June 15

Cobbled hike. We had run out of the obvious hiking routes that were accessible from Ambleside so I cobbled a hike together after looking at some suggested hikes and the maps.  We walked over Wansfell Pike to Troutbeck then up the stream to the head of the valley. This gave us access to Thornthwaite Crag at 784 m and Stony Cove Pike at  763 m from which we drop into Kirkstone Pass and back into Ambleside. The walk took us a little over 8 hours. It was a great hike with lots of good views and a bit of challenge. Of all we saw many sheep including an abundance of this spring's lambs. At breakfast we learned that the price of wool is so low that the farmers are not bothering to do the shearing. We also learned that much of the land on which we have hiked was donated to the National Trust by Beatrix Potter and her husband.