Peter’s stomach was still feeling quite off in the morning, so we came up with a Plan A and Plan B for the day, and ended up following Plan B. We had a good breakfast in the bnb dining room, packed up our gear and headed out towards the Rydal Caves. This was a further walk than we perhaps anticipated, but wasn’t too strenuous until the last few metres. The views over the lake were beautiful too, so well worth a little bit of effort. 

When we came to the first cave, we realised we’d have to do a bit of climbing, which was fun ‘real life’ application for my bouldering skills! There was a rock shelf about 2 metres high that led up to the cave, so we scrambled our way up to be greeted by a huge mouth to a very large cavern. It was pretty damp and puddley, but we hopped our way across the stones and found that the cave went deeper than it appeared. There was a pitch black tunnel that we crept our way along using phone torches that led into a smaller cavern, which ended abruptly and was covered with scratched carvings – clearly all the Ambleside teenagers had found this spot! Once we’d headed back into the light and slid our way back down to the path, we continued up the path to the bigger cave. The second cave was described in our directions as ‘big enough to hold the population of Ambleside’ and that wasn’t far off! It was easier to access, just walking straight in, but the floor was a lake of water – even containing fish! We stepped across some stepping stones and explored the cave before dodging the other people entering and finding our way to back to the path.

At this point, Peter turned back to go back to the accommodation and rest, while I continued on the upward path to Loughrigg Fell. The path was actually surprisingly smooth and had beautiful views for this section, looking over Grasmere lake and village. It seemed to lure me into a false sense of security though, as suddenly I found myself turning a corner and faced with a steep set of stairs heading up the mountain. I puffed and panted my way up these, with a few breathing stops, and came to what appeared to be the top… before realising there was still a bit of a walk to the summit. The last section was less steep though, and before long I found myself at the summit with a stunning view in all directions.

After a quick breather and sit at the stop, I began to make my way down the other side, following winding paths and a few little detours. I stopped to eat my lunch with a Iovely view of fields full of sheep, before continuing the steep path down into Ambleside village. I think I had timed the walk well, as there were loads of people coming up in the other direction! 

I met Peter at Beer Ambleside and we picked up a couple of interesting-looking cans before heading off in another direction out of time. We followed the signs toward Stock Ghyll Force, a waterfall just out of town, which we reached after a brief uphill walk. There were loads of people compared to the other walks we’d done, and not particularly friendly people either! Too many children and naughty dogs off-leash. Regardless, we admired the waterfalls and found a relatively peaceful spot to sit for a while before heading back to town.

We visited a couple of stores, including a lovely craft gin store, and had a nice chat to some of the locals. Then it was back to the bnb for a restful hour or so. At around 6 we headed back to the Badger Inn, where we had a delicious dinner – Peter reckons his steak and ale pie is the best he’s ever had! We’d intended to stick around for the badgers, but we were just too tired so ended up heading back for an early night ahead of an early morning!