Day 5 – C2C Walk

Another early alarm call at 6-45 and down for another full English. It’s just got to be done on this walk, it’s the rules 🙂
After that it was off on what most people call the best day of the challenge. It’s a long day at 21 miles but it’s steady away over lots of rolling farmland. Our first point of interest was at 1 mile when we walked over a bridge that spans the M6 motorway. Two things to note here, firstly when you stand on the bridge looking south, everything to your right is the lakes which are now behind you and to he right is the Yorkshire dales which are your focus for the next few days. It’s the point where you finally leave the mountains behind and marks a change in landscape and terrain. The second is that there was a great big mast at the side of the bridge and that meant super fast internet to upload yesterday’s blog post and a chance to text people back home. We were like kids in a sweet shop as we browsed the internet text for our lives.
So a slow first mile but then we really got a good pace going. After 2 miles we met a young couple carrying full camping gear. We ended up chatting and walking most of the day with them. It turned out the couple were wild camping along the way, carrying huge backpacks and that Ross had proposed to Laura as part of the challenge on top of Hay Stacks in the lakes. I think he just wanted to give her the ring to shed some weight from his pack 😉 They really were great company and the conversation helped the miles drift by.
The day was different to what we had walked so far. It was still special but not quite as dramatic as the stunning lakes and mountains. We rolled through field after field walking on mostly grassy paths taking in views of the Howgills, the trough of bowland, sunbiggin tarn and as we approached Kirkby Stephen we had the treat of a WWII bomber flying at eye level in the valley ahead of us.
Yet again the weather was kind with a stiff breeze and cloudy skies but dry. We just can’t believe our luck with the weather as the forecast at the start was for rain every day. It’s actually only rained yesterday and that was only drizzle.
We had drifted away from Ross and Laura but with 2 miles to go we stopped for a coffee break and they caught us up so we finished the day with them. We arranged to meet for an meal at our hotel and had a great evening with some very good food and had a real good laugh. We were joined by another young man, who was born in Argentina, grew up in Italy and now lived in Denmark. He was also doing the walk but he couldn’t read maps very well and didn’t have any waterproof clothing. We had seen him once before on day 3 stood on top of the Knott lost in the rain. I still don’t know just how he is gonna get to the end of this but somehow I suppose he will.
As we are now pushing on with some big mileage days we sadly had to say goodbye to Ross and Laura. I’ll be honest id love to have walked the rest of the walk with these two and we will really miss them. If you are both reading this then I wish you all the best with your wedding and the future. We may not get chance to meet again but you’ll always be thought of when I reminisce over this challenge.
So we now have 5 days under our belt and tomorrow we will walk 25 miles, hit the half way point and then hit the 100 mile mark. A superb achievement and this really is the best experience of my life so far. Can’t wait for the next 5 days.