Read, Write, Ramble

It was a designated rest day for us in Kirkby Stephen (pronounced Kirby Stephen – so why is that second ‘k’ there?). We had a leisurely breakfast in the B&B with our fellow travellers, who were moving on to Keld today. They are completing the crossing in 14 days. We also enjoyed an interesting chat with our lovely host Elaine. Eventually extricating ourselves, the first mission of the day was to locate the laundrette and deal with the accumulated washing. We eventually found it, a dingy little place, hidden down a laneway, but the cheerful owner was genuinely helpful, giving us a crash course in the machines and plenty of advice. While everything washed, we set off for the Coop to source some lunch ingredients for tomorrow, as the B&B is the first place we have stayed that doesn’t supply packed lunches. With this item ticked off the list, we returned to the laundrette, dealt with the drying, and walked the half mile back to the B&B. The next item on the agenda, was to...

If I had to describe the scenery of the Lake District in one word, it would be ‘dramatic’. To do the same for the Westmorland Dales, it would be ‘genteel’. The hills here are green and rolling, covered with fields edged with dry stone walls, full of either cattle, sheep, or wildflowers. I love most of all, the wildflower meadows, many of which we walked through this morning. We were already at a disadvantage today as we had  a 3-mile hike to rejoin the Coast to Coast path at Orton,  from our accommodation at Tebay. This would make the distance for the day 15 miles (24km), our longest to date, although only fractionally more than Ennerdale Bridge to Seatoller on our second day. Wallsy tried very hard to get a car to take us to the start in Orton this morning, but they simply weren’t responding to his calls – the only one who did, couldn’t make the trip at the time we needed, so we just had to walk the extra miles. It was a pretty walk on a fairly busy section of road, but we ...

The hospitality at the King’s Arms in Shap was memorable, not the least because they took our luggage up to our room when it arrived, instead of leaving it downstairs for us to deal with ourselves on arrival. This was the first of our accommodation to do this, and we appreciated it so much at the end of a day’s walk. We bid them farewell at about 9:15 and set off for a ‘short’ walk to Tebay. After our first hour of walking through fields dotted with sheep, and the signature pink granite rocks that Shap is known for, we had navigated quite a few bogs before we passed over Shap summit. We now left   the industry of Shap (granite and limestone works), the high-speed trains on the Westcoast Mainline, the roar of the traffic on the M6, and sadly, the Lakeland views, behind. Ahead the fenceline opened up to reveal the Westmoreland Dales and Shapfell Quarry! It was easy walking over Crosby Ravensworth Fell in fine weather and patches of sunshine. We chose an area of limestone rocks, w...

If I was to summarise the recurring themes of this hike to date, there would be three: steep ascents; magnificent views; rain, sometimes all at once, although the rain does tend to disrupt the magnificent views somewhat. Today was no exception to the rule, we again experienced all three of these phenomena. During our research we had read how steep and treacherous the highest peak on the Coast to Coast, Kidsty Pike, could be in bad weather and poor visibility. As always, there were alternative routes offered should the weather threaten to be unsuitable. The route with the most appeal for us, was the one that, instead of joining the Coast to Coast path at Patterdale,   took walkers to Pooley Bridge, up and over Askham Fell and through the Lowther Valley to Shap. We could walk the 10 miles from Glenridding to Pooley Bridge, or we could catch the steamer up the lake to begin the day’s hike. There was no question as to which was Wallsy’s preferred option. So tickets on the 0945 st...

We were back on the track today and it threw a little bit of everything at us, but  we both agreed it was probably the most enjoyable day of our walk so far. There was a brief shower of rain as we walked over Goody Bridge on the way out of Grasmere this morning,  enough to force Wallsy to down his pack and don his overpants and rain jacket, however it didn’t last long and we were soon trudging up the steep ascent feeling a little too warm, but reluctant to stop again to remove layers, knowing there was more rain forecast. Although the ascent was steep, it was a generally well-made section of track and the reward, the higher we got, was magnificent views back over the Easedale Valley. Every time I looked back, as we gained elevation, the light had changed, making each view photo-worthy. Of course, admiring the scenery also provides an important opportunity to rest burning calf muscles and catch your breath. The track became increasingly rocky as we left Tongue Gill and tr...

The rain was back today, apparently because that’s what happens on Bank Holiday weekend in the Lake District. The weather didn’t bother us too much, as we were having a designated rest day in Grasmere, except that we had to load up the washing and catch the bus into Ambleside to the nearest laundrette. We did get a little damp in the process of walking around Ambleside, but the accommodation at the Quaker centre where we are staying has a great drying room, and everything is now ready to be packed again in preparation for the walk from Grasmere to Glenridding tomorrow. Ambleside and Grasmere are both quintessentially English villages, the buildings erected from the characteristic slatestone of the Lake District, also used to build the drystone walls that dot the fields. The effect is beautiful. Some buildings have a rough-cast render which may be painted white or cream, as is the case for the guest house where we are staying, Glenthorne, but in the majority of houses and public bui...

Today it was a matter of choose your rock carefully! Making the wrong choice of rock, could see you either up to your ankles in water, or up to your knees in a bog. We were excited to wake to sunshine and as it was supposedly a shorter walking day, we took a later start, setting off at 0930 to walk up to Stonethwaite Bridge where we would rejoin the Coast to Coast Track. We were perhaps a mile from the start due to the fact that our accommodation had been in the first of the Borrowdale villages, rather than at Rosthwaite at the far end of the valley. The sun was shining, our wet weather gear was all stowed in our packs, and the cuckoos were calling across the valley as we walked. Wallsy had devised a shortcut on public footpaths, to get us up to Stonethwaite, so the day began with a pleasant walk across fields,  through a farmyard (there is a lot of passing through farmyards on public footpaths over here, which seems a bit invasive to us), past a little chapel, an honesty cak...

Today was an epic adventure. I can’t describe how much I appreciated starting out in thoroughly dry socks and boots thanks to the wonderful staff at the Shepherds Arms and the magic of their drying room. They whisked everything wet away as soon as we arrived and it was all lined up, nice and dry for us to collect after breakfast this morning. Breakfast in our bellies, lunch in our packs, dry socks and boots, no rain (just mizzle), well-constructed paths – the day began well with so many boxes ticked. We may have been lulled into a false sense of security on the paved path that led us down to the end of Ennerdale Water, stepping it out to gain valuable time, as we were under no illusions that today was to be a long day. Unfortunately the magnificent views up the lake to Pillar Crag that we had read about in the guidebook were not visible due to the very low cloud and mist, but the lake was a very serene and beautiful. After studying the route notes we had decided to tackle the l...

I’ve resigned myself to wet feet. Yesterday, our walk out to the St Bees headland  led to wet feet, due to my waterproof overpants channelling all the water down into my socks. There are two lessons to take away from this: 1. Don’t tighten the bottom of the overpants when wearing them with shoes rather than boots and, 2. Wear gaiters when it is raining. So, although we had a cosy  night in St Bees, it was not cosy enough for my boots to dry out  which meant I had a head start on wet socks today, heightened by the relentless rain. We were down for breakfast at 0730, our cases had to be in the front room ready for collection by 0830, which all meant we were on the road and rearing to go by 20 to 9. We first had a   brief stop to make at the St Bees station for a photo with the original Coast to Coast book joining us on the track, at the request of our good friends from Adelaide, who have repeated the walk on a number of occasions. Having walked the beach and the he...