We knew today was the toughest of the whole route but never imagined just how tough. We started with a few steady miles through Borrowdale valley before starting a long slow climb up to Lining Crag and then to Greenup Edge. This really is a tough climb but when we turned to look at our path behind us it was breathtaking and worth every step. The views looked all the way back through Borrowdale to our starting point for the day. The next section turned out to be a bit of a farce. I’d looked at my gps and it showed us climbing a bit further. So on we went up this hill through some of the boggiest land we could imagine. Marks feet were soaked as he dint have waterproof shoes on. Over half way up and I suddenly noticed the others walking were behind us taking a different route. A quick check of the GPS and yep we had gone the wrong way. About 1 mile wrong. So off we went back through the same bog and getting wetter.
Once back on track we set off back down hill and towards Grasmere. After a lunch stop we decided to take the high route and took in 3 more wainwright fells, Calf Crag, Gibson Knott and Helm Crag. From there it was a steep downhill then the worst part of the journey so far.
After crossing the road that leads to Grasmere we set off up Great Tongue, a valley that sits between Seat Sandal and Fairfield. How hard was this, just relentless uphill grassy path for 3 miles. The only highlight of this climb was a black sheep with white eyes. It looked like it was wearing a mask and was gonna hold us up. By the top we were knackered but also pleased to see Grisedale tarn. This is my favourite place in the whole of the lakes and we took 10 mins out to have a food and drink stop. We then set off down the next valley to Patterdale. On the way down we met up with a guy who started at the same time as us. Chatting with him made the last 4 miles go quick. The accommodation isn’t the best but it will do. However, we went out to the Old Water View pub which is the one featured in the TV series about the coast to Coast. It’s where Wainwright stayed every year since 1931 when walking up here and doing his drawings. The landlord told us some stories of his stays and also enlightened us on his own daughter who at 9 years old has already done the coast to Coast 3 times. Amazingly his mother is also the oldest person to do it at 80 and was actually at Richmond today on the route again.
So the hardest day is done and we are now 48 miles in to the challenge and we should now be able to start doing some easier high mileage days.

Day 3 Route: route