We headed down for
breakfast at 8am and ordered our porridge, brown toast, tea for Sarah and
coffee for me. As we ate breakfast we got talking to a father and son from
South Yorkshire having breakfast next to us, the dad was walking Coast to Coast
and he had called his son to “rescue him”. The weather and miles had worn him
down, so he’s decided to take a day off, his son had kindly drove up to support
him, and over breakfast decided he was going to walk today’s route for his dad
whilst the dad drove car over to Shap. The dad was 67, so he’s done really well
to be honest and the weather has been poor to say the least.
After breakfast we
donned the water proofs again and hit the trial. The rain was already coming
down and the forecast was set for rain all day. Before leaving Patterdale
village we called at the village shop for some butties for lunch, stuffed them
in the rucksack and away we headed.
The climb up towards
Angle Tarn is a steep one, however even in relatively poor weather as we had
today fine retrospective views of the Hellvellyn range to the west, and great
views towards Brothers Water & Red Screes to the South West can be seen.
Whilst it was a wet day it was far too warm for water proofs, every time there
was a break in the rain we were unzipping our coats trying to get some air!
As we passed Angle
Tarn the rain started to ease as we continued the long climb towards Kidsty
Pike, (the highest point on Coast to Coast at 2,560ft). As we approached the
summit the low swirling clouds made for some wild and chaotic scenery, the kind
the changes as soon as you point a camera at it!
We had the
obligatory picture on the summit of Kidsty Pike before descending quickly down
the steep banks towards Haweswater, in the hope of some shelter for lunch as
the heavens opened yet again. As we began to plod the long walk along
Haweswater in the rain we felt like the only people around for miles, the summit
of Kidsty was actually quite busy with walkers, we were confident in our map
position, I just hoped some of the others were also!
We managed to gain a
window of opportunity between heavy showers to stop for lunch and eat our
butties we’d picked up from the village store in Patterdale, to which Sarah
quite rightly pointed out were “much nicer than they looked!”
We quickly finished
our lunch and walked the 3 – 4 miles along Haweswater towards Burn Banks, after
quickly stopping & firing up the stove for a quick brew during another rain
break, along with a flap jack we pressed on.
We knew we had
perhaps another 4 miles to Shap, however the rain stayed away for the remainder
of the day and the terrain was now much easier on the body, less craggy and
rocky, and more country lanes and fields, I even packed the water proofs away
for the last few miles which was really nice.
We arrived at New
Ing Lodge, which is a lovely overnight stay at the end of a long day, at around
5:30pm, feeling pretty good given the length and lofty heights of today’s walk.
After stuffing the boots with newspaper and hanging our wet clothes (what now
seemed to be etched in our daily routine), we had a quick shower and change
went down stairs to sample the recently installed New Ing Bar for a quick pint
for me and half for Sarah. After drinking my pint in what seemed like record
time, we headed into the village for something to eat, we picked up some
butties for tomorrows walk and headed for the Shap chippy (highly recommended),
fish and chips for me, large of course, and sausage, chips and curry for Sarah,
washed down with a nice cup of tea!
We returned to the
New Ing Lodge for a couple of drinks and sat chatting to some guys from London
who were walking Coast to Coast in sections, finishing their walk today and
returning in September to complete another section of the walk. We also had a
chat with two guys we met once or twice on route called Charles and Ian,
Charles was walking the Coast to Coast for charity and as part of a bigger
challenge which involved walking in Nepal also, he was having some problems
with his feet, and feeling a bit down with the weather but overall in good
spirits considering.
We headed off to bed
not long before 10pm, we had a huge room at New Ing which we were pleased to
return to at the end of a long but fantastic 4th day on the Coast to
Coast trail. We’ve met some great people already on route, and despite the
weather we we’re really enjoying the experience of our 3rd C2C walk.
Today is always a bit of a watershed moment, as tomorrow morning we cross the
M6 foot bridge leaving the Lake District behind us..............it’s never good
to leave the Lakes, whatever the circumstances, but as Wainwright states they
will not change, and they’ll remain for future ventures. I fell asleep thinking
of other sights we’ve got ahead, none as fine as Lake Land admittedly, but
Swaledale and the fantastic Cleavland Hills await!!
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