Monday 19th July Seven Inches Almost Enough

Today was very wet - seven inches of rain in the last 48 hours. Left the pub early to get a good start on the days walk down Ennerdale Water and over the mountains via Loft Beck and through Seatoller to Rosthwaite. Approximately 26k in all. When we left it was raining and it continued to rain, rain, rain with the occasional burst up of wind up to gale force. Water literally pouring off the mountains - the video and pictures simply do not do it justice (basically unfortunately it was to wet to take photos or video of some stunning scenery). Apparently there was a drought right up until we arrived!!!! Trudged along to Black Sail Hut where we contemplated the path up Loft Beck. This path is basically a stairway up to the saddle followed by a slog across a muddy field relying on the GPS for directions - forecast was for gale force winds and we thought we had about an hour and a half to make the journey before we could start to go down the other side. Decided not to risk it and we backtracked to the Ennerdale YHA and called a taxi which took us to the hotel at Rosthwaite. Still raining but tomorrow is supposed to be dry(ish) early and we only have 14k to do. So we have now covered 30 waypoints out of 170. 14klms tomorrow and 15 klms the next day so we shouldn't be too busted over the next two days.We will be in Grasmere tomorrow night but we are bitterly disappointed that it looks like we won't be able to do Helvellyn and Striding Edge. (google for further information). Bummer.