C2C Day Six - Patterdale to Shap

Today’s journey started a bit later than usual, around 10:15, thanks to a lovely family day off the day before. Spending extra time with Sophie and George was absolutely worth it, even if it meant tackling the 18-mile trek a bit later in the morning. 

The ascent up Kidsty Pike was as challenging as ever, and it felt like a stair master set to random mode for a 30 minute session, but the views were absolutely worth every step.

There was a little navigational hiccup with the sat nag insisting I was off track by 250 ft, which she reminded me of for literally the next 10 miles of the walk, which added a bit of extra adventure to the day given that sometimes those extra feet would have had me hurtling down a rivine at one point. And of course, running out of water due to the high temperature today,about halfway through was a lesson learned, but dipping my head into a refreshing waterfall on the way down towards Haweswater Reservoir was a perfect pick-me-up, I was half tempted to strip down and plunge in, but my British reserve got the better of me.

The last stretch of the hike was fueled by the thought of a pint of water and a pint of beer ( I literally went over in my head how I was going to ask for the two items almost a hundred times, I kid you not) and finally reaching Shap was incredibly rewarding with the Abby to greet me with a mile to go. 

To top it all off, I enjoyed some delicious fish and chips from the famous Shap Chippy before meeting up with Rhys, a friend of a friend, at the King's Arms. It was a lovely evening of good food, great company, and a perfect end to a challenging but amazing day.

Tomorrow a short trip to Orton, but to be honest, the amount of aching I have, Im glad to be having.a bit of an easy day.

This is the last section of the lake district for the coast to coast, it's been exhilarating and exhausting in equal measures A brilliant start to a big plod, thank you lake district!!