Patterdale to Shap Day 5

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Day 5 was certainly a big day for us. We were leaving the Lake District after 5 days, we had a long 16 mile haul and it entailed a climb up to Kidsty Pike (780m). Also Nick was coming up from London to join us for a day of our Coast to Coast, meeting us in Shap so we didn't want to arrive too late in the evening.

The track skirts Angle Tarn

We climbed up to Angle Tarn accompanied by a dozen or so Coast to Coast walkers but also a fair crowd of weekend ramblers (it was a Saturday morning). I may be dwelling on it but the weather was again superb with excellent visibility. This may be ho-hum for an Australian summer but here in the Lakes we were told it is just as common to get many days on end when the cloud hangs low in the valley or the showers persist throughout the day.

On top of Kidsty Pike

We had great views from the summit and we lunched on the lower slopes with a glorious view over Haweswater.

Lunch overlooking Haweswater

Kidsty Pike lies adjacent to High Street (over 800m) which is a ridge that formed part of an old Roman road. It's sometimes hard to know whether your leg is being pulled by the locals, but from what we've heard (from multiple sources) the term "High Street" originates from this road which the Romans used to minimise the risk of ambush. If our sources are to be believed all "High Streets" in English towns (and subsequently Australian ones) derived from this mountain road. Hmmmm. Let's just say it's out there for your consideration ... let us know if you have any further knowledge of this piece of trivia, one way or t'other.

High Street in the background, the final easy traverse to Kidsty Pike in the foreground

There was a long descent from Kidsty Pike to the Haweswater Reservoir, at first gentle but near the end it was agonisingly steep. The further you go on this trek the more you dread the steep descents rather than the steep climbs.

The traverse of Haweswater was pleasant enough but went on for miles (literally) and even at the end of that there was a further 5 mile slog into Shap. I was lucky enough to see the now rare and endangered red squirrel which is being squeezed out by the North American grey squirrel (a metaphor for a cultural phenomenon we are all familiar with!)

Our accommodation (the Greyhound) was distressingly at the far end of the long main street of Shap (another High Street?) but there waiting for us in the bar was Nick who had endured a long slog of a different sort ... from London to Penrith then bus to Shap.

With Nick in the Greyhound Hotel in Shap 

We weren't great company though, as we were ready for bed before we had even finished dinner. Shap is also a rather plain town after the grandeur of the Lake District so we all toddled off for a good night's rest, ready for an easier day from Shap to Orton.