First The Rain, Then The Rainbows. . .

You might remember last month, the Liverpud and I did a recce for an upcoming walk near Grasmere.  The following week, he went off with a mate and decided on a different route which he assured me I'd like better.  So on Sunday, it was time to for him to lead the walk with our rambling group. It had been raining quite hard - and was still raining - in the Lake District.   This was the overflow near the White Moss car park where we left the coach.  The water was knee-deep over many of the paved paths resulting in a few detours.

Head for the hills! The higher paths definitely were better.  This is the famous view of Grasmere, unfortunately most of it made obscure by the rain and mist.

Things got better as we continued up Silver How.  Essentially we're walking on the other side of the valley, opposite Helm Crag and the ridge we hiked back in February.

Halfway up Silver How and you have a lovely view of Grasmere with Rydal in the background.  It was still raining though.

And from the top, you can also see Windermere off to the right in the back, and Loughrigg Tarn just peeping in view.  We had lunch here and while Silver How may not be the highest hill around, it's an underrated view.  The whole walk was very different in feel - more gentle ups and downs and lots of tufty mounds.

The road ahead - full of rich colours and mysterious mists.

And here was our first rainbow.

Followed by another.  You've never seen such glee among hardened and soaked walkers.  We were all kids again, ooohing and aaahing.

And one more.

I also love coming across unexpected tarns, especially when the water is clear.

And speaking of tarns, here's our first view of Easedale Tarn. In our previous walk we'd climbed up to it from the valley on the right. In this walk, we're descending down towards it.

The waterfall was fairly fierce - there was no way we could safely cross it. So we stayed on the near side and headed back to Grasmere. This cut the walk by about half an hour, but we were all ready for a warm fire and the pub by then.

Only we still had a few more challenges before making back to Grasmere.  These fast flowing streams are actually the paths we're supposed to be walking on. I don't think any of us avoided that squelchy feeling of having the cold water run over your boots and into your socks.

We got there in the end and it was lovely to end the walk by the Wordsworth Daffodil Garden in full bloom.

But primarily this walk will be remembered for those rainbows!