As my days in the Lake District are winding down, I am trying to do as much as I can in the final days. The Trailblazing Trio had one more tarn to discover, Easedale Tarn. It's about two miles from Grasmere and a tarn that Dorothy and William frequently visited. They would go up there to write, discuss literature and poetry, and to seek solitude. The three of us couldn't leave the Lake District without going to this tarn.
We left bright and early, our fellow peers still asleep. It wasn't a bright sun-shiny day and it looked like it might rain. Quite different than the weather we have been use to! We wandered into Grasmere and then took the path to Easedale.
After climbing Helvellyn yesterday, Easedale wasn't much of a challenge incline wise. Although our calves probably didn't appreciate another incline. After climbing over many, many, many rocks and taking many photos of Sour Milk Gill, we made it to the tarn.
No one else was there and a low lying cloud hung above the tarn. It was a sight. The lake's reflection was crystal clear; watching a bird flying close to the surface you would swear the reflection is another bird. We made our way over to some rocks closer to the edge.
Courtney and I decided to do some writing while Mike just kept taking in the view. I couldn't help but think about William and Dorothy. I could see why they loved this tarn so much. It was so quiet, the perfect place for reflection, both literally and figuratively. I wondered if they ever walked on the shore of the tarn; navigating over rocks while discussing Milton or Jonson. I furiously wrote these thoughts and others down.
Just as Courtney and I were in the "writer zone" several more groups of people joined us on the tarn. They preferred to talk instead of just looking, disturbing the quietness the three of us had. Their voices echoed, louder than they knew, and really threw the whole atmosphere off. Courtney and I shared several dissatisfied looks, hoping they would leave, but one of the groups was eating lunch so no go. We took in a few more moments and then headed back down, this time going over Sour Milk Gill and then over to travel down the hillside next to Easedale Beck. It was a nice walk down.
We ate our sandwiches on a bench and talked about the best things we had seen and done during the last three weeks. We talked about how our opinions of the Wordsworths had changed and how Courtney and I adore John Ruskin. Then it was back to Dale End; probably the earliest we have gotten back this entire trip.
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