Farewell to Lakeland

We left Patterdale around 8:30 after a nice breakfast (as always). We had a long day today and for once it didn’t rain all day. In fact, it didn’t rain at all! The long climb out of Patterdale took us over the High Street chain of ridges. We passed Angle Tarn, with a flock of Canada geese on it. Then we climbed up to the High Street. This is a long line of ridges on which the Romans built a road to move their legions to and from the key forts in West Cumbria. The road stays high on the ridges and we followed its path for a short distance. Then we climbed to Kidsty Pike which is the highest point on the Coast to Coast path, at 780 meters. From there the valley of the Eden River and farther away the Yorkshire Dales came into view and we said goodbye to Lakeland. But it didn’t let us go easily. The path down to Haweswater Reservoir was steep with a couple of handholds needed. The path along the Reservoir was also long and rock filled. Once we got passed that and into the rolling hills, there were a lot of mud holes and wet patches. So it was a long day getting into Shap. But Margaret, our hostess at the Brookfield House, made us a pot of tea and served scones. After that and a shower we were fine again and went out for dinner at the local hotel nearby - the Greyhound. So all is good. We’re getting an early start tomorrow - it’s the second longest day of the trip.Læs mere