Carlisle to Caldbeck 16 miles

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg288/multreda/Cumbrian%20Way/?action=view&current=0f93ec0f.pbw

Day one of walking the Cumbrian Way.  I trained for this walk!  I walked 9-12 miles a day after the snow melted in....I think May.  We had so much snow this winter. I started in January at the gym-stair climber, treadmill, bike, pool.  I was determined to walk all 76 miles!  So what happens??????  I fall on the way to the meeting point the first day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh, I fail.  :-( 

I gouged a chunk from my left knee about 1 inch by 2, blood ran down my leg...we did not have time to go back to the cottage and clean it off, so we trudged(I was so embarrassed)along Keswick's lovely and uneven cobblestones to the town center.  There, we met the other walkers and our guide..for the first time.....while Pam hunted up a rag and some water.  I wiped off the blood, we slapped a big band aid on it and got on the bus.   Yes it hurt!  It hurt really bad!  I wasn't about to tell them that!  Oh, I was so angry at myself.

So, we got to Carlisle and the guide didn't really know how to get to the path.  One problem I have with Footpath Holidays is that thetheir guides do not walk the Trails first!  We had trouble last year when our guide got lost.  When you walk 16 miles you don't want to add a mile or two because the guide should have prepared better!

We found the statue that marks the start of the walk...and who do we see but Stuart and Anne from Offa's Dike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh, it was good to see them!  We'd had dinner with Hillary and Allan the night before, so this was great!  Stuart guides for H-F Holidays and always does a walk before he leads it.  So, his group was out for a little 10 mile Sunday jaunt, we talked, posed for pics and went on our merry(and in my case, bloody)way.  Pam and I would go with H-F because they do the same walks, but have some easier methods-not as long each day and such, but you have to stay in the accommodation they arrange...this can be pricey!  With Footpath you get your own place to stay.  Which is really great if you have a caravan!

We found the start of the walk and walked on a paved walkway/bike trail for about 3 miles.  The start is down by the train tracks...not a lovely place.  No place to wee!  So many people out for Sunday mornings!  So many back yards.  I was bleeding from the knee and had to wee!  Not good, not good.  Finally we found some trees and fields and...well, I felt better.  We washed the wound a bit better with water from the crick(you call it a river, I call it a crick).  On and on we walked-sheep, cows, fields, river.....really quite boring.  Since we walked the Cumbrian way North to South, and the guidebooks are all South to North, our guide got us lost a few times.  Not good, Footpath!  So, we decided he should write a North-South guidebook, and I made sure to take pics of the places we got lost.  Lovely area, rather flat, evidence of terrible flooding!

There is an old Bishop's Castle on the route, and some private school, but that's about it.  Near the end of our day it started to pour rain, so out came the waterproofs and my lovely gore-tex rain hat.  We walked into Caldbeck in a pouring rain to the sight of a warm, dry tea room.  Pam and I were the first ones in, ordered our scones and tea for two, shed our rain gear...and checked my knee.  It had stopped bleeding.  Bus ride back to Keswick, great dinner of chicken and pasta, many cups of tea....some TV and a warm bed.  Little did I know what would happen the next day.

I bought a new pack for this year-Osprey Exos 34.  I bought this one because it is very light and has straps so you can store your walking pole as you are walking when you don't need it.  Very good pack.  Fully loaded and I didn't feel it.  Walk with it first before you walk on cobblestones.   Oh, We saw several Border Terriers that day.  Lovely dogs.