Benwick Rambler

• Preparation
• Day Zero
• Day One
• Day Two
• Day Three
• Day Four
• Day Five
• Day Six
• Day Seven
• Day Eight
• Day Nine
• Day Ten
• Day Eleven
• Day Twelve
• Day Thirteen
• Day Fourteen
• Day Fifteen
• Day Sixteen
• Day Seventeen
• Reflections

coast to coast - day 6

The Crown & Mitre, Bampton Grange to Barn House B&B, Orton

11.24 miles 1,492 feet.
Start: 09:00 Finish: 14:30 Elapsed time: 5:30 Cumulative time: 40:00

Setting out from Bampton Grange I had to walk a couple of miles to rejoin the recognised route of the C2C at Shap Abbey. It looked like a reasonable day but light drizzle set in after about 30 minutes and I had to stop to put waterproofs on at Rosgill. I had now left the Lake District and the walking became so much easier with fields paths and walls & gates/stiles to negotiate again. By the time that I reached the footbridge over the M6 the rain had stopped and it became a generally cloudy day.

 

Shortly after crossing the M6 I got a phone call from Stuart who runs “Walking Places”. We had arranged to meet the following day at Sunbiggin Tarn but he’d had a change of plans and was running ahead of schedule on his east to west crossing of the C2C. I thought that he said that he would now meet me near Oddendale and as we were both wearing red jackets it shouldn’t be too difficult to spot each other. Anyway, I passed Oddendale with no sight of him so I decided to press on. Shortly afterwards I could see someone wearing red in the distance behind me and thought that I had better stop to let them catch up in case it was Stuart. As the red-coated walker got a little nearer I could see that it was Marion who I had briefly met in the rain at Grisdale Tarn. We then walked together into Orton. Somewhere between Seal Howe & Robin Hood’s Grave another red-coated walker came into view - it was Stuart. We stopped to exchange news of progress on our respective C2C walks and I took the opportunity to ask him about the state of the bogs on Nine Standards Rigg. We clearly have differing views of the definition of “not too bad!”.

Leaving Stuart to the prospect of a higher level Lake District crossing, Marion and I continued into Orton. She was walking on her own but was being supported by her husband in their caravan which he was moving periodically along the route of the C2C. He would drive her to the start of each leg and pick her up again at the end of the day to return to their caravan for the overnight stay. An ideal and less expensive way of doing the C2C.

The overnight stay at Barn House in Orton scored 8 out of 10 as my room had a bath and there was a guest’s lounge in the conservatory. It was here that I met up with Eric & Sherry who I’d seen before on the climb to Grisdale Tarn and Tiffany & Susanne who I would meet up with again on the climb to Nine Standards Rigg. The only pub in Orton is far from special and the food was ordinary bordering on poor.

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