Spirit Trail Day 3 - Last one to the hotel smells!

With absolutely no disrespect to Karen, the first person to the hotel smelled as well.  Today

we covered 8 miles from Greenodd, up and over Bigland Hill and down into Cartmel.

The weather was decidedly "claggy" - muggy, grey and occasionally rainy - meaning I had a waterproof on but may as well not have bothered because I was sweating buckets underneath it and ended up soaked to the skin anyway.  (The persperation was probably 40% proof after a wee sampling session last night...)

Essential product testing...

Although straightfoward the route wasn't without its challenges.  We did consider limbo dancing under this tree but feared the weight of the pack would interfer with my otherwise contortionist moves.

Bigland Tarn was looking misty, moody & ethereal (which is another way of saying it was misty & we couldn't see much), still, it was the perfect place for a quick cuppa & a snack.

Bigland Tarn

Both of us SUPER impressed with our
Hydro Flasks!

From there it was a pretty easy "over & down" into Cartmel - but along the way the oddest thing happened & I promise that this is such a wild co-incidence that I wouldn't make it up as it would sound too cheesy!  As we came down the hill I pointed out some pretty cottages to Karen, Crumble Cottages, and mentioned that they were owned & run by some friends (Sarah & Stuart). Two minutes later we arrived at a road junction at the exact same moment as Sarah & Stuart (on their way to the shops) and they promptly dragged us back to their place and plied us with hot tea and biscuits (obviously against our will!) 😀

Beautiful Crumble Cottages

 Fully fuelled for our final push we headed for our hotel for the night - the Uplands Hotel in Cartmel.  Karen booked it and I have absolutely no idea what influenced her decision, though there may be a tiny clue in the photo...

After the escapades of the day we were both a little whiffy and were very glad of a long hot shower - I'm pretty sure the rest of the guests will appreciate the fact we took a shower too.

The bar has a spectacular selection of gins, including one which changes colour, so I thought it best to update this while I could still see straight... 

Tomorrow we're visiting a gin emporium and a brewery before sampling liqueurs over lunch & attempting to walk 8 miles. What could possibly go wrong? 😀

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