Despite a forecast of more rain and strong winds for this walk I set off up the Trout Beck valley under dry skies and without much wind. After a gentle walk up the valley I eventually reached the Tongue of Trout Beck where I had a quite enjoyable climb up this little Wainwright to the outcrop strewn top with a murky view of Windermere down the long valley. After visiting the summit I walked along the length of the Tongue to its connection with Thornthwaite Crag where I joined the Roman road, High Street, and started to climb the hillside. Initially the path was very steep which made me wonder whether this bit was really on the actual Roman road or whether the path has moved over the years. I wouldn't have thought the Romans would build a road that steep as they were far too clever. Once I was onto Scot Rake the climb was good with increasingly good views down the valley and up towards Caudale Moor, though the top of the ridge seemed to take a long time to arrive.
When I finally reached the top of the ridge I followed a divergent path that follows the Roman road towards the top of High Street though I intended on heading towards Mardale Ill Bell. After crossing the bleak, cloud-covered hilltop I reached a wall corner where a casual glance of the map now reveals that at this point I needed to turn right in order to get onto the path to Mardale Ill Bell. When I was at the top of the fell, rather than notice this, I thought I'd missed the turn so I made the snap decision to change my plans and follow the broken wall to the top of High Street. I had planned on heading towards Shap via Branstree and Swindale so this was to be a major alteration in my plans. Venturing onto the snowy top of High Street I reached the summit where I stopped to have my lunch.
From the summit I headed to the top of the Long Stile ridge, which I was able to find exactly, thanks to my GPS, on the eastern edge of the plateau. From there I had a thoroughly enjoyable walk down the wonderful ridge, even though it was so windy I was knocked over a few times by the wind. I'd never been down this ridge before (I'd climbed up it twice, the last time in glorious weather in 2007), but in any direction, and in any weather this is a fabulous ridge to walk along. Eventually I reached the shore of Haweswater where I joined the official coast to coast route, though I hadn't intended on joining the route this early as I'd intended on walking over the hills south of the reservoir. After my sudden change of plans I was curiously excited at joining the coast to coast and indeed once I resumed walking from Shap I stayed on the coast to coast for the rest of the week. Just as I started to head off beside the reservoir the weather finally followed the forecast as it started to rain, and continued to do so all the way into Shap. The walk beside the lake was on a great path with a few ups and downs, some variations of surface, and some fantastic moments, particularly at the mouth of the Measand Beck where the surroundings are almost Scottish in their scale.
Eventually the path ended at the immaculate village of Burnbanks, which was where the tedium began. After a mildly pleasant walk beside the Haweswater Beck the last few miles into Shap was dreadfully dull as I crossed endless muddy fields. By the time I reached Shap I was aching all over and totally fed up with the rain and the fields. I bought fish & chips in the local chippy and then caught a bus to Kendal where I stayed at the youth hostel. I was feeling really tired, I was aching all over, and more than anything I was really depressed because I had now left the Lake District behind.
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