On the coffin route between Grasmere and Rydal

We left the apartment in Windermere in bright sunshine, just north of Grasmere the clouds came down and it turned quite bleak and cold. Such a change from yesterday’s high temperatures. A woman in Oswald’s in Penrith said there could be snow tomorrow- and we did see a gritter out this evening.

We viewed a couple of places to rent this morning. The first was in Lorton near Cockermouth. The other at High Hesket between Penrith and Carlisle. They were as different as chalk and cheese. The place near Lorton had just been renovated and we would be the first occupants.

The second, by comparison was tired and cold and very bleak. We’ve told the estate agent and landlord we will make a decision tomorrow! Tonight we’re looking at all the options from bus routes to beds. Fingers crossed we can make it work.

After the second viewing we called in for lunch at Oswald’s cafe at Cranstons in Penrith. Disappointed by the food and its cost. Two brunch bowls (quite small) two coffees and a shared cheese scone £37.50.

From there we drove on to Grasmere for a brisk walk in the keen wind from the lay-by on the main road through the village alongside Grasmere and Rydal Water then up past Rydal Church and Rydal Mount and on to the old coffin road back to Grasmere.

The extra, of a bank of wild daffodils, not yet in full glory, was taken in Dora’s Field, adjacent to the church. A garden in memory of Dora one of Wordsworth’s children. See the wiki below:

Coffin routes as many of you will know are ancient routes taken by mourners carrying the deceased to be buried in consecrated ground. It would have been hard work.

The walk concluded by passing Dove Cottage which we’ve visited before, so adding a final Wordsworthian dimension to the afternoon.

“Dora Wordsworth died of tuberculosis at her parents' home, and is buried in the graveyard of St Oswald's Church, Grasmere, Cumbria, along with her parents and siblings, aunt Sarah Hutchinson, and Hartley Coleridge, son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. After her death, her distraught father (who had already lost two of his children to illness), planted hundreds of daffodils in her memory in a field (later named Dora's Field) beside St. Mary's Church, Rydal. The site of Dora's Field, where daffodils are still cultivated today, is now owned by the National Trust.”