An early bath

Tuesday 18 September 2007

After arriving at the ODG my foot problem worsened. My right foot, from the ball to the toes erupted into one large deep-seated blister. I treated it as best I could and retired to bed, hoping the rest would relieve the problem. By morning it had, if anything, worsened.

Over breakfast I considered my options: further progress on foot that day was impossible. I could have a rest day, get the bus to Keswick and hope to continue the following day to Caldbeck or I could recognise my position, forgo the accommodation deposits (a more painful proposition than walking on glass, let alone blisters) and go home.

I admitted defeat and slunk away from the hotel to catch the morning bus. I pretended to myself that I was postponing my final decision until arrival in Ambleside. I knew then, though, that the trip was over and an “early bath” was inevitable.

In the event the decision to abort was sound; it would be several days before I could walk without discomfort.

As on my last trip in the Dales, I was pleased that the physical challenges of the walk presented no problems. With my history of foot problems I had taken an imprudent risk in walking the trail in new boots, and lost. I hoped to resume the walk early in the New Year.

Day 2: Coniston to Dungeon Ghyll (13 miles)

Monday 17 September 2007

It was a much better day today. Clear skies and sunshine were to last all day.

Before leaving Coniston and setting out in earnest I called in at Summitreks on Yewdale Road. I’d visited the shop prepared to spend twenty pounds, or more, on a new walking pole. I left the shop with having spent under a pound and getting the old one completly refurbished. Things were looking up.

The walk is glorious. It keeps to low ground, but never wanders far from the high fells. The country between Tarn Hows and Little Langdale is explored before joining the River Brathy at Skelwith Bridge and heading up Great Langdale to Dungeon Ghyll.

Again I had discomfort on the toes of my right foot. I took frequent breaks to air my feet, deciding that the problem was probably caused by the boots being new and not flexing freely. It was easy walking all day and shouldn’t have caused any difficulty.

By the time I joined the Brummies and the Preston couple for a welcome, but grossly overpriced, lime and soda at the Britannia in Elterwater, I’d developed the beginnings of a blister.

I don’t know where everyone had been yesterday in the rain. Today there were many more people on the route. Our little ad hoc party was boosted occasionally by others - an Australian couple, fresh from the Cotswold Way, a solo walker I’d first seen in an Ulverston pub and a blind man being lead along the way by friends.

For the most part, though, I chose to walk alone, meeting the others frequently, but progressing at my own pace and following my little whims at will.

I’ve known the Langdale valley for most of my life. I camped there frequently, with other callow youths (and at other sites in Troutbeck and Keswick). One time we abandoned a tent, literally battered into the ground by incessant rain, to sleep in a barn to escape the flood. During these early visits I developed a lifelong love of the Lakes and of modest mountain adventure.

Then, back in the early sixties, responsible and loving parents saw nothing amiss in allowing their offspring to hitch-hike 80 miles to camp and walk in the mountains unsupervised, with basic, sometimes home-made, equipment. Something about the loss of innocence, and babies, and bathwater, rings at the back of my mind…

I’ve enjoyed the hospitality of the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel several times since my first visits to the area, when the sanctum beyond the Hikers’ Bar appeared as the preserve of the wealthy. Whilst still holding the place in great affection, it has faded somewhat, the hotel always vaguely disappoints and seems to be living on its past reputation and glories. The ODG’s position, however, remains unrivalled.

Accommodation: The Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, Great Langdale, Ambleside, Cumbria, LA22 9JY

Day 1: Ulverston to Coniston (16 miles)

Sunday 16 September 2007

The day dawned dark and chilly with the forecasters predicting heavy and sustained rain throughout the day. Breakfast was a vegetarian affair: good enough, but I can’t recommend vegan sausage.

There was one other couple in the digs. They were from Preston, were walking the Cumbria Way and had booked into the same accommodation at Coniston. I hit the trail early, anxious to put on as many miles as I could before the rain.

The first few miles of the walk are through gentle, pastoral country, before rougher Lakeland terrain was met around Tottlebank. The rain held off until the climb to Beacon Tarn, and then it came with a vengeance: proper rain, lashing, teeming, and horizontal Lake District rain. The water scenically filling the valleys has got to come from somewhere I guess.

I passed the Preston couple sheltering in a sparse wood beside the tarn. They were lunching with a couple from Birmingham. We were all to pass and re-pass for the next couple of days, gradually building an easygoing rapport.

Another of the joys of trail walking is visiting hidden, seldom seen places in popular areas. Beacon Tarn is such a place; quiet and unassuming, with impressive views from the col to the Coniston Fells. Today, though, was not a day to admire the panorama – there wasn’t one: just rain and mist.

The route hugs the shore of Coniston Water for three miles or more, much through attractive native woods. Sad to say, the walk today was a bit of a slog through the gloom.

The condition tested my equipment somewhat. The new boots didn’t cause too many problems: there wasn’t any blistering, but I felt some discomfort to my toes, although I couldn’t figure out the cause. My venerable Leki pole, a companion since a Westmoreland Way walk in 1993, was shot and my ten year old Gortex jacket leaked badly. I’ve had some good service from the jacket and pole, but it’s time for replacements I feel.

It’s expensive this hiking lark.

An evening in the Black Bull with the Preston couple went down well after the day’s privations. I very nearly succumbed to the Bluebird Bitter, which I know from previous experience to be an exceptional beer, but manfully resisted. On this form I’ll be a canonisation candidate after my demise (and have the healthiest liver in the morgue).

The digs were a bit old fashioned, but no worse for that: a friendly welcome, large rooms, comfortable bed, big bath, good food, terrific value.

Accommodation: Waverley, Lake Road, Coniston, Cumbria, LA21 8EW (015394 41127)

Cumbria Way – Introduction

The Cumbria Way was my second long distance path, first walked with Rita in September 1993. Like the Dales Way it gives outrageous rewards, in terms of sustained interest and outstanding landscape, for little outlay of effort. The route starts at Ulverston, near the Morecambe Bay shore, and heads north, through the centre of the Lake District, to end in Carlisle.

I’d updated my gear after my last outing: new Berghaus rucksack and Meindl walking boots. Unfortunately, against all received wisdom, the boots had only been used for a few miles of local walking along the cliffs.

After pre-booking accommodation, forwarding deposits and updating the guide book, I arrived in Ulverston on 15 September 2007, just in time to visit Woolworths to buy cheap reading glasses to replace the ones I’d left at home. Perhaps I should have interpreted that lapse as an omen for the trip.

Ulverston was busy. My visit coincided with the Ulverston Lantern Procession: the pubs and restaurants were heaving. It was good fun too.

Accommodation: Sefton House, 34 Queen St., Ulverston, LA12 7AF

Day 3: Keld to Hawes (About 11.5 miles)

Friday 3 August 2007

My feet were still playing up. I put the problem down to my Brasher Supalite GTX boots not being tough enough for my route. I’d have to splash out on something more robust before September.

I took to the road to Thwaite before joining the Pennine Way and beginning the long haul up Great Shunner Fell. The first mile is along a horrible, enclosed, stony track, which I remembered with no affection from my 2002 visit to the fell. Attempts to protect my blistered foot by tentatively selecting each footfall inevitably provoked a falter, followed by a painful impact of lesion on rock.

The path soon empties onto open moor. It is mostly paved and provides easy progress across the sodden heath. It must have been a very demanding bog-trot through the mire before the path improvements. Purists sometimes condemn such engineered tracks, but they must be better than wallowing in thigh deep ooze and creating enduring scars across the landscape. In any event, stone trods and pannier-ways have been strung across the Pennines for centuries.

There were a few people on the fell, but it was much quieter than yesterday. At the top the weather closed in a shade, foreshortening the view and plummeting the temperature. There was some rain blowing in a strengthening wind. It was not a day to hang around on the summit.

I’d walked over the fell a couple of times in the past, but always from south to north. Heading south, towards Hawes, gave an entirely different perspective to the walk. I wondered what the Pennine Way would be like starting from Kirk Yetholm. Who knows..? Perhaps one day.

My foot problems prolonged the descent, but the lane at Hardrow was eventually reached in improving weather. Soon I was in Hawes waiting for a bus down the dale and a lift home.

The walk is an ideal outing for a long weekend. Other than the blisters, the trek had presented few physical problems and I was pleased with my improved fitness. I must get those new boots though.

Day 2: Kirkby Stephen to Keld (about 12 miles)

Thursday 2 August 2007

The day dawned fair and bright. After a leisurely breakfast I shopped for the day’s provisions before heading over Frank’s Bridge and treading the track to Hartley.

What a change from yesterday. Kirkby Stephen was positively thronging with walkers. Dutch, North American and several brands of British accents were prominent. I’d joined the Coast to Coast route for the day.

It’s not a difficult climb to Nine Standards, just a long haul up the Fell Road, passing the hideous Hartley Quarry. Despite its size the quarry is soon passed and the metalled lane loses its surface as height is gained and the scene widens to encompass a great swathe of the Eden valley, the Howgills, Cross Fell and deep into the Dales.

The Nine Standards were well populated with walkers, some following the Coast to Coast, others just out for the day. A group of three elderly couples, farmers from Derbyshire, had walked up from the summit of the Nateby road, where they had been dropped of by their landlady, and were walking back to their digs at Keld.

The walk down Whitsun Dale is muddy, in places a morass of semi-liquid peat. The surroundings are sombre, lonely and magnificent. On the way down I talked to a couple who’d completed Tasmania’s Overland Track the previous year. They considered the Coast to Coast walk to be very different in character to the Overland Track, but it’s equal in quality.

The day’s walk was a little tougher than I’d remember it from my last C2C walk. Perhaps seven days continuous walking before crossing the Pennine watershed had helped. That said I was still fresh when I arrived at Keld in mid-afternoon. I’m afraid my feet were beginning to blister though.

I stayed in the former Youth Hostel at Keld Lodge. It’s a shame the YHA no longer has a commitment to provide inexpensive, basic accommodation for outdoor enthusiasts. It appears to have abandoned its long-time supporters to make a quick buck to finance city centre hostels. Whilst the hostel’s successor caters for a more affluent market, it does it rather well. Whilst not cheap, the rooms and food are first class.

Accommodation: Keld Lodge, Keld, Richmond, North Yorkshire, DL11 6LL

Day 1: Hawes to Kirkby Stephen (About 15.5 miles)

Wednesday 1 August 2007

The first pull of the walk was an 800 foot climb up Cotter End a mile or two out of Hawes – something of a shock to the system after having had a sedate ride over to the Dales. Never mind; I eventually got to the top.

Since getting back to work from the Dales Way I’d tackled the 143 steps to my office on the tenth floor of a tower block each day. The effort paid off. My stamina was much improved over my spring outing.

Once up the ridge the hard business of the day was done, it was downhill all the way to Kirkby Stephen. The path is signed “The Lady Anne Clifford Highway” from the dead end lane to Cotterdale, is sometimes called “Lady Anne's Way”, but more prosaically dubbed “The High Way” on the map. Whatever the name, it’s a glorious green track. It contours the hill high above upper Wensleydale, with the Moorcock Inn, on the Garsdale road, far below.

After passing long abandoned farms Cumbria is entered at Hell Gill Bridge and the headwaters of the Eden are crossed. Wild Boar Fell looms impressively across Mallerstang.

The Watercut is a sculpture at the side if the track, remote from any road. It was made by Mary Bourne and set up by the East Cumbria Countryside Project. Like other public art works in the countryside, (those in Strid Woods, near Bolton Abbey, are other examples), I’m never sure whether to decry them as an urbanisation of wild places, or simply to appreciate them for their craft. In the case of the Watercut, I think I’ll settle for admiration.

My route gradually lost height before crossing Thrang Bridge and following a course near the river. The substantial ruin of Pendragon Castle was passed, followed by the fragmentary remains of Lammerside Castle and the inhabited Wharton Hall, an impressive 14th century tower house.

I got to Kirby Stephen with plenty of time to call at the outdoor shop to replace the socks and waterproof I’d inadvertently left at home.

The walk went through grand, outstanding country. Despite this, and the excellent weather, I’d only seen two other pairs of other walkers all day. Although footsore my feet, always a concern, were blister free.

Accommodation: Black Bull Hotel, 38 Market St, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria, CA17 4QW