I’ll admit I tried to get out of today’s walk. The guide book said it was a tough walk, 18km with 800 meters of elevation. It recommended bringing extra water as there were no resources along the way, and not taking many breaks as it would be a long day.
So I tried to take a bus, but they weren’t running. I contacted 2 taxi companies, they had no availability. Looks like I had no other option except to hike it. But that’s what I came here for right? I survived tough days before and can do it again…right?
Right?
Then I had a terribly lapse in judgement. I left early before breakfast. Leaving early yesterday was so successful I figured why not? I should have realized yesterday I had a bag full of snacks like apples and nuts and granola bars. Today all I had was an apple, a half eaten bag of chips and a protein bar.
But I like leaving early and breakfast didn’t start for another hour so I silently snuck out of the pub and immediately started climbing up, up, up.
And up, up, up, up.
And up, up, up, up. Even when I was walking on the main road it was going up, up, up, up.
I eventually needed my hiking poles as it got steeper and rockier. I passed through a logging operation, I passed through a field of heather. Up, up, up, up.
The weird thing was despite going so slow I didn’t see any other hikers. This section was the path for two popular hiking trails in England (the Coast to Coast and Cleveland Way) but where was everyone? I could certainly use some encouragement from a friend.
But it was just me on my own going up, up, up, up. Using all my energy while walking on an empty tank. The apple and half a bag of chips did nothing. I should have waited for breakfast and ordered the packed lunch.
But I knew there was a campground with a restaurant halfway through the day, I just wasn’t sure if it would be open today. But I had faith.
So I kept going up, up, up
4 and a half hours of up with 30 minutes of a steep descent I finally arrive at the open campground. I first wanted to use the toilets (there was no good cover for an outdoor pee) and I tried the door but it was locked. There was another door open and I walked in and saw urinals. I quickly ran out! I stood, unsure what to do for a minute when a guy walked over and wanted to use the bathroom.
“Do you need a cover?” he asked. I said it looked like I might as the ladies was locked, but I told him to go first. Meanwhle a woman comes out of the ladies and she said she accidentally locked the door (How? It was a 5-6 stall bathroom with showers, so clearly not at all an individual room and there was no random hook or something that could slip and “lock” the door. You ahd to do it intentionally. But whatevs…)
So anyway, despite that guys nice offer I got to use the ladies and then went searching for the restaurant. I was dreaming of a nice sandwich with protein and carbs and sugar but when I arrived they were only selling coffee.
“Lunch starts in an hour,” they said.
I couldn’t sit there for an hour just to order and then how long to get served and eat? I was expecting maybe a 30 minute break. I still had 3 tall peaks and miles to go and didn’t want to wait 1.5 to 2 hours. They had a small shop that was open and I looked around seeing what could fill me up. It was basically snacks like chips, sweet breads like banana bread or cinnamon rolls and candy. Nothing with any nutritional value.
I found one bag of Bruschetta and they had a charcuterie style pack of meats. It seemed the best I could do so I bought those along with a sports drink and sat down outside to eat my lunch. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t filling nor satisfying. My body just needed some energy at this point and I thought that after a little digestion I would perk right up.
So I set off again.
Almost immediately there was a climb and it seemed so much harder. I took a lot of breaks and made it to the ridge I was walking on but I just couldn’t do it. It wasn’t even that tough but I just felt exhausted. The hours of uphill in the morning really wore me out. I just felt like I couldn’t go on. I was also overwhelmingly sleepy. Last night was my first night that I had restless sleep and I thought if I could just find a quiet spot under a tree to take a little snooze and let my body digest I would feel better. But I was on a narrow rocky ridge and the mountains around me were bald, so I had to keep going.
So I found a nice rock and sat looking at the view. It was gorgeous. I was on the side of a mountain and all below me was flat land I could see for miles. I could see clusters of buildings, small villages, and large tracts of farmland. In the distance I could even see some giant windmills. I also saw a family doing a little dayhike with their 7? 8? year old son. I heard them coming and the kid made me smile when he yelled out to his parents, “my pockets are really full!”
“Oh yeah?” they said. “What do you have in them?”
“Three rocks shaped like triangles.” lol.
But as I sat on the side of a mountain, looking down at the flat land stretched out before I couldn’t help but wonder…“Why can’t the Coast to Coast trail be on the flat bit instead of the mountain?” I know true hikers would call it blasphemy, but I just looked at the flat land longingly, wishing I was there.
I went back to it, putting one foot in front of the other when I saw a sign marker for a trail to “Great Broughton.” That was the destination of my B&B. I checked the map app and it looked like this steep path down the mountain did indeed bring me to the village in about an hours hiking and I wouldn’t need to deal with calling the hotel! (All the villages are miles away from the trail in the mountain but this is a popular ending spot for the day so hotels pick up guests. The only problem is you gotta call them and while I have an esim, and their number, I wasn’t sure if this remote location would have cell service, or if I could figure out the international way to call them.)
So I set off on this new trail all happy to figure out a faster way to arrive and avoiding the international call all together. But the trail went straight down, on a rocky path, and I needed my poled to make sure I didn’t slip or hurt myself.
Then suddenly I heard a “shick, shick, shick,” sound behind me. I look back and see a guy RUNNING down the mountain. He was taking tiny steps to keep control and avoid slipping but I was shocked.
“I’m impressed!” I yelled out as he kept running down getting closer. “I can barely walk down this steep path and you’re running!”
“Tough one innit?” He said as he ran right by me down the trail. “Good luck!” He yelled back.
I continues to take my slow shaky steps down this steep rocky path. After about 15 minutes I see someone coming towards me hiking up the trail and…it’s him! The same guy!
“You again?” I asked and this time he stopped for a minute to chat. Turns out he was a competitive trail runner and he had a 50 mile race in 2 weeks in the Lake District. (That’s the place I had hiked my first few days with the tall, tall mountains.)
He would need to run up those mountains so he was practicing with this one. He wanted to run up 1000 meters of elevation and apparently this trail went up 250 meters so he was doing it 4 times in a row.
As impressed with him as I was he turned out to be equally impressed with me! I told him I was doing the Coast to Coast and he said he was jealous and it was his dream to hike/run the trail.
We parted impressed with each other and I told him I’d see him soon on his way back down. He laughed and said no as I was “almost there.”
I wasn’t, I had another 30 minutes of hiking but I didn’t see him again. Despite the last km being flat I was completely done. I had so little energy I had to stop 3 minutes away from my hotel. I literally just couldn’t go on without sitting down and taking a 30 minutes break on a bench, I was so gassed.
I crawled to my hotel, which was lovely and even better that I had a ground room floor as I didn’t know if I could do stairs right now, and took a long shower followed by a serious foot care routine. For dinner I splashed out for a sirloin roast and it was absolutely amazing. My body soaked in every nutrient.
It was an absolutely miserable day that wrecked me. I don’t see how one night of sleep is going to recover my body enough to be able to hike tomorrow. So I’m already starting to plan about how I will get to my next destination tomorrow by car/bus.
I know my limit and I have reached it.
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