The Traveling Idiots-Where The Tuck Are They Now?: "Just keep the lake on your left, you can't get lost"

Our journey has now taken us to Lake Windermere in what is known as the "Lake District". This region is in the North/Northwest section of England. As the name implies it is made up of a number of large lakes. Lake Windermere is the largest of all the lakes in the district and we're staying at the south end..  This lake is a little more than 10 miles long, over a mile wide at it's widest point and at the deepest point is over 220 feet deep for those of you keeping score.
First of all a big thank you to a very special group of folks back at Texas Health Huguley. Last year when I retired they bought Beth and I a hotel gift certificate which we're using for our stay here at the Lakeside Hotel. We're so grateful!
http://www.lakesidehotel.co.uk
There are boats that run from one end of the lake to the other. The hub for the boats is the town of Bowness which is pretty much at the mid-point in the lake. From our hotel we can take a boat to Bowness.  There we are able to switch to another boat that can be taken to the north end of the lake and the city of Ambleside. The boats run continuously throughout the day so it's very easy. Both Bowness and Ambleside are worth a few hours of wandering around time. As well as one other stop at Brockhole which is the visitors center for the Lake District National Park.
https://www.windermere-lakecruises.co.uk
Wednesday this area received about 5 inches of snow. We didn't arrive until late Thursday afternoon. By then it had warmed up and all the snow except for that in the distant mountains had melted (this is going to be important later on).
In addition to the lakes, the area is known for it's outstanding hiking trails which we were anxious to try. Friday morning we took the boat to Bowness. We were going to look around a bit before taking a ferry across the lake and hiking back to the hotel. We had talked to several people about this hike and they all said pretty much the same thing. It would be about a three hour hike on mostly flat terrain and to just keep the lake on your left and you can't get lost. It sounded simple enough so around 1:30 we took the ferry across and hit the trail.
Literally speaking we never got lost! The lake was always on our left, but other than that it was a hike like no other we had ever done. It started simple enough on a nice wide, well marked trail. We knew from the map that the trail ran close to the edge of the lake. What we soon figured out was that not only had a lot of snow melted in the last day or two but that it had rained quite a bit recently and the lake level was up considerably. By the time we started to hit some little "challenges" like the trail being under water we had gone too far to turn around so we kept pushing on. Every time we'd get through one "challenge" and think we were done there would be something else for us to deal with just around the bend.
Diversions off the trail took us over and through fences, often walking in sheep filled pastures. I don't think they're the sharpest animals on the planet! However, I believe they were looking at us thinking the very same thing.  Thank God there weren't any cattle ranches with bulls in any of them or this story might not have a happy ending. At one point Beth was balancing on top of a fence post in a karate kid type pose. The only way for her to get down was to jump into my waiting arms. She did, I caught her and we kept going. Another time we realized we were actually on one of those challenge courses like they use for The Spartan Race or Tough Mudder. It was a far cry from the easy, flat hike we had envisioned.
The lake was always on the left, we were never lost!
Two or three times the only way to keep going was to take off our shoes and wade through the water. Lakes in Northern England are pretty darn cold this time of year, especially when it snowed just two days prior. Not only was it cold but the lake shores were very rocky so we were also afraid of cutting our feet. At least there was not much chance of getting an infection. I don't think any fungus or bacteria could live in water that cold!
The lake was always on our left, we were never lost!
By now our easy three hour hike was a little over four hours in length and still no hotel in sight. We finally jumped our last fence and headed westward toward where we knew the road to the hotel would be waiting for us We had been told that the last bit of hike was along this road. Again everyone's story was the same; "there isn't much traffic on the road". Well................it wasn't quite like driving on I-75 in Florida or I-35 in Texas but it wasn't exactly traffic free either. There was no shoulder on the road and it was a very narrow, winding, two lane road and starting to get a little dark. I think we were more scared on this section than at any other time during this ordeal.
A little over four and a half hours after starting our three hour hike we were back at the hotel, safe, sound and pretty darn tired. After hot baths we ate a peanut butter sandwich and apple in the room, laughing at what we had been through and thankful that at least we kept the lake on the left the whole time......unless we were wading through it.