Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk - Sep 19, 2023 Day 3 Rosthwaite to Grasmere

Daily Information 

Distance:   14.7 Kms   [65.6 Kms]

Walking time:   5h 10m [17h 18m]

Avg walking speed:   2.9 Kms/hr  [3.8 Kms/hr]

Elevation G/L meters: 1,049 (1,026) [2,490:(2,398]

Total Daily Steps: 27,100 [103,426]

Today defies description…thankful to have simply made it to Grasmere! I characterize today as the absolutely craziest walking day ever for me. The average walking pace of 2.9 kms per hour says it all…we were literally crawling along…normal pace is 5+kms per hour.

More later…

Going back to yesterday we were warmly received at the Scafell Hotel by the desk receptionist “take off your shoes…I will dry them for you!” Wow what a start…in the morning we have dry shoes and for the hotels benefit we didn’t trek in wet muddy shoes. Win/win for everyone.

Then we had a recommendation for a local pub where we had a great meal…and I had my first beer…I also really enjoy the cider. One oddity…at least for me…is that pub patrons come in with their dogs. Sometimes this results in quite the noise when the various dogs have a go at each other 😉

Pork slices, roasted veggies…really good!

For breakfast I chose Scottish pancakes for a change of pace…in the end that wasn’t a wise decision as I ran out of fuel quite early in the day. Will stick to full English breakfast going forward.

Ok this morning as predicted rain was coming down in sheets…2-4mm per hour. As we stepped out the door and started walking here is a short video of what we faced…if viewing turn sound on

At first Greg and I were trying to avoid water on the trail but this almost immediately became impossible. We simply would barge into large puddles…often above the shoe laces…and accept the nice feeling of squishy socks. 

Then the incredible part of the day started…crossing the various water streams in the paths way.  The Mac’s Adventures description indicated there are always stepping stones available. Well sure they are there…often considerably under water…given the heavy rains of late.

So we get to the first of many crossings and within a short time 7 trekkers were lined up. What the h*ll do we do? Finally Greg to his credit takes the plunge and gingerly moves across…water between the ankles and the knees. You don’t want to fall in! The rest of us follow… Every one of the streams below were crossed…always ankle to knee deep. Of course the shortest path across was always taken.

No one fell in …the best way seemed to be to ignore any supposed stepping stones and try to find the rocky bottom…go slow…use poles.

For one of the streams we were all hanging on to a fence…the force of the water was strong!

We were all drenched from the rain…the wind was incredible…gale force they call it 🥲😵‍💫

Greg went to his knees a few times from the wind. I slipped at least a half dozen times landing on my side…knees and twice flat on my backpack. Twice I sank in mud…boggy stuff…luckily one leg only and went well past my knee. 

On one of these tumbles I fell awkwardly and my left foot toes were scrunched. As I write this bruising has appeared…quite sore. This will bear careful watching over the next few days.

In the afternoon the sun came out for a while however at that point we were in a valley where there is no discernible trail whatsoever. Greg once again did a masterful job of keeping us going in the right direction based on the GPS tracks.

Equipment malfunctions 

Pack cover kept slipping and actually detached to be recovered by fellow behind me…Greg picked up a pack cover which we think was from this same group!

Not sure why but my HOKA Speedgoat gripping wasn’t at its finest. Tomorrow will try walking in Oboz trail shoes.

Sadly in a pratfall one of my trekking poles became wedged in mud…then bent and snapped over a rock… I will take it home and see if a replacement part is possible. At that point I was really having difficulty…legs were simply shaking…expect from nervous tension of the entire day.

Greg kindly offered one of his poles to finish the day and my confidence was restored quickly. Luckily Grasmere has a few sporting shops…owner simply said this is a strategic location considering the walk today. I managed to purchase a set of Black Diamond trekking poles. 

Trekking pole toast

We were told at least two parties had bailed on the day arriving in Grasmere in taxis…no idea how they would have done this!

We thankfully learned that tomorrow will be a very different day…much more reasonable.

I have no idea as I write this what the weather will be like…assume rain…hope for a little less on our second last day through the beautiful but challenging Lake District.

Feeling absolutely knackered so will leave this blogpost with pictures from the day 😊

A little British humour in our B&B to finish to day