A 7km walk, the first in ages.Route: leaving the car at the NT car park (free to members and almost full at 11am on a so-so day in January) and walking past the Bridge Hotel and Allerdale Court Hotel to the lake and then via the footbridge to the path on the far, western, side of the lake. Along this to the head of the lake and then back first on the road and then on the newly re-engineered path on the eastern shore, this time through the tunnel. At the end of the lake, turning right at the fork to head directly to the village where, it transpired, both pubs were shut for January. Hence back to the carpark and thence to the Kirkstile Inn.
Conditions: a better, drier day than expected though cloud obscuring the tops.
Pub: squeezing into a fully booked Kirkstile Inn, but permitted soup and also keg American Invasion.
