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Report 800: England in Slow Motion: 190 Miles on the Coast-to-Coast Walk

By Kaydee from Tennessee, USA, Summer 2004

Page 8 of 22: Day 4 : Grasmere to Patterdale (8-1/2 miles)

Looking back toward Grasmere

We had a strange breakfast at the Glenthorne this morning. The hotel had just a half-hour period that breakfast was available, and so all 40 or so guests were there at the same time. I felt like we were in an assembly line. The only type of egg they were serving today was a fried egg, so we didn’t have eggs. Charley and I sat with an older English couple and chatted with them. Kelly just came down for only a few minutes and had a few cornflakes without milk. She really isn’t a breakfast person, and seems to be starting every day with an upset stomach. Fortunately, once she gets started, her stomach is fine. It must just be the idea of walking that gives her butterflies.

We walked down to the village shop to buy provisions for a picnic lunch. The weather was really beautiful, especially welcome after the rain of the past two days. We hiked about a mile from the hotel to the base of the mountain, Grisedale House. We had a steep climb... from about 500 feet above sea level to 1936 feet in just two miles. We chose to go up the right side of the “Great Tongue,” along a stream. We were determined today not to bring up the rear of the C2C walkers, but I was moving more slowly than usual because of problems with my feet. It was a tough, steep climb up the mountain with several water crossings, but we were rewarded with phenomenal views behind and ahead of us. We crossed in front of a waterfall; we heard it before we saw it.

At the top of the mountain was a small lake (called a “tarn”), where we had a choice of three different routes to Patterdale. Two of the routes involved climbing other mountains (Helvellyn or Saint Sunday Craig), so we opted for the direct way (the easy way) down through Grisedale valley, despite the fact that our room last night was named Helvellyn. We ate our lunch on some rocks at the top of the mountain, enjoying the wonderful views and the sunshine. I hiked in a tank top today, and wished I had worn shorts like Kelly and Charley.

Mike and Sue arrived at the top just as we were packing up, and we turned our picnic spot over to them. Sue was moving slowly after her fall yesterday and showed us a terrible bruise. They were spending the night in a village near Patterdale called Glenridding, but we would all be at the same hotel the following night in Bampton Grange.

We really enjoyed the walk down the valley. I detoured off the path to see the “Brothers Parting rock,” an inscribed rock where Wordsworth “bade a final farewell to his brother John,” according to the guidebook. I couldn’t read the inscription, and I still need to find out why Wordsworth and his brother would have been saying a final farewell up on the top of the mountain.

The path went down the mountain, by a little stone hut called Ruthwaite Lodge and alongside Grisedale Beck. Kelly was in great spirits and really enjoyed the walk. Near the end of the valley we passed a cottage where an older gentleman was sitting on a terrace drinking a beer in the sunshine. Charley asked him if we could fill a couple of water bottles, as we were almost out of water after the climb in the hot sun. We also passed several people headed up into the valley, including a family with children in swimming clothes and sandals. We were obviously near Patterdale. It was nice to be arriving in the mid afternoon for a change.

Patterdale is a small village nestled beneath the mountains with two hotels and a shop. The village is named after St. Patrick. According to the local legend, he took refuge here after being shipwrecked in 540 AD. Our hotel is the White Lion, an old pub/hotel where supposedly Wordsworth heard the news that Nelson had triumphed at the battle of Trafalgar. The hotel didn’t have a triple or family room, so we had two doubles. Kelly and I are sharing a room, and Charley is down the hall. Our room is named Helvellyn again and Charley’s room is Saint Sunday Craig, the two mountains we had passed on our walk today.

It was such a gorgeous day that we didn’t want to stay inside. We walked down to the shop to check out their opening hours and order sandwiches for the next day. The shop had a few Coast-to-Coast souvenirs, and we went ahead and bought C2C t-shirts in anticipation of completing the walk. We were definitely feeling more confident about our abilities today! There were picnic tables across the street from the hotel, so we bought beers (and a drink called J2O for Kelly) and sat outside reading the Times and enjoying a successful, positive day. We needed this! Kelly was still exuberant from the day's walk, It was good to see her enjoying our walk.

While we were at the table, the father and son from dinner in Grasmere last night (Tim and Duncan) came charging by with just a quick hello. They returned a few minutes later, apologizing for not stopping to talk. They weren’t sure what time the shop closed and needed to get food for breakfast. They are camping just outside the village. We told them what time we planned to eat dinner at the pub and invited them to join us.

Then the Lone Mike came by, quite wired from his walk. He is also staying at the White Lion, in the room just across from Kelly and me. He got a beer and sat with us. Mike had decided to take the hard route down, across Helvellyn with a famous stretch called "Striding Edge" where you apparently walk along the crest of the mountain on a path just a few feet wide. He said there were all kinds of "silly people" up there doing crazy things. Kelly excitedly told him that we’d now stayed in two rooms named Helvellyn, and she made arrangements for him to get a sandwich from the shop the next morning. Mike is a builder from Manchester, and we talked about the differences in housing prices in England compared to what we are used to in East Tennessee. We read the high real estate prices in the Times, something else that helps us better appreciate what we have at home. Mike was still wearing his New York Yankees cap, and while we were sitting at the picnic table, I saw another person in one of these caps. I’ve seen lots of people in England in New York Yankees caps-- they are a very popular item. Mike told me he hasn’t ever been to New York. He had no idea what the cap was about.

We took our showers and changed into our non-hiking clothes. We had dinner at the White Lion pub with Mike, Tim and Duncan and really enjoyed our dinner together. It's fun to connect with people... to make friends... on these walking trips. I brought down our book about our trip, and we told them about our Grand Tour. We had a great meal too, including our usual sticky toffee pudding. Kelly and Duncan both had enormous banana splits. Duncan was especially interactive with Kelly... he is really a nice young man, very enterprising with several different jobs. He will have his 14th birthday while they are on the walk. They will actually pass through their own village on the walk, but plan to pitch their tent in their backyard rather than sleep inside. Duncan asked Kelly a lot of questions about living in America: what did she do on weekends, what was Christmas like, did she watch Friends on television.

The pub was crowded and very lively. We saw lots of other C2Cers, including the rambling club men we had talked to in Ennerdale Bridge. Duncan told us that word was spreading among the walkers about the Americans who had spent the night at Black Sail Hut. (Great story, I'm sure. "Hey, did you hear about that poor American family who got lost up at Black Sail?")

Many walkers will follow Wainwright’s standard route tomorrow and go onto Shap and from there to Kirkby Stephen-- 37 miles in two days. We'll break this into three more manageable days instead, as will Mike and Sue. We exchanged e-mail information with the Lone Mike and Tim and Duncan, since we won’t likely connect with them again on the walk. They have been fun friends on the trip, and we wish we were going further with them.

Kelly had an especially great time tonight, Actually we all did. Kelly and I kissed Charley goodnight as he headed down the hall to his own little room.

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