On top of the world - View from Catbells

Tuesday
This morning Roger, Philip and I got a reasonably early start and drove up to the Lake District - just about an hour and a half drive. We had booked a B&B in Windermere for the night, then Bernard and Edna, and Janet and John are coming up to join us for the day tomorrow. We were blessed with a lovely day, so we enjoyed a beautiful drive up. We checked into our B&B first, and they offered us a cup of coffee, then we walked into the center to get some simple picnic supplies to take with us on our walk, then we drove up to Derwentwater, where we had decided we were going to walk up Catbells, the fell to the west of the lake. The fell's unusual name may well have come from a distortion of "Cat Bields" meaning shelter of the wild cat, although this is not certain. We found it quite a climb, not having much opportunity to do those sort of climbs, living as we do in Ohio, where the highest altitude is 1549 ft. I don't know whether I could have done it before improving my fitness by losing weight and increasing my exercise earlier in the year. However, as you can see the view was amazing - well worth the effort. We sat at the summit, enjoying our picnic, while taking it all in. We continued walking, descending to the lake, and walked back along the lake for a way, before climbing back up to the car park. We found a little tea room to have a cup of tea and cake then went for a bit of a drive before enjoying an Indian meal in Windermere. A glorious day!

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