Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk - Sep 22, 2023 Day 6 Patterdale to Kirby Stephen/Transfer to Ravenstonedale

Daily Information 

Distance:   34.4 Kms   [141.1 Kms]

Walking time:   7h 27m [36h 35m]

Avg walking speed:   4.6 Kms/hr  [3.9 Kms/hr]

Elevation G/L meters: 585:(651)  [4,735:(4,591)]

Total Daily Steps: 50,760 [224,789]

Today was another very long day at 34.4 kms however it was a very good day. Minor rain showers…elevation gain/loss manageable…good walking speed which was helped by some road walking…route finding not too bad AND NO PRATFALLS! Yes I stayed on my feet 😊.

The day got off to a great start before breakfast with this short video from granddaughters Rose 8 and Elodie 5. Merci!!! 🥰

I have received a number of comments from many of you and while I haven’t responded yet to each one please know your thoughts are greatly appreciated! Sometimes a little extra cheer goes a very long way in these crazy walks!

The only downside to today was the continuing saga of mud…which is usually associated with puddles 😂

Boots a little muddy 😨

Breakfast at Brookfield B&B was outstanding…Margaret the owner was so very nice to us…trying so hard to deliver dry clothes in the morning.

Table setting was super fancy..fresh fruit!

Sooo delicious…including a slice of blood sausage!

Greg and I knew we had a long day ahead so maybe we were a little too eager to get going so…

- forgot to do mobility exercises 😪

- forgot trekking poles…I was swinging my arms as we were leaving. Something seemed off…both of us had left our poles behind 😂

- I was struggling to insert the insoles in my boots which were still wet. They kept buckling in the middle…tried it a few times then asked Greg to have a look at my st*pid boots! Greg says “you already have insoles”. My snappy reply “No I don’t look they are in my hand”. Then my brilliant deduction…I have the wrong boots 😂. This can happen to the best of us 😊

After leaving the B&B we simply got into gear quickly…both walking strongly and simply crunched out the kms. Frankly not quite as scenic…not as exciting…met virtually no one…PERFECT!!! We really needed this day after what we did in the previous 5 days!

Tomorrow we walk through the bogs…Green, Blue or Red route. Apparently the routes are very ill defined…walkers have lost boots in there…some just give up. Weather looks very promising with no rain 🌧️…one must live in hope! Short day in the 5 hour range assuming of course…well…you know!

Here is what was posted on the C2C Facebook group today…d*mn where is my Smidge?

“Still some rain today but nice to see a but of sunshine too 🌞 No drier underfoot though!

Walked the blue route from Kirkby Stephen to Keld. Nearly lost Finn in a bog. Had to use brute force to pull him out. Thankfully he didn't lose his boot!! No rain tonight but midges to deal with instead. Thought I'd left those behind in Scotland 😭”

Greg and I have spent considerable time trying to figure out what the h*ll we will do with the rail strike. We have been officially notified our train will not be operating. So many options have been discussed…most leading to dead ends.

Greg kept digging and voila our plan. We will walk as planned arriving in Robin Hood Bay on Sep 29th…spend a couple of hours taking a shower in our accommodation and grab a bite to eat.  Then we board a local bus for a 1.5 hour ride to Middlesbrough where we board an overnight bus just before midnight arriving 9:40am on the 30th at Heathrow. A shuttle to Gatwick Airport…short taxi ride and voila in our Gatwick hôtel the night of the 30th. This may not be much fun however beggars can’t be choosers…it’s all an adventure. Thankfully we planned on on an extra day in case…

So we trade a night in a nice B&B in Robin Hood Bay for a night on a bus 😂. Another neat thing…Greg could not pay with his credit card as it required two factor authentication on his Canadian SIM card. However I had researched this prior to my last Camino…bought some domain with a company which allowed two factor authentication to be sent at a new email address and IT ALL WORKED!

I REALLY want to complete this was as scheduled if at all possible. Greg and I deserve this I figure after what we have put ourselves through. Greg absolutely never complains…unlike yours truly…even considering that I have likely oversold the difficulty of the C2C.

Quick high level story. Greg was born in Uganda…when he was 11 in 1972 his family of 8 managed

a harrowing escape out of Uganda…Idi Amin was the dictator at the time. Upon landing in Montreal the family was asked where they wanted to locate to. Apparently some fellow newcomers had family in Winnipeg so why not? It was October sooo a little rough weather ahead 🤔. So maybe C2C is not so bad for Greg!

That’s it for today…a few pictures