Windermere, Wray Castle, Latterbarrow & Claife Heights loop — Lake District National Park

It was very stormy tonight, even in the lowlands, so we didn't want to go high today. When planning my tour at home, I focused more on promising mountain tours, which is why I chose one of Komoot's “Top 20 Tours in the Lake District”, which I bitterly regretted. The view out the window made us dawdle quite a bit in the morning and finally got into the car with full rain gear. So Konrad's short hiking pants once again remained hidden under his rain pants. The start on the shore of Lake Winderemere led us via a staircase directly to a ruin with a beautiful view over the lake and its numerous anchored sailing boats. The path led us back down to the riverside road, which after a while was closed to traffic and turned into a gravel road. The rain had actually cleared up again and even though the path was wide, at least it wasn't muddy. We took the opportunity to think about a few things. There were always beautiful views of the lake and I could see Wray Castle on a hill from afar. Numerous workers were busy with repair work and were certainly happy about the rain-free hours. The path over some sheep pastures led us to an old church made of the dark stones that are so common here and that fit so harmoniously into the landscape. Here, too, there are numerous different gates that allow hikers to cross the sheep pastures. Even though it was only a little uphill, you could feel the wind increasing with every meter of elevation. After we started our way back parallel to the lake, the path ran almost exclusively on wide gravel paths through mercilessly deforested terrain, which, in its brutal clear-cutting, radiated a positively dystopian atmosphere. A sign explained that a stubborn tree pest in the form of a fungus should be put to an end here. At least an explanation that sounds painful but somewhat understandable. The last two kilometers were again a pleasure with everything that constitutes hiking in England, including swampy meadows and streams that don't stop at hiking trails.