Latterbarrow (Lake District Part 3)

So first things first. Many of you will already know about this because I mentioned it in the beta posting for AGS, but if not, I'm one of a number of authors who has left Austen Authors. This is summarized wonderfully by Katherine Grant, so if you haven't read up on what happened head over to her blog. As I said in my post a while back, I've tended to let my work speak for itself. If you've read my series and particularly if you're in on the AGS beta, you know I value diversity in my stories and I'm looking to bring in even more of it.

The admins have deleted the posts of all of the departed authors. I saved all of my posts before submitting my resignation, however, and will be working to restore them over time to this blog, starting with the first two posts in the Lake District series:

• Lake District Part 1
• Hill Top (Lake District Part 2)

Near Hawkshead

In the first two parts, I had been basing in Far Sawrey, but I then moved on to the charming village of Hawkshead (seriously, I can't wait to share it in a future post). I dropped my bags off and as the weather was still clear but threatening to get worse later in the day, I was eager to get to walking. I stopped off in a National Trust shop first, though, because I wanted to get a trekking pole.

Gentler portion of the walk to Latterbarrow

I have a pair of poles at home but haven't really used them, but I was beginning to see how it could be a good idea. There are two key things the pole does: the first being to ease wear on your joints, because you can use it to help in downhill descents; the second being to use it for balance, for example when crossing a stream on stones. So I bought a pole at the shop, and since I was going out walking, the lady there recommended I walk to Latterbarrow.

The view was already pretty good!

I'm going to be honest, I didn't really realize it was...I won't call it a mountain, but it's a HUGE hill. But as I've said before, I've learned that you get rewarded for uphill climbs in England, so I kept going even when I saw that it was extremely high.

Getting steeper...

...and steeper.

The thing is, the path just kept getting steeper and steeper. I was definitely glad for the trekking pole to give me some extra stability going up, but there was one other problem.

Did I mention I am afraid of heights?

I am afraid of heights. Pretty significantly. And all of a sudden my fear kicked in, and I realized that I wasn't really going to be comfortable going back DOWN on the trail I'd come UP. Which meant I had to cross my fingers and keep going and hope for the best.

I made it, obviously, and I was pretty proud of myself for managing it, particularly since the view was absolutely wonderful, as I'd thought it would be. You can see it's very cloudy, but I found that just made it moodier!

At the top of Latterbarrow
Posted by Sophie Turner on Monday, July 20, 2020

Fortunately there WAS an easier path down on the other side, so I got to enjoy some more views without scaring myself!

Still a moody sky, even at lower elevation!

Love these farm houses, tucked away here.

Another farm.

I'm going to try to stay on a monthly blogging schedule here and I've got so much more Lake District to share, as well as some period cookery I've been engaging in. So I'll see you next month when I share where I walked next after Latterbarrow!