The record for July 3rd, is a dayy late, due to two reasons, the first being that we were in the highest room in the guest house, and the wifi didn’t reach, and also because having watched England finally beat Colombia on penalties I was too tired to walk down to the guest sitting room to blog.

Tuesday July 3rd started with an ok breakfast, the poached eggs were a little watery, but I will get over it. We walked back down into Grasmere, a lovely Lake District village, and stocked up on some items for lunch, before setting off to get back on the C2C trail. We started a long and gradual climb along Tongue Gill, which was hard work in the morning sun. Today I had my new strategy of putting my hankie into each stream we passed, soaking it with cold water and tying around my neck… very helpful in keeping me cool. As we approached the top of the climb there were some wonderful waterfalls, and the march up became a little steeper. The top was ‘Grisedale Hause’ at about 582m, and just over the top was Grisedale Tarn. A lovely spot where we rested, and talked with two other couples doing the same, one from Melbourne and one from Florida.

After resting up we continued, what was now a very long descent into Patterdale. This was gradual, and not so jarring on the knees as the previous days descent into Grasmere. Whereas yesterday we were on top of the peaks, today we were walking along the valley, following Grisedale Beck all the way down. We came off trail at Patterdale, and walked the road, which was almost melting in the heat. Our stay for the night was at Glenridding, neighbouring Patterdale. Glenridding is on the southern end of Ullswater… famous for Donald Campbell  setting the world record for a speeding boat back in the 50’s. We sat looking at the lake whilst consuming ice cream… perfect for a summer afternoon.

Then we went and found our guest house, where we were greeted by an odd chap, who seemed reluctant to want to admit guests, even those who were booked to be there, like us. Tricia named him Lurch. Harsh but pretty accurate. Anyhow, we got in. After cooling showers to try and shake off the heat of the day, it was off to the Travellers Rest for an evening meal. After which I went back to the guest house to watch the football. Tricia went to the lake. The evening ended with Jordan Pickford making a fine save, followed by Eric Dier scoring the winning penalty. Nice.