Written by Alan Thomas, co-owner of Elterwater Hostel
As if we needed an excuse…the Cumbria Way passes through Elterwater, and Christine and I were keen to experience a night in our hostel as genuine travellers. So here’s the diary of our walk, starting in Ulverston:
Day 1
You can’t visit Ulverston without calling to see the statues of Laurel and Hardy.
They might well have chuckled at our packs (two litres of water each) but we had the last laugh; the Sherpa Van service was taking care of our main overnight bag, all 20 kilos of it. So we’re off. I’ve got the Cumbria Way walking guide, but does Christine trust me? She’s got her IPhone, complete with OS Maps GPS download, to hand.
We didn’t exactly get lost but the route wasn’t always easy to follow and it took nearly seven hours to cover the 12 miles to Torver. Maybe because Christine’s step counter seemed to have gone backwards for the last mile and a half. Technology, eh!
But at least we overtook an American couple walking at snail’s pace through a mud maze in trainers.
