If the rest of it is even half this good....!

What a tremendous first day! I got a good kick-off with the 'full English' breakfast on offer at the B&B. You've got to load up with serious fuel for a 14 mile hike! We set off in to the morning gloom in full expectation of a drenching, but were treated to what became a beautiful summer day. I'd forgotten just how glorious the English countryside in summer can be. It's intoxicating!
The first few miles along the coast cliffs north of St. Bees were dotted with spectacular viewing places to see the colonies of thousands of seabirds living on the cliffs and feeding in the sea - razorbills and guillemots, including the rare black guillemot which only lives in this one location in the whole UK. Meanwhile above the cliffs the skylarks treated us to their amazing lung-bursting aerial arias. For a bird lover it was quite overwhelming!
We wended our way along paths and country lanes full of spring flowers and fresh farm smells finding it easier than we had expected to navigate as there were far more signs than we had been led to believe. The direction of our particular trail is often helpfully marked 'C2C'.
In the mid-afternoon after a pretty strenuous hour of climbing we found ourselves in the place where heaven and earth meet, and where the 360 degree views were breathtaking - all the way from the very southern end of the Lake District (Black Combe') in the south, to the Selway Firth and the mountains of southern Scotland in the north, by way of the Isle of Man (out in the Irish Sea). To the west we got our first really good look at the high fell landscape of the Lake District which lies ahead on our path. I don't know any other landscape like it, with the great treeless domes of the mountains looking imposing and tranquil. The sense of space - not so common on this small island of Britain - was immense, and standing there in the sun and the breeze, with the skylarks singing high overhead I felt suddenly giddy with joy.
The descent was steep - very steep - the steepest descent of the whole Coast-to-Coast walk actually - and it's a real toe-cruncher, believe me! After a very civilized stop for tea at the side of a beck in a gorgeous little valley, we pressed on, chewing on Wine Gums now to supplement our rapidly dwindling store of energy (yes folks, even Vidya was on the wine gums!).
We finally staggered in to Ennerdale Bridge at about 6pm having taken 1.5 hours longer than most people, but boy did we enjoy it! Our host came to pick us up and brought us to out B&B for the night. The view out back was so improbably spectacular I just started laughing when I saw it. Dinner wasn't much less spectacular, but alas it's a wine-only joint. so I didn't have the opportunity to sample the local beer. As much as I may enjoy the pleasures of the magical amber brew, this was one evening when I wasn't about to set off and walk to a pub!