Ulverston > Coniston

Weather was fantastic, cool and sunny with a nice breeze. I started late letting the morning warm up a little. My pack was light with 4 liters of water, rain gear, a sack lunch and some extra layers in case it got cold. Navigation is a fun challenge. My map isn’t at a scale to be anything but a general direction. The guidebook listed 47 cryptic instruction for the 20 mile trek. Here’s one of the 47 steps:

“Cross a cattle grid between stone pillars and follow a farm track down through a gateway into a wood. Look out for a boulder engraved “Keldray Farm”, turn left (signed footpath up at ground level) up a path on a wooded slope. Do not cross the first step stile you see, but climb a short way up the steep wooded slope and cross another step-stile over a fence at the top.”

It was a very long day.
The first 10 miles was lead me across pastures occupied by cows and sheep. These are connected by wooded paths, stream crossings., and a few farm yards. The pastures are huge, and the perimeters are not always visible with rolling terrain. The trick is to find the way out. Only about half the day was spent on any real trail. There are occasionally trail markers but many have been bleached by the sun and and the directional arrows were just a faint outline. The pastures are divided by stacked stone walls and you cross by climbing two or three stones extruded from the wall. The trick is finding them. When your perpendicular to them they are almost invisible.

Leaving the farms of Ulverston I walked over rolling hills covered in an ocean of ferns, the trail was well defined but disappeared from view under the plants canopy. It was a little unnerving after a couple miles to look around and the trail was gone.

 Why? It’s all the sheep! there everywhere. Saplings can’t get knee high before they are eaten. Even outside the stone cordoned pastures I would walk by groups of two or three that would move out of the way as I approached. Marshy fell made the going tough as I walked the West bank of Coniston water. Arrived exhausted with a huge smile on my face. Hotel is nice but with terrible wifi. Long hot shower. Salmon, potatoes and broccoli for dinner with a pint of Heineken. Body in good shaper relative to the miles and terrain. Fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.