Day 4 was upon us. So far we had racked up 37 gates, 9 stiles, 11 bridges, 4 cattle grids and had lost 2 toenails between us. We were lucky enough not to have a visit from the badgers through the night, well, not one we were aware of anyway. Ged had his trusty stove out and on the menu today was an all day breakfast, from a tin. Very tasty it was indeed, and just what we needed for the 19 mile trek we had ahead. I had spent some time plotting today's route, it wasn't exactly as Wainwright had planned, but what it lacked in height it made up for in length.
The campsite had a shower block on site which was great, Dad and Ged having checked it out first being the early birds. As I went in it reminded me of one of the many horror movies I had seen - typical kind of generic camping block, soulless and quiet - well it was by the time I made it there. As I stood in the shower thoughts flashed through my head of the usual baddies - Freddie Krueger, Jason Vorhees, Norman Bates, would I meet my demise on the Coast to Coast Walk? I think this is the effect of living with Nat for so long, and then guess what happened next?! Yes!! You guessed it, all of the lights went out! Well I had never got dressed so quickly, it must have been within 10 seconds I was dressed and out into the campsite pretending to be as calm as possible. Safe to say I survived the incident and got ready. I hadn't quite got to grips with this camping malarky, my phone was suffering from a real lack of charge, though my GPS had preserved its battery quite well.
We were once again met by Paul and this time he had his Uncle Billy with him. We stuffed all our gear into his boot and he dropped us at the Patterdale Hotel, our starting point for the day. It was great starting the day there as Pam & Graeme, along with Stan & Gaye were, by an absolute coincidence, staying there the previous night. We passed by and noticed the 4 of them sitting at the breakfast table, then pressed our noses against the window like kids at a sweetshop and having spotted us they all came out to greet us. It was only day 4 but to receive the hugs and kisses gave me a very slight insight into what it must be like on the last day when we arrive into Robin Hood's Bay. After a quick briefing of events so far they presented us with a couple of bags - Kendal mintcake and ginger - to keep us going. Thanks again guys, they worked an absolute treat!
Then we were off for good. It was a long day ahead, with a lot of road walking. It's a bit boring but we can get up to 3mph on the roads. Only after we had set off did we realise we had left one of our most important items in the back of Paul's car - the walking poles. £ for £ probably the most useful bit of kit we had. Nevermind, it was too late now and we needed to get on.
We followed a track for the first part of the day, right along Ullswater Lake, it was rocky in parts. The wind was phenomenal. Again, it was due to the adverse weather we stayed on this route. I didn't realise the lake was so big, nor did I realise there was a ferry across it!
It was certainly not the most pleasurable day of the walk. In fact, on our feet it was one of the toughest (again, due to the roads). We passed through Howtown and a bit further on were accosted by a familiar car...it was Paul! He had tracked us down and was able to pass on our walking poles, hurrah! We trekked on further and passed a couple of caravan sites. This was an odd experience as there were loads of people just going about their holidays, and here were us, walking past in our knackered states looking like Compo, Foggy and Clegg! I felt like shouting "We are doing the Coast to Coast you know", just to try and justify our now withered state. We soldiered on further until we made it to Pooley Bridge and rested for a bit. It was here I noticed a signpost for Tirril (home of the dubious lager).
Our feet were on fire, blisters agogo, particularly Ged who had lost the blister lottery. We had a group hug, fist pumped a bit and done the Thornaby haka (ok, slight exaggeration), but we did motivate ourselves to set off again, it was hard but we were soon on the home straight to Shap. Nat was having a few days in Ullswater camping with her family and was coming to meet us so that was a good incentive for us to crack on. We passed a few villages on the way but none stranger than Knipe (pronounced Neep apparently), which again brings me back to my horror movies, particularly Texas Chainsaw Massacre!
We knew we were not too far when we reached Shap Abbey (which I was a little disappointed with), and we clocked into Shap village at some time around 8:30pm. It had been a very long day, but we seemed to be handling the aches a little better. It was great to once again have a welcoming committee in the form of Nat, Cody, Summer and Paul. A hot drink seemed to take all of our problems away.
We stayed at the New Ing Lodge, which, having seen the reviews, seemed quite good. I think the main problem in this place was that we were campers and not B&Bers. We were almost frowned upon immediately when we arrived, and sent to the back of the garden like the lepers of the outdoor world. They had advertised a bar and free WiFi, great (or so I thought). The bar turned out to be open for a total of 20 minutes and the WiFi password was given, and then 20 minutes later switched off. When asking for anywhere to eat I was told everywhere was shut but he would make me beans on toast (it was his speciality he claimed) for £4. At that point I would rather have caught one of the free range chickens roaming outside and stuck it on Ged's stove than pay him any more money than I had to. Hungry and fed up I went back to the tent. So much for my big night out in Shap!
Day 4 was gone, a mere memory now, only 8 days to go. So far we had racked 66 miles up, a third of the way there. Here's to tomorrow!
The campsite had a shower block on site which was great, Dad and Ged having checked it out first being the early birds. As I went in it reminded me of one of the many horror movies I had seen - typical kind of generic camping block, soulless and quiet - well it was by the time I made it there. As I stood in the shower thoughts flashed through my head of the usual baddies - Freddie Krueger, Jason Vorhees, Norman Bates, would I meet my demise on the Coast to Coast Walk? I think this is the effect of living with Nat for so long, and then guess what happened next?! Yes!! You guessed it, all of the lights went out! Well I had never got dressed so quickly, it must have been within 10 seconds I was dressed and out into the campsite pretending to be as calm as possible. Safe to say I survived the incident and got ready. I hadn't quite got to grips with this camping malarky, my phone was suffering from a real lack of charge, though my GPS had preserved its battery quite well.
We were once again met by Paul and this time he had his Uncle Billy with him. We stuffed all our gear into his boot and he dropped us at the Patterdale Hotel, our starting point for the day. It was great starting the day there as Pam & Graeme, along with Stan & Gaye were, by an absolute coincidence, staying there the previous night. We passed by and noticed the 4 of them sitting at the breakfast table, then pressed our noses against the window like kids at a sweetshop and having spotted us they all came out to greet us. It was only day 4 but to receive the hugs and kisses gave me a very slight insight into what it must be like on the last day when we arrive into Robin Hood's Bay. After a quick briefing of events so far they presented us with a couple of bags - Kendal mintcake and ginger - to keep us going. Thanks again guys, they worked an absolute treat!
Then we were off for good. It was a long day ahead, with a lot of road walking. It's a bit boring but we can get up to 3mph on the roads. Only after we had set off did we realise we had left one of our most important items in the back of Paul's car - the walking poles. £ for £ probably the most useful bit of kit we had. Nevermind, it was too late now and we needed to get on.
We followed a track for the first part of the day, right along Ullswater Lake, it was rocky in parts. The wind was phenomenal. Again, it was due to the adverse weather we stayed on this route. I didn't realise the lake was so big, nor did I realise there was a ferry across it!
It was certainly not the most pleasurable day of the walk. In fact, on our feet it was one of the toughest (again, due to the roads). We passed through Howtown and a bit further on were accosted by a familiar car...it was Paul! He had tracked us down and was able to pass on our walking poles, hurrah! We trekked on further and passed a couple of caravan sites. This was an odd experience as there were loads of people just going about their holidays, and here were us, walking past in our knackered states looking like Compo, Foggy and Clegg! I felt like shouting "We are doing the Coast to Coast you know", just to try and justify our now withered state. We soldiered on further until we made it to Pooley Bridge and rested for a bit. It was here I noticed a signpost for Tirril (home of the dubious lager).
Our feet were on fire, blisters agogo, particularly Ged who had lost the blister lottery. We had a group hug, fist pumped a bit and done the Thornaby haka (ok, slight exaggeration), but we did motivate ourselves to set off again, it was hard but we were soon on the home straight to Shap. Nat was having a few days in Ullswater camping with her family and was coming to meet us so that was a good incentive for us to crack on. We passed a few villages on the way but none stranger than Knipe (pronounced Neep apparently), which again brings me back to my horror movies, particularly Texas Chainsaw Massacre!
We knew we were not too far when we reached Shap Abbey (which I was a little disappointed with), and we clocked into Shap village at some time around 8:30pm. It had been a very long day, but we seemed to be handling the aches a little better. It was great to once again have a welcoming committee in the form of Nat, Cody, Summer and Paul. A hot drink seemed to take all of our problems away.
We stayed at the New Ing Lodge, which, having seen the reviews, seemed quite good. I think the main problem in this place was that we were campers and not B&Bers. We were almost frowned upon immediately when we arrived, and sent to the back of the garden like the lepers of the outdoor world. They had advertised a bar and free WiFi, great (or so I thought). The bar turned out to be open for a total of 20 minutes and the WiFi password was given, and then 20 minutes later switched off. When asking for anywhere to eat I was told everywhere was shut but he would make me beans on toast (it was his speciality he claimed) for £4. At that point I would rather have caught one of the free range chickens roaming outside and stuck it on Ged's stove than pay him any more money than I had to. Hungry and fed up I went back to the tent. So much for my big night out in Shap!
Day 4 was gone, a mere memory now, only 8 days to go. So far we had racked 66 miles up, a third of the way there. Here's to tomorrow!
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