We got there late Friday night. I had volunteered to set up Saturday's dinner and decided to do a Thanksgiving theme, since most Brits were unfamiliar with the finer points of the holiday. Friday night I made the pumpkin pie and it was difficult not to dig into it then!
The next morning, we woke up to a dusting of snow!
It was pretty, but it meant it was COLD and that also meant ice which made for many amusing slips throughout the day. My group climbed Old Man of Coniston and some of the surrounding ridge. We were out until almost sunset and let me tell you after being chilled to the bone by wind all day in below freezing temperatures, I was not the most cheerful person. I didn't even take that many pictures because I was too grouchy and immobile to take my hands out of my gloves.
All of this cold-related crankiness thawed once I had back in the hut and after I cooked up a passable Thanksgiving dinner with help from a friend. It was delicious, but I still missed having a proper one back home. Afterwards the banjo and some other instruments came out and we had fun singing!
The next day I still had lingering ill-will towards the windy mountain tops so I went on a bit of an easy hike down to the lakeside town of Coniston and into the surrounding forest. It was a nice break and there were trees! I've been missing the hardwood forests of New England, and even the Rockies' lodegepole woods so it was a nice change from overgrazed sheep meadows. Not to say there weren't any sheep. But I did see a few Roe Deer and some fox tracks.
Even better, we ended the walk with a pub lunch!
The Lake District seems like a beautiful place and I definitely would love to go back during the summer when I can hike without freezing. (Note: I did have appropriate clothing, but due to different hiking speeds I had to wait for 20min+ periods for some folks to catch up... test of patience and frostbite-avoiding capabilities...)
