Day three
Rosthwaite to Grasmere
7.6 miles
Dep 0920
Arrive 1430

Short one today. I could have speed through Grassmere, over the hill and down to the next hostel, but the call of the cream tea was just too strong and I was too weak.

It was a wet start and i had equally wet boots - the drying room did not work it's magic sadly.
I was too late to meet Eloise and the Canadians as I didn't get down to breakfast till 845 and they had left at at 830 but no matter I would catch up at some point in the day. Fully togged up for what was going to be a day of on/off showers and sunny spells, I walked by myself for about an hour till I met Anna and her fantastically named dog Bert. Bert was tiny but very vocal in his dislike of sheep so was consistent in spoiling my hill zen for a bit as there were sheep everywhere and I think they could smell the fear, as they seemed to start crowding round and staring with those pitiless eyes, but I wasn't scared. Honest.
We then ran into Emma (one of the Canadians) who had fallen behind her group as she had managed to injure her knee on the first day and was limping along in quite determined fashion. She then left us and walked on ahead to catch up with the rest and I stayed with Anna to help ward off the sheep.
The walk got gradually steeper and as Anna decided to stop for lunch and a sit down a bit too early for me I carried on.
A very sweaty 60 mins later I arrived at the high point of the day to find about thirty people milling around looking for the route. It was boggy and indistinct and Within 5 mins I had already gone over the top of my gaiters in a badly planned leap over a peat bog.
I did manage to find the group I was supposed to be walking with though and as I was the only one with a compass (still cant believe that) we managed to find the path and carry on down towards Grasmere. It was a rocky and boggy descent with us all taking turns to go knee deep in the bog and I'm still not sure how limping emma made it down with only being able to bend one leg.
As we got to Grasmere, my now planed stop for the evening, we parted ways as they were all going onto patterdale - another 4 hours. I had considered doing this had opted for two easy days rather than one long one. They were very jealous of my planned cream tea and hot bath but had no choice but to carry on as accomodation was booked.
The youth hostel is one of the nicer ones but I am hoping there are no snorers (apart from me) as its a ten man dorm. I have another fried breakfast booked for tomorrow so my fat levels are going to be kept good and high for getting me up helvelyn in the morning.