Day 2 Saturday, Aug. 17, 2013 Shepherds Arms Hotel, Ennerdale Bridge. Hiked 5.5 miles, 14 down, 178 to go
Today was why Ron didn't want to do this hike. It poured rain, came do down horizontal, and Kathy and I were soaked. My rain gear was not adequate. My rain poncho worked as a sail and we it just increased the wind issues. I think it must have been steady winds of 50 miles per hour or more. I needed my hiking poles to stay upright. One seasoned hiker said it was so windy it was scary.
It was one of those days that made me wonder why I wanted to do this. When we arrived at our hotel we felt proud to just have hiked this and had no disasters. I didn't even fall into any of the streams we jumped across or crossed on wobbly stones.
The trails became streams and the stream crossings were high. We had to go through some marshland. What surprised me most about today was that my boots kept my feet dry. the boots were wet but my feet and socks were dry.
The hotel has a drying room so we are using it.
So I grade my rain gear: gortex coat - D, gortex rain pants- F, rain poncho - useless in driving wind and rain, hiking boots A - feet and socks were dry, truly amazing with the rain, stream crossings , marshes, flooded trail.
The Lake District is saturated. We are saying at the Shephards Arms Hotel in Ennderdale Bridge. They had floods last week and the stream behind the hotel crested and the hotel had about 2 ft. of water on the ground floor. They had to close for 5 days and there are still large fans blowing to dry out everything.
Today was a survival day and we survived! - Nancy
2 comments:
Well at least you didn't have to pitch a tent in the pouring rain at the end of the day! Still, doesn't look fun. Impressive!
Indeed. Survival. Glad that you haven't had too much rain. Reeve wonders if it is more fun than buffet breakfasts and big meals in Panama says my dad.
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