Rob, Brock and I headed to the most Westerly lake in the Lake District yesterday:
Ennerdale Water.
You can walk all around the Lake (7 miles), but we just did a two mile section and then walked back, giving about four miles in total.
It is an easy walk, with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and isolated houses and farms.
Afterwards, we headed into
Cockermouth (a 20 minute drive from Ennerdale Water) for lunch.
We went to
The Coffee Kitchen, a small coffee shop and bakery. Dogs can be taken to the two tables available on the ground floor. (There is a much larger seating area upstairs). The coffee is excellent, as are the cakes and bread, baked on the premises.
Since I require gluten free, vegetarian food, the choices are often limited, and so it was here. I could only eat the cheese salad (£6), and a coconut traybake. Both of which were tasty and good quality. The lunch menu items are pretty tiny portions, though, - more of a snack - but the cakes are a generous size. Rob ate the 'hummus platter' (£5): a small ramekin of hummus with a handful each of salad and crackers, followed by a seeded flapjack. We also had an Americano, a Macchiato and a small bottle of sparkling spring water. Rob bought two small loaves of bread and two packs of crisps to take away and the bill came to £26.20.
In summary, I would highly recommend the coffee and cakes, but would eat lunch elsewhere if you expect a generous portion, especially if you need gluten free food.
We had lunch in Cockermouth afterwards, in The Lanes Cafe. An enjoyable jacket potato with cheese, beans and side salad with peppermint tea to drink, for me; scrambled eggs, toast and chips with coffee for Rob, and two takeaway cakes, came to a very reasonable £15. On the downside, the staff were not particularly friendly and they forgot one item that we had ordered. On the whole, since it is dog-friendly, I would go back if we had Brock with us.
