Grassmere is some 14 miles from Keswick and the place where William Wordsworth lived for the most productive early years of his writing life, from 1799 to 1808, in a house called Dove Cottage. He lived there with Dorothy, his sister; then when he married Mary she brought her sister Sarah. They moved on to Rydal Mount when the cottage became too full as he and Mary started having children – four in all to add to the earlier illegitimate child he had had in the early 1790’s whilst he was in France with Annette Valon.

We visited this cottage, formerly the Dove and Olive Bough Public House, for what I think is the third time. Amazing though it must be about fifteen years since we were last here, much of the place seemed familiar and there were few surprises. Now that the main road no longer goes past the front of the house, which could have been a bonus when it was a pub, it is a peaceful and quaint place, spoilt only by tourists such as ourselves. It is ironic that Wordsworth wrote a guide book to the Lake District and then got so concerned with the impact of tourists that he campaigned against a railway that could bring visitors to the area. The pub went out of business many years before the Wordsworths arrived there probably due to there being no stabling for horses, which would have been a bit of a handicap in the late eighteenth century. Wordsorth found it whilst on a walking tour with one of his good friends, Samuel Taylor Colerage. Colerage ended up moving to Keswick in order to be nearby. Dorothy writes many stories of Coleridge arriving unexpected and in the middle of the night and her having to cook a meal for him, followed by which Coleridge and Wordsworth would read their poetry to each other for the rest of the night. Another of his regular visitors was Thomas De Quincey who subsequently lived there after the Wordsworth family moved on. De Quincey said that Dove Cottage was “lucky for writers”.

Our second exploit into fell walking was to Latrigg, one of the shorter fells just above Keswick. We decided that as Wainwright described the climb from Keswick as being three miles and that as the fell itself could be walked in “Sunday best” that we would simply walk from our cottage, explore a few paths and effortlessly pace our way to the top where we were promised views over Keswick and Derwent Water.

Well, what we were expecting turned out to be almost exactly what we experienced – just with a few twists.

Firstly the footpaths that we were hoping to easily follow turned out to be across fields with sheep and cattle and not having been used in anger very much, difficult to follow and taking us further out of our way than was really necessary. We discovered this on the way back!

So after wading through long grass, avoiding boggy ground, climbing over a gate that simply would not open and some interesting stiles built into dry stone walls, we arrived in the valley crossing a picturesque little stream. We were very close to a disused railway line, apparently turned into a walk and cycle path – but not on the twenty year old map that I was carrying. Still, that did not stop us from finding our way and eventually ignoring the path suggested by Wainwright and simply heading for what looked like the top, we arrived at the summit and enjoyed the stunning views expected.

The way down was experimental, but more successful, as we followed a more direct route once more into a valley, but a wood lined path taking over a quaint bridge and back out to a field before arriving at the Blencathra Centre, which we knew to be at the end of the road our farm cottage was on. The final (successful) experiment was to take a footpath that literally took us to our back door rather than walk down the hill and back up again by following the road. So the way home was more successful, but the walk was about six hard miles in the end and according to my phone/watch combination it was the equivalent of climbing over ninety flights of stairs! So we spent the rest of the day at the cottage relaxing.

Depending on which of the four film versions or the original book by John Buchan of the Thirty-Nine Steps that one believes, the thirty-nine steps are an international criminal group, a set of steps leading up to either Big Ben, down to a boat moored in the Thames in London, to a beach at Broadstairs in Kent or from an oubliette down to a quay somewhere in Scotland. So you can see why I get a little confused between all of these versions where Richard Hannay is played by Robert Donat, Kenneth Moore, Robert Powell, Rupert Penry-Jones and of course in the book he is … himself! I confess that my favourite versions are the latest (Rupert Penry-Jones) and the original Hitchcock film starring Robert Donat.

However, it is a comic theatrical adaptation of the Hitchcock version (where Hannay is played by Robert Donat) written by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon for a cast of four actors which premiered in 1995 at the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond, North Yorkshire that we saw tonight at the Theatre on the Lake in Keswick. At least it nearly was – the version we saw was an adaptation by Patrick Barlow of that adaptation. Not only a lovely location, a wonderful Theatre but a fantastic production as well. It is no wonder that the original version of this production in Broadway received six Tony Award nominations, winning two—Best Lighting Design and Best Sound Design with the London show winning an Olivier in 2007 and two Tony Awards in 2008. The play also won the Drama Desk Award, Unique Theatrical Experience.

I would say that the show is probably the best thing I have ever seen and I have never seen four people obviously having so much fun performing for two hours twenty minutes – not counting the interval. If you ever get a chance to see this, I cannot recommend it highly enough!

Today looked like it might be one of the few dry days we are going to get for the first week of our holiday, so we decided that we would do a bit of fell walking.  My suggestion was that we went up Cat Bells, described by Alfred Wainwright as “one of the great favourites, a family fell where grandmothers and infants can climb the heights together, a place beloved”.  Well, it might have been in his day, but our experience was of families with people of all ages not just struggling, but even giving up and turning back!

It is a climb up to a peak, down slightly and finally up to the summit.  The picture above (not mine) shows the route we took, from right to left.  From the summit, we continued down to the left and then back round the edge of the fell to where we started.  Many sections on the way up were truly climbs, where there are rocky sections needing at least one if not both hands to safely climb to the next stage.  No walk in the park!  However we safely made it and down a very rocky “staircase” down the other side, a three hour walk that was most satisfying and with spectacular views.

So Saturday morning dawns and the lovely blue skies have turned into cloud and rain.  The wonderful view from our front door has turned into this (still spectacular and moody with the clouds):

So what about the week ahead?  Well, according to the MetOffice app on my phone, it’s just going to stay wet for the foreseeable future:

I even looked for a second* opinion, looking further into the coming week:

Not too disheartened, we explored Keswick today, finding our way around and working out what we want to do.  It even did brighten up a bit later – see the same view late this afternoon:

The log burner was tested late this afternoon (very warm and dry in the cottage) and we have just been watching Last Night of the Proms on TV – yes, civilisation has reached Cumbria.  Tomorrow we intend to do some walking whilst it is, at least, only cloudy!

We didn’t come here for good weather … and we are not disappointed!

*for the keen-eyed amongst you, it should be obvious that I actually took these two images in the other order!

Thought I’d start with a provocative title!

On the 14th anniversary of the day Al Qaeda targeted the USA we set off on holiday from Norfolk for a fortnight in the Lake District. We are staying on a farm in a small village in the North area of this very popular destination for climbers, walkers and people like us who simply want to relax. We will be near to Keswick and at the foot of the mountain that Alan Wainwright called Saddle Back, or Blencathra as it is officially known. I’m hoping that we will do some walking, but a break is top of the priority list.

Now that we have arrived, I’m quite tired; for what should have been a five hour journey, slow traffic on the A17 but especially an accident on the A1 (not involving us) prolonged the journey to over seven hours of driving. I’ll start taking some pictures soon, but I am impressed with my initial impression of the local scenery. I now am relaxed, on holiday and away from the hurleyburley of the last few months!