Kidsty Pike Part 1

Will try to reduce the size of the blogs that are stubborn about posting

Day  5 Walking May 22

Patterdale to Shap

White Lion to Brookfield House

16 miles plus the extra mile to get out to the B&B, then the round trip walk from B&B to Co-Op to get Food 

9.75 Hours

 

Learned a bit more about the woman who died yesterday.  No name or where she was from.  Seemed in her 60's or 70's.

Yet.  About 10-15 years ago she had done the C2C, had cancer and survived that, and wanted to attempt the walk again.

A group of about 6 hikers had seen her off and on over the past couple days. She had been struggling each time seen.  Day 3 on the stiff climb Up from Rosthwaite, she turned back after the first mile and caught a bus to Grasmere.  She left Grasmere yesterday and the group of 6 passed her and said later that she seemed to be having a tough time. She made it to the pass and was starting on her way down.  Possibly she slipped, but also possible she had a heart attack.  She was finding the entire walk far more strenuous then she remembered, she said. 

I saw her on a corner in Grasmere on my return from climbing Helm Crag and the other Crags.  She was studying a map and look straight at me.  She walked across in front of me to put a tissue in a garbage.  She was wearing the same pants as when stretched on the ground. Kind of strange in hindsight.  Very sad.  I keep seeing her empty staring eyes when I encountered her, the lifeless wrist,the silver chain of a necklace, the froggie with the map inside.

It was extremely crowded last night in the pub/restaurant with the wait for a meal order an hour long, and no place to sit as people seemed to have parked themselves permanently at the few tables.  I ordered and asked for it brought to my room. Had the chili with rice. It came with what seemed close to a cup of sour cream and chips.  First real hot cooked meal in a days. But there was enough food to feed three people. When I brought the remains back to the kitchen staff they were concerned that there was something wrong, or that I didn't like it.  I did like it, but there was no way it would fit inside this body. 

Tried to FaceTime with Gary but the connection was not agreeable. 🙁. 

Finally will discard some of the clothing worn for traveling.  The pants had been used every evening for "dress-up", and the shirt was used everyday for walking.  Good Bye blacks. 

 

A movie about 4 guys doing the Coast to Coast, filmed along the route.  Will try to find it once home. 

 

 

Sat with Becca, Martin and his dog Sullivan at breakfast. All the talk was of the poor lady yesterday and both of them had their own guilt feelings because they had both spoken to her as they were climbing up.  Becca encouraged the lady who said she was struggling and didn't think she could make it. Martin worried about her as he passed, but as he had become chilled and was worried about his dog who was shivering, he continued down.  Guilt feelings for everyone.