Patterdale to Shap has the reputation for being the hardest leg of the walk, with total climbing of 1,224 m (longest climb 384m longest descent 503m) but the walking is supposed to get easier from here on :-)
Before we left Oldwater View we checked with Ian (the owner) that it would be worth the effort of going over Kidsty Pike – that is, would we see anything. This is actually the highest point of the walk (if you don’t take any of the optional detours (like Striding Edge)) so again we were keen to go this way.
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As we were hiking towards Kidsty Pike we received a text from Matt asking if we wanted update scores on the Doggies vs Geelong game. Naturally we said yes and so we received quarter by quarter scores.
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While on Kidsty Pike the wind was quite strong. We let Matt know that we had reached the highest point of our walk and he replied with “it looks like you and the doggies peaked at the same time”. Geelong were coming back!
The descent was quite steep, boggy and (naturally) treacherous. At the bottom we reached Haweswater and while walking along the lake Matt texted us to let us know that the Doggies had won! Just at that point we saw a sheep decked out in Doggies colours.
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It was quite a haul along Haweswater with the remainder of the walk through farmland and roads until we arrived in Shap.
Even on the farmlands there were still boggy sections that required gymnastics on farm fences.
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We stayed at The Hermitage (built in 1691) which is described by many walkers as the 'Best place on the Coast to Coast', but Steve wasn’t too keen, not sure if it was the lack of a shower over the bath or the twin beds or the combination of both. The lady who runs it (Mrs Jean Jackson) did us a very nice dinner of chicken, jacket potatoes and salad, with fresh fruit salad and a sponge cake for desert. She also dried our boots in front of her Aga cooker/stove.
hey congrats on making the highest point. What brilliant pics. Can't wait to see the full slide show. You make me want to pop on a plane and head over!! The most adventurous thing we did today was hide under the beach steps with Jem while a light shower passed over. We were rewarded with a brilliant rainbow out at sea. Keep the posts coming!! yvette
ReplyDeleteHi Yvette, we're still having a few teething problems with the new blog. For example it doesn't send me an email when someone posts a comment, like the old blog does so I'm behind in replying sorry.
ReplyDeleteWe're also rather behind with our posts as we successfully (if somewhat soggily) completed the Coast to Coast walk last Wednesday afternoon and are now in northern Spain.
We climbed to the top of a very large hill (1159m) today and had awesome views - coming to the blog soon. Love to you all F&S