I met Shane and Martha at the train station mid-day Friday. Shane travelled to the train station from our flat on the tube with Martha and his backpack and weekend bag. When he arrived at the train station he was greeted by an escalator - which with luggage would be considered convenient; however, with luggage and a dog, not so convenient as dogs must be carried. Picking up Martha whilst also managing his bags had Shane completely worn out before our trekking holiday had even begun!
The mid-day Friday train from London up North was packed. Luckily, we had seat reservations but poor Martha didn't have much room to roam as people were constantly in the aisle looking for seats. After a cramped train journey, we arrived in Keswick early evening. We settled into our hotel and set out to explore the town. We took Martha along with us and felt like celebrities - everyone in the village was obsessed with Martha!
The next morning we woke up early for breakfast in the hotel before setting out on our trek - Walla Crag. The summit provided wonderful views of the Derwentwater and Keswick. While the trek up to the summit was relatively easy, the trek down from the summit significantly increased in level of difficulty. We think we got off the main path at some point as we no longer were passing people on the route and when we reached the bottom, there was a sign warning of the steepness of the climb and recommending another route.
We ended our trek is a small town on the other side of the lake and opted to the take the ferry back to Keswick.
After a quick power nap and refresh, we headed out for dinner with Martha in tow. Some of Martha's admirers from the previous evening were out and about on Saturday and stopped in at the pub where we were grabbing dinner to say hello to Martha again. She was a hit in Keswick!
On Sunday we woke up early to get in a walk by the lake before departing.
Due to rain forecasted in the afternoon, we switched our train to an earlier one. Martha, exhausted from Saturday's trek, didn't have the energy to roam around on the train - she slept under our seats the whole time! When we arrived in London, people were shocked that there was a dog in the carriage as she didn't make a sound. It was the first time that Martha had appeared as well-trained as the British dogs!
We loved the Lake District and were so happy to be able to fit in one more holiday for Martha in England!
