Coast to Coast - Day 4

Grisedale tarn to Burnbanks - 15.5 miles

I was really hoping for a good night's sleep but it wasn't meant to be. Grisedale tarn is famous for two things: having no midges and having a wind tunnel.... the second was beyond loud until 1am. I simply went with the flow and was reading a book until luckily I passed out after the wind settled down a bit. My neighbour wasn't that lucky; his tent pole snapped in middle of the night and his tent collapsed on him, poor guy.

I really wanted to catch up on the miles I lost yesterday so I set off just before 6am and managed to get to Patterdale for 8am. After a long breakfast in the town centre I tackled the highest and hardest section of the whole path. Just WOW ... first it was steep, than lovely, than steeper, than gorgeous, than bloody hell this-is-going-to-be-painful tomorrow steep, followed by THE view. Absolutely breathtaking: tarns, peaks, valleys as far as the eye could see and luckily clouds. I'm honestly not sure I could have done this with the sun out and no shade, luckily I didn't have to find out.

I also met three lovely ladies who were doing the C2C in sections. They were amazing to talk to and kindly even offered their sofa at their Airbnb for the night Aaahhh. I wish I could have taken them up on it but the extra 4 miles in the morning followed by an 850m climb and a break-your-neck / rock-climbing style descent was too much. I literally found a nice green hidden spot next to a village, set up camp and had myself a quick nap. To ensure I keep enjoying the trip and it won't become a race to finish I've decided to finish at Reeth on Saturday. This means on average 11 mile days that I can simply enjoy at a pleasant pace.