 |
| White Lion Inn, Patterdale |
We needed an early start and left the White Lion just after 9.00am on the hottest day experienced so far. Judy and I had walked the well worn route up to Boredale Hause several times before to climb Place Fell and Beda Fell, but today we were to continue to Angle Tarn and then climb up to the highest "official" point on the Coast to Coast walk at Kidsty Pike, overlooking Haweswater. Once again, this was an opportunity to bag several Wainwrights and we actually climbed two more than we had planned! More on that later.....
None of us had ever been to Angle Tarn before. What a beautiful location. We climbed to the top of Angletarn Pikes (LDW-143) arriving at 10.15am, where Judy remarked that Angle Tarn, with its islands looked like a minature Derwentwater.
 |
| Angle Tarn from Angletarn Pikes |
 |
| Judy & Phil on Angletarn Pikes |
Only three contacts were made from here. We continued onward below Satura Crag, where you pass through two gateposts. Then the navigation went slightly awry. We were almost at the top of Rest Dodd (LDW-092) when we realised that we had left the "official" C2C route, so we continued and bagged Rest Dodd, before following the wall down to a saddle and climbing up to The Knott (LDW-066), a summit which we did intend to climb, being only 200m and a short ascent from the C2C path. That done we proceeded south towards High Street, stopping short at the Straits of Riggindale and turning north east to head over Rampsgill Head LDW-039, to arrive at Kidsty Pike LDW-046 at 12.40pm, a good time for lunch. This was the final radio activation for Wainwrights On The Air in the Lake District before we headed down to Haweswater and on to Shap. Over the five summits today 22 contacts were made including summit to summit contacts with Iain M3WJZ/P on Esk Pike and Bowfell and with Geoff G4WHA on Carrock Fell. As we made our way down to Haweswater in the searing heat of the day we realised that we were all running low on water. We had no mobile phone coverage but we were hopeful that Martyn, our willing Sherpa, would meet us near Haweswater with a supply. As it happened Martyn had gone to the Mardale Head Car Park by mistake and we missed him. It was ironic to be stood next to one of the largest reservoirs in the Lake District and be short of water, but after walking the four miles down the fell side track of Haweswater this is what happened!
 |
| Haweswater from near Speaking Crag |
At the end of the lake we reached Burnbanks village - built for the workers when the reservoir was constructed. The village is a credit to the people that still live there in the bungalows and cottages remaining. The C2C then passes through Burnbanks Nature Reserve, which was solid with bluebells and a delightful spot. We were hoping we might meet Martyn at Naddle Bridge for water. We still had five miles walking left, sadly he did not appear. We left the National Park near Rosgill and proceeded towards Shap Abbey.
 |
| Geoff, Margaret and Judy on Parish Crag Bridge near Shap |
Shap Abbey came and went, I can't say we were impressed, we just wanted to reach Shap and that we did at just after 6.00pm. Once we had mobile coverage we raised our Sherpa Martyn who was still patiently waiting for us at Haweswater! We were reunited when we fell into the Greyhound Hotel, which is well down the one mile long strip village.
 |
| Greyhound Hotel Shap - recommended |
The meal, service and drinks at this hostelry were excellent and we all downed a few pints of water. Our Bed and Breakfast was Brookfield House at the south end of the village. Mrs Margaret Brunskill was ready to greet us when we arrived around 8.00pm and some went straight to bed after our hardest day yet. The guest house came out on top so far with the highest score all round. Margaret is dedicated to looking after Coast to Coasters and this she did. The packed lunches next day contained home made cakes and fresh fruit - overall score for Brookfield B&B Shap being 9.5 out of 10. Next day was to be an easy one, less than ten miles, to Barn House at Orton.
Accommodation Rating: Brookfield House Shap 9.5
Pub Rating: The Greyhound Hotel, Shap 10
In the past, when I used to do longer walks and sometimes ran out of water, I would just fill up the bottle from a stream. Never suffered any ill-effects, and it tasted better than when it comes out of the tap too!
ReplyDeleteGood point Julian - I have done this myself in the past, and would do so again I reckon. You are right about the taste, although Lakeland tap water is usually excellent. In Pickering we have to have a water filter installed in line, the water is so bad. The cartridges cost about £10 each and last about 6 months before you realise they are no longer working.
ReplyDelete