of all these exposures, literary and pedestrian, love somehow blossomed.

Not bad for a county that hasn't officially existed since 1974, when Westmorland and Cumberland, and a few odd bits of other adjoining counties, were combined into a rather large Cumbria county.  But Westmorland lives on in literature, and in the hearts and minds of those who love it -- including me.

And so I return at the end of May to walk another hike -- this time entirely within Westmorland county.  Reversing the direction of my other two visits, I'll strike out westward from Appleby, the former "county town" (county seat), located about 12 miles down the Eden river from Kirkby Stephen.  I'll hike westward for three days until I hit the northern end of a long, narrow lake called Ullswater.  Another day's hike will take me to Patterdale, at the south end of the lake.  I stayed overnight in Patterdale two years ago, enjoying the lakeshore, before hiking eastward by a different route.

From Patterdale, I'll hike south to Grasmere (of Wordsworth fame), duplicating (but in the opposite direction) my route of two years ago.  After Grasmere, there will be no further duplication as I hike basically southward for three days, through Windermere, and ending up on an inlet of the Irish Sea.

Once I reach Ullswater, I'll be well into the Lake District.  Although I will not be crossing the high fells as I did in 2015, I anticipate beautiful lakeside scenery and historical interest.

I tell myself that I also anticipate rain -- but I was so lucky with respect to weather in 2015 and 2016 that I'm probably subconsciously too complacent.  But yes, I will take rain gear.