Subtitle : Ungulates and Undulates.
Why this subtitle? First of all, everywhere we go we see sheep. And secondly, they climb higher and with surer footing. And pretty much, I am sure they are laughing at me. Not only because they are superior on the mountain, but they know I am a woose. Take the two amazing people I ran into today (other than hubby.) First was Ian, the owner of the Old Water View Inn in Patterdale. There was a news article on the wall that said, "Brit Hiker on Appalachian Trail Breaks Leg and Rescued by an Armless Man." Turns out Ian is the rescued person. He says while hiking in the 100 mile Wilderness in Maine ( a very remote spot indeed--for those not familiar with the Appalachian Trail, I recommend Bill Bryson's : A Walk in the Woods), a piece of ground gave way and sent him plummeting head first and sliding on his backpack down a mountainside. He says he thought he was alright until he saw his shattered leg. Knowing he was far away from anything, he planned to spend the night on the mountain and hoped someone would come through within a day. He made a homemade splint and tried to get himself up the mountain. He began blowing six short blasts on his whistle. After some time, he began to hear a voice saying, "Hang in there, buddy. You will be okay." Ian didn't see anyone and thought he was hallucinating. He kept blowing and the voice kept responding. Eventually, he saw an armless man come out of the brush in the middle of the hundred mile wilderness. At this point, he was convinced he was off his nut from delirium. But the man took out a phone and dialed for help with his toes. Ended up the guy was an ex military US soldier who lost his arms in the Gulf War and was hiking the A.T. alone. Both Ian and the soldier convince me I am a person devoid of both character and ambition!
Then to add insult to injury, while hiking Kidsty Pike, the highest point on the coast to coast route and today's nemesis, we met a guy in his sixties who was RUNNING, not walking up the mountain. He did speak with a British brogue, but I believe he said he was bagging 58 peaks...TODAY.
So here's my piddling story. We woke up this morning in Patterdale to what is advertised as the hardest day of the hike. It's not the 13 miles. It's the 3000+ feet of ascent from Patterdale, up to Angle Tarn Lake and then up Kidsty Pike. We faced our fate with resolve.
Angle Tarn was an absolutely beautful mountain lake. We had great weather with sunshine and clouds reflecting in the waters. We pressed on to Kidsty Pike and that wasn't too bad. The hike down was a killer though to Haweswater, a manmade lake made by flooding a city called Marsdale. It is water supply to Manchester, England. Paul was grumbling about how long it was taking and we were greeted on top of the mountain and for most of the rest of the day by a plague of flying ants. It was a buggy day but at least we saw some deer and a beautiful butterfly and some lizards. To this point it was sheep, slugs and scarabs and each other. Once we got down the steep mountain, we had a six mile trek along the lake... and as the guidebook stated, "not a lovely walk with a parasol." Up and down, up and down, serpentine, undulate, whatever--but the lake was pretty when we could see it--which unfortunately was almost never. We finally drug our tired butts into the city of Burnbanks, a planned model community which still exists but is almost defunct. We got a ride to our hotel, the Crown and Mitre in Bampton. A long, hard day with lots of vertical challenges, but we made it.
Paul's Ponderings: Definitely a long day with lots of climbing and very warm for this part of the UK. The descents are in many ways worse than the climbs, being very rocky and rutted downhill, on loose gravel or broken rocks. We ended up with 13 miles of hiking and called a taxi from the sole phone in Burnbanks to take us to our B&B in the nearby off trail town of Bampton. From this point forward, we leave the lake district and move into the Yorkshire Dales, which should be lower climbing levels. Good dinner at the Crown and Mitre, with, of course, some good local ale to start.
Why this subtitle? First of all, everywhere we go we see sheep. And secondly, they climb higher and with surer footing. And pretty much, I am sure they are laughing at me. Not only because they are superior on the mountain, but they know I am a woose. Take the two amazing people I ran into today (other than hubby.) First was Ian, the owner of the Old Water View Inn in Patterdale. There was a news article on the wall that said, "Brit Hiker on Appalachian Trail Breaks Leg and Rescued by an Armless Man." Turns out Ian is the rescued person. He says while hiking in the 100 mile Wilderness in Maine ( a very remote spot indeed--for those not familiar with the Appalachian Trail, I recommend Bill Bryson's : A Walk in the Woods), a piece of ground gave way and sent him plummeting head first and sliding on his backpack down a mountainside. He says he thought he was alright until he saw his shattered leg. Knowing he was far away from anything, he planned to spend the night on the mountain and hoped someone would come through within a day. He made a homemade splint and tried to get himself up the mountain. He began blowing six short blasts on his whistle. After some time, he began to hear a voice saying, "Hang in there, buddy. You will be okay." Ian didn't see anyone and thought he was hallucinating. He kept blowing and the voice kept responding. Eventually, he saw an armless man come out of the brush in the middle of the hundred mile wilderness. At this point, he was convinced he was off his nut from delirium. But the man took out a phone and dialed for help with his toes. Ended up the guy was an ex military US soldier who lost his arms in the Gulf War and was hiking the A.T. alone. Both Ian and the soldier convince me I am a person devoid of both character and ambition!
Then to add insult to injury, while hiking Kidsty Pike, the highest point on the coast to coast route and today's nemesis, we met a guy in his sixties who was RUNNING, not walking up the mountain. He did speak with a British brogue, but I believe he said he was bagging 58 peaks...TODAY.
So here's my piddling story. We woke up this morning in Patterdale to what is advertised as the hardest day of the hike. It's not the 13 miles. It's the 3000+ feet of ascent from Patterdale, up to Angle Tarn Lake and then up Kidsty Pike. We faced our fate with resolve.
Angle Tarn was an absolutely beautful mountain lake. We had great weather with sunshine and clouds reflecting in the waters. We pressed on to Kidsty Pike and that wasn't too bad. The hike down was a killer though to Haweswater, a manmade lake made by flooding a city called Marsdale. It is water supply to Manchester, England. Paul was grumbling about how long it was taking and we were greeted on top of the mountain and for most of the rest of the day by a plague of flying ants. It was a buggy day but at least we saw some deer and a beautiful butterfly and some lizards. To this point it was sheep, slugs and scarabs and each other. Once we got down the steep mountain, we had a six mile trek along the lake... and as the guidebook stated, "not a lovely walk with a parasol." Up and down, up and down, serpentine, undulate, whatever--but the lake was pretty when we could see it--which unfortunately was almost never. We finally drug our tired butts into the city of Burnbanks, a planned model community which still exists but is almost defunct. We got a ride to our hotel, the Crown and Mitre in Bampton. A long, hard day with lots of vertical challenges, but we made it.
Paul's Ponderings: Definitely a long day with lots of climbing and very warm for this part of the UK. The descents are in many ways worse than the climbs, being very rocky and rutted downhill, on loose gravel or broken rocks. We ended up with 13 miles of hiking and called a taxi from the sole phone in Burnbanks to take us to our B&B in the nearby off trail town of Bampton. From this point forward, we leave the lake district and move into the Yorkshire Dales, which should be lower climbing levels. Good dinner at the Crown and Mitre, with, of course, some good local ale to start.
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| Angle Tarn |
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| Angle Tarn With Clouds |
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| Hawesewater Reservoir (Water Source for Manchester) |
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| A Common Site--The spray paint hurts less than branding. |
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ReplyDeleteI finally caught up and now I can't find you. You must be where there is no wifi! I am loving your adventure and looking at the places you have been.
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