Karen's boots, which certainly fitted fine when she bought them, were giving her problems, especially with the big toe banging against the front of the boot when walking down hill. So, we decided to see if we could get a new pair of boots which fitted in Keswick.
We had plenty of time as we planned a relatively short walk from Gatesgarth Farm across Scarth Gap (re-ascending yesterday's descent route) and then down into Ennerdale and the Black Sail Hut. First we tried Rathbones where we had good service in the past and Karen tried on some Alt Berg Fremington boots as Alt Berg boots come in five widths so the chances of getting a good fit are better. It seemed that the widths they had in stock weren't suitable, so they suggested we try George Fishers just up the road.
So we headed for George Fishers and had excellent service from an assistant working there who, despite having a prosthetic arm was able to tie the boot ;aces one-handed! It took a while to have her feet measured and try on the appropriate Alt Berg Fremingtons with various after market insoles to get the best fit, but we got there after a while. It appeared that the problem was down to foot was rotating a bit inwards causing the big toe to be positioned a bit more towards the front.
While we were already in Keswick and it was lunchtime, we decided we might as well eat lunch there and then return to the camp-site.
We had let the camp-site owner know e would be away for a couple of nights and they charged us a reduced amount to allow us to leave the tent pitched there and the car in the car park. We knew the 77a bus, which would get us to Gatesgarth Farm, seemed to be at 56 minutes past the hour, so we planned to catch the 11:56 bus.
We walked to the bus stop a few hundred metres away at 11:45 and soon a bus appeared from the direction of Keswick. Rats. It was a 78 and bound for Seatoller, so no good for us.
No problem, we thought, the 77a will be along soon. After an hour, and no sign of a 77a, I re-checked the bus timetable on the bus stop on the other side of the road and realised that after 11:56 the buses were every two hours instead of hourly. D'oh! So the next bus would be at 13:56 and not 12:56.
Oh well, at least we knew why there was no bus yet! The bus duly arrived at 14:05 (late again!) and off we went. At the bottom of the Honister Pass where the road is narrow, there was a slight accident with a car scraping the side of the bus, but soon we were back at Gatesgarth.
We set off back up to Scarth Gap and then down the other side into Ennerdale and we arrived at the Black Sail Hut at 16:45. As the Youth Hostel is right on the route of the Coast to Coast long distance route, it is popular with passing walkers and the Common Room, just inside the front door, is left open and the Members' Kitchen is available for making hot drinks. So we, went in and made ourselves a hot drink and waited until the hostel was open at 17:00 so that we could book in.
After making up our beds (we were in separate bunk rooms accessible by outside doors, as were the toilets and shower), we each had a shower. We had also booked meals at the hostel and had a lovely sausage, mashed potatoes and red cabbage for dinner with apple crumble and custard for dessert.
There was a group of walkers from Canada also staying amongst the other guests.
We read in the evening, had a look at the glorious sunset and then had and early night.
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