Monday, September 16 – today is our anniversary, and it dawned with the promise of a great day to be outside.

We first fueled up with a serious breakfast, one where I neglected to take any photos. In fact, I have zero food photos today…sorry to my food porn friends, I shall try to do better tomorrow.

Regardless, we headed out into the chilly but sunny midmorning for our first hike. The initial part of the route was relatively easy, about 4 miles through beautiful scenery (I had a difficult time culling my photos today) between the towns of Windermere and Ambleside.

In Ambleside, we explored a cool old church, then stopped in a pub for a light lunch to prepare for the next section of the hike.

Part two was far more aggressive, up a hill to some waterfalls, and then a steep climb up Wansfell Pike, with an elevation gain of some 1,600 feet. We were rewarded at the top with some striking views of the lake and surrounding valleys.

After our descent, we found a great pub for a bit of refreshment before making the final push back “home”. My watch ran out of battery with probably a mile left to go, but the total hike was roughly 8 hours (including food/drink breaks) and 8.8 miles. Weather and company could not have been more perfect!

Back at the hotel, we had about an hour to rest and clean up before our scheduled dinner slot. We ran into a couple we met yesterday who got married today at the hotel. They were here with a few friends and they were a lot of fun–delighted to hear that they were getting married on our anniversary. They kept telling us that they loved our accents. We have accents?? Just a fun group.

We all gathered for a nice dinner–we were all tired but happy with our day. Perfect weather, great company, gorgeous views. We might feel it in the morning, but it was definitely worth it.

Looking forward to tomorrow’s adventures!

29,255+ steps;11.3+ miles