Chapel Stile to Kendal Day 2.
Distance today: 18.3 miles.
Total distance: 611.4 miles.
Accommodation: Airbnb.
The plan was to get to Kendal. Once I got back to Ambleside, I made use of a map of local walks which I picked up from the Tourist Information yesterday. It was enough to successfully guide me out of town which, as has been established, is not my strong suit. For a short time I was then on familiar ground because I was heading out on an uphill path Penny and I had returned on when we did a circular walk. I lasted about half a mile before I got lost. When the instructions said stick to the main path, was that the smaller path which carried straight on or the larger path which veered off to the side? At some point I gave up trying to stick to any particular route and just followed whatever country lanes appeared to be running roughly parallel with the lake. I was going rogue.
It really was a lovely day of walking. The sun was shining, the lanes were mainly traffic-free and there was a lushness to the landscape. I passed through a small hamlet which was home to an old farmhouse called Townend. Together with the other farm buildings it definitely evoked a sense of being from another era, retaining its charm without being over-preserved. I was doing my best to get lost again but luckily was steered back on course by a dog walker who showed me a shortcut to the road I needed to be on. Essentially I was trying to find a route to Kendal which didn’t require me to go all the way to Windermere. This took me through Ings and then on to Staveley where I stopped at Café Eclec for a cup of tea and a scone. It was entertaining to ear-wig the conversation of three ladies who lunch, sat at a nearby table.
I arrived in Kendal around 2ish and it for some reason it felt like another milestone. Maybe it because it marked the end of the hiking territory for a while. Time for another mini-pilgrimage. The last time I was there was with Penny 7 years ago and we had spent an evening in the bar at the Brewery Arts. It felt fitting to have another pint there.
After my usual last minute accommodation search, the best I could come up with was an Airbnb. It wasn’t particularly cheap but at least it was fairly central. When I got there the place wasn’t anything special but there was a pint of milk in the fridge and the owner did offer the use of their washing machine. Pretty much all of my day-to-day clothes went in there and after hanging everything out on a line, I stayed in my room, recharging and generally catching up on things. Out in the evening with a real hankering for a wood-fired pizza. It soon became apparent that I’d left it too late and after a fruitless search around town, I returned without having had pizza or beer. Time for another rehydrated meal. Somehow or other I managed to resist the temptation to switch on the television which, given my usual addiction, I thought was very commendable. I think at the heart of the decision was me enjoying not knowing what was going on in the world.
