LATEST UPDATE

I am now Day 8 of my Coast to Coast challenge but it’s the first time I have been able to post my daily Blog - so here goes.

Charlie Walduck

Day four of the our coast to coast challenge would see us walk 16 miles from Patterdale to Shap it would include a big climb to the highest point of the whole coast to coast walk. The walk would take us to Kidsdy pike at around 2500 feet looking towards High Street so named because it is an old roman road. We sat around in the sun eating lunch, corned beef and pickle sandwiches prepared by Pam may I add, we chatted with our new friends about the adventure so far and the reasons for doing it. Some I was shocked to learn and actually doing it for fun. To say however it isn’t fun would be wrong I’ve enjoyed the banter with the rest of the team; meeting new people and staying at different places along the route. Day 4 was tough but not as tough as day three maybe we are all getting used to it now. We are all carrying a couple of minor injuries but nothing too serious. I have a bad toe or three; Mark has a sore leg and the others are popping the pain killers every 4 hours just like me. I have also enjoyed eating out with the team and I have been doing a Cumberland sausage survey so far the best have been in St Bee’s but I’ll keep you posted if I discover better. As the day came to an end we found our bed and breakfast accommodation in Shap and settled in before popping to the local pub (about a mile away or so it seemed) for our supper and a couple of drinks. Mark and Chris enjoyed a couple of Black Sheep but that’s another story.

Day five having now cleared the Lake District Mountains we were now heading towards Yorkshire as we left our bed and breakfast. We saw many of our new pals heading out – the navy lads, the 40 a day man, the Exeter man and the man with the tattooed arms. We left Shap just as the rain started and as we looked back the mountains we had just left we could see the most amazing rainbow. Today was going to be much more flat than the last couple of days, or so Chris told us. The 21 mile walk would involve walking over the moors and heading towards Kirby Stephen. We had been lucky with the weather so far but today was going to be totally different we just needed to get our heads down and do it. The rain was heavy at times and with wind and mist it was never going to be the greatest ever walk. There is not much else I can say about today – we all get wet; Mark hurt his leg and by the end of the day we were all feeling fairly miserable. We did stay in a nice guest house and the food was reasonable priced and the Cumberland sausage was nice if not award winning.

Day six and we set off fairly early from Kirby Stephen and climbed to the Nine Standards. There was yet more rain and the walk was difficult because we spent much of it walking along Peat bogs and negotiating rivers and streams. Graham, Mark, Chris and Brian were excellent in helping me up and over many of the banks of peat. Graham’s mate Andrew also joined the team to spend the day with us. We ended up eating lunch in a sheep pen filled with sheep muck in the corner of a field sheltering from the rain – and to think I could have been at Holker Street watch Barrow AFC v Eastbourne. Pam again made us an excellent packed lunch however. We were due to stop at Keld and travel on to our accommodation in Gunnerside by taxi but as Gunnerside is on the C2C route we decided to walk 5 extra miles and have an easier day tomorrow. I really suffered today as I slipped a couple of time and I actually hurt my foot quite badly on a rock when I slipped down a hole. An extra spring was put into my step when news filtered through that Barrow AFC had won 4-0 it did come from a dubious source my mum who had checked on Teletext and has a history of getting such things wrong. We again went to the pub in the evening for our meal and had a great time and even enjoyed an impromptu performance by the York Male Voice choir. Graham and Chris sneaked away from the pub without paying for the meal.

Day seven after a fairly sleepless night, not mentioned this yet but Mark snores. I awoke with a fairly bad throbbing pain in my foot. It’s the only time that I questioned whether I could do this walk – I want to complete it so much. The walk today was hard because of the pain but easy in terms of walking it involved walking in spectacular Yorkshire countryside from Gunnerside to Reeth. Reeth is a lovely place and we arrived just in time to listen to the brass band whilst we looked out on beautiful hills – yes happy days indeed if only this foot wasn’t so sore.

Day Eight with the foot feeling a bit better we headed out from the Black Bull in Reeth where strangely the sign was upside down we never did find out why. We prepared ourselves for heavy rain having seen it forecast on the BBC. Our destination today was Catterick Bridge via Richmond. Setting off we walked along the river swale past Marrick priory climbing 375 steps (I know I counted them) through the aptly named Steps Wood- after several miles of gentle walking along the river there was more climbing involved although gentle the muddy ground, strong winds and drissle made it hard. We eventually reached Applegrath where we enjoyed beautiful views back towards Marrick and forwards toward White Cliff woods with the beautiful river Swale following us. There was also a steady flow of walkers. We emerged from White Cliff woods to the sound of helicopters and we were given a low level flying display by two military helicopters which we assumed were on route to Catterick – quite thrilling. At this point we knew that Richmond was just around the corner and we could see the magnificent castle in the distance. We dropped down into Richmond sat in town square to eat Pam’s wonderful pack lunches and Brian’s date slice (I will be posting the recipe before the weeks out). The next 5 or 6 miles toward Catterick Bridge were relatively easy and we reached our hotel next to the racecourse where we were rewarded with one Pam’s liqueur coffee which we soon “polished” off (excuse the pun but Brain’s son Steven pointed out that I spelt it lacquer coffee early in the week) . We are all tired but in high spirits, tomorrow is an easier 8.5 miles before we tackle an average of 20 per day in the final push.