Staveley to Bowness-on-Windermere: Day 6

Knowing it was our last day of hiking, with only 6.5 miles to cover, we didn’t hurry to finish breakfast, and I, for one, was tired from our previous day’s mileage and not to eager to strap on the backpack and put on the boots. We got going by 10:00 in spite of my delay tactics. We took a bit of a detour in getting to the trail and had a nice chat with Lynn, an experienced and helpful British woman whom we had encountered several times over the past few days. She was hiking alone and had booked accommodations just six weeks ago, so she’d found herself in some interesting situations with uncleaned rooms and thin walls with loud snorers next door. But like most British people we’ve talked with this past week, she kept a cheery and optimistic attitude in spite of the latest obstacles.

The four of us stayed together as we started our initially upward trek to Bowness. John and I were a bit ahead, trying to keep Chuck and Susy pretty much in eyesight, but at some point we realized they weren’t following us anymore. We now had cell reception, so John called Chuck, who said they were on the top of a hill looking down on a lake with boats—apparently Lake Windermere. We certainly couldn’t see this from the trail or see them anywhere, so we couldn’t do much but wish them well in finding their way back to the trail.

John and I continued on, and runners began coming towards us, first just a couple of them, and then gradually increasing numbers. Most were running, some had trekking poles, and some were walking on this rocky trail which at this point was mainly downhill for us and uphill for them. One racer told us it was a 2-day, 70k race. Our 6-day hike suddenly seemed pretty tame, although the racers were decades younger than us.

We started coming into residential areas and eventually caught sight of the bench that matches the one back in Ilkley and marks the end of The Dales Way. We flagged down a passerby and asked her to take a picture.



Then, just a bit further downhill, we saw our B&B. We heard from Chuck and Susy, who were an hour behind, having racked up extra miles and elevation and having been rewarded with a spectacular preview of our destination on Lake Windermere. They eventually came to the bench and got a picture, too.


What a great and memorable six days. Now we’ll spend a short time in Bowness before heading on to some other spots before flying home next week.

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