Patterdale to Shap – 16 miles
We were talking to Adam about the alternative of walking alongside Ullswater Lake as the weather forecast was not good. Today was to be the highest point of the walk so we decided that for safety we would plum to walk alongside the lake. Adam came up with a better suggestion which was to take the Ullswater Steamer to Pooley Bridge. So after breakfast, bags at the ready, packed lunches tucked away, Adam said he would take us to the jetty.
Now feeling a little guilty that we wouldn’t be completing AW’s (Alfred Wainwright) original route, we purchased our tickets alongside other walkers we had met over the past few days – they had also decided upon the safer option. We boarded the boat and were soon off sailing the length of Ullswater.
Time for a group selfie.
We arrived at Pooley Bridge (still raining) at 10:15 am, then set off along with everyone else to find our alternative route to the village of Askham. This was quite a lot of road walking which can be hard on the ankles, but we persevered
until we arrived in Askham
The village was quiet,
no one around, but there were signs to Askham Hall and river. We needed to find the River Lowther as our plan was to follow it to Bampton Grange, Rosgill then on to Shap Abbey.
At the river
the path led us through a forest of the Askham Hall estate and as we cleared the forest the rain stopped, the clouds lifted and the sun shone through, Yipppeeeee!! From here on the walking was flatter than we had experienced the past few days because it was farming land. As the sun began to warm us up we decided to have lunch, facing Crookwath Bridge and Helton Village in the distance.
Whilst here we saw the couple from Shropshire crossing the bridge and waved to them, but thought they wanted to avoid us as they didn’t acknowledge our gesture.
As we lunched the local wild life became curious and approached, maybe looking for nibbles. Being tight,when it came to food we left nothing. (Sorry, sheep.) It was now on to Bampton Grange and Rosgill still following the river,
with the rolling hills in the distance.
After we had left Rosgill we stopped to check the guide book and map when a gentleman came out of his house to ask if we were walking the Coast 2 Coast. He followed on by talking of his exploits of the C2C then gave us a leaflet of a walk on the Pennines for us to consider when we had finished. After he told us where the path was he left us, bidding us happy walking.
Now back by the river, heading towards Shap, we could see other walkers ahead and suddenly we espied Shap Abbey in the distance.
The abbey, which was founded in 1199 and dissolved by Henry Vlll in 1540, was a pleasant sight as we knew we were near our next B&B in Shap. We decided not to go looking at it because we were feeling tired but there’s a sting in the tail here. As you turn to walk away from the abbey there is a hill, a steep one at that, and at the top there’s a cattle grid to walk over. Just everything you want when you are feeling very tired!! We arrived
at our B&B, were shown to our rooms and found out where to eat, before having a well deserved shower plus rest prior to phoning home. Our host had suggested a little pub just down the road; after a 10 minute walk we found it and had a well deserved pint or two. The food was plentiful and with a good atmosphere the beer wasn’t bad either. Once we were fulfilled with fodder and liquid refreshments it was time to head off for another early night.