Patterdale to Shap 17-18 Miles
Overnight, Gwen and I had talked and we decided that if the wind was still strong to gale force today we wouldn’t be going over Kidsty Pike. Kidsty Pike, at 2,560ft is the highest point on the whole Coast to Coast walk and is on today’s route but the wind, although not as strong as yesterday was still blowing very hard this morning and having been blown off her feet yesterday, Gwen was in no hurry to repeat that experience and indeed it would be dangerous to do so. So over breakfast I had a good look at my newly purchased 1:25000 map and hatched a plan that would take us to Shap via Boredale, under Arthurs pike, onto Divock Moor and then down to Shap via Bampton.
There is no doubt that this will add a lot of miles on to the day but it will be the safest route considering the worries of yesterday. Vanetta and Gabriel, still visibly shaken from their experience of having to be guided off Fairfield by the Mountain Rescue last night were also keen to avoid Kidsty Pike and decided that they would do the same route as us and I would keep an eye on them.
Gwen and I left the hostel about 9.30am and stopped at the village shop to buy some chocolate and a couple of fruit slices, ready for the days exertions. The day dawned dry and remarkably bright. I have been visiting Patterdale since the 1980’s and it is a village that reassuringly never seems to change. The well-stocked shop and Post Office, where it seems you can buy anything and everything was, I have read, the first place where Wainwrights famous guides to the Lakeland Fells went on sale. I have spent many happy times with friends and family in the Scandinavian style Youth Hostel, looking out of its picture window onto Place Fell in both rain and shine and enjoyed many evenings hospitality in the White Lion pub after a long days walking on the fells. Somewhat reluctantly, we left Patterdale aware of the long day ahead and made our way up to Boredale Hause.
As we neared the top I could see Vanetta and Gabrielle, in a bit of a panic coming down. Vanetta understandably had lost some confidence after yesterday. I reassured her that we hadn’t yet reached Boredale Hause and we all headed back up reaching the Hause a short while later. After that we were never far apart for the rest of the day. The wind was blowing pretty strong at Boredale and we were glad to get into the Boredale valley and drop some height. After heading down the road we stopped and had coffee and biscuits in the Howtown Hotel. A good path left Howtown, rising up the moor on an angle with increasingly good views of Ullswater to our left.
The rain came and went and when we reached Divock Moor it came and stayed. A slight route finding problem on the moor was solved by borrowing Vanetta’s compass and never again will I go for a walk without one! My feet got soaked yet again on the moor which was sodden with all the rain so that makes five days walking with five days wet feet so far. After dropping off Divock Moor we came to a long tarmaced road which led the way down into Bampton. The repetition of walking on road, especially in walking boots made my hip hurt and I was glad to get to Bampton for a rest. Although the cafe was shut the very kind Post Office owner opened up for us and made us a welcoming hot chocolate which revived my spirits. Just as we arrived at the church at Bampton Grange the bells of St Patricks rang out the chime for 4.15pm. The church has been there for three hundred years, we were just passing through today, but at that moment it felt like they were ringing just for us, to mark our brief visit to her village. A pleasant footpath followed along the north bank of the river Lowther for a couple of kilometres until we reached Rosgill. After Rosgill the footpath rose steadily across fields on the final stretch before Shap. There were a lot of fields, some of them ploughed and a lot of mud as the footpath gained height above Rosgill Hall Wood. By the time we reached the top of the rise you couldn’t see our boots for the mud that was caked onto them. The compensation was some lovely views at the end of the day across the River Lowther, now far below us and over to Shap Abbey nestled in the wood.
The rain had stopped and this was a fine end to the day. I was satisfied that although we had added a number of miles onto our route today, we had avoided the wind and got a view of the Abbey that is not seen from the main Coast to Coast path. We arrived at Shap eight and a half hours after leaving Patterdale and when we knocked on the door of New Ing Lodge we looked pretty dishevelled. A long day today and it was good to get the pack off. The room was a bonus in that it had two radiators and three beds so there was plenty of room to organise our kit and get it washed and dried off overnight. Dinner in the Local hostelry and managed to catch up with Bob and Alan who had come over Kidsty Pike. They said the wind was still very strong to gale force coming over so, although we must have added three or four miles on to our route today I was happy with the decision to go round. We are still in one piece, Gwen is having a whale of a time and we have completed our first section, walking through the Lake District. Tomorrow, we cross the M6 and enter Limestone country.
For map and route of this walk click ‘Learn more’ below
