Day 6: Shap to Orton

Weather:  Cloudy with gale force south-wester

Distance covered today: 12.4km (7.7mi)

Last night's B&B: The Greyhound

% Complete: Cumulative distance: 38.2%: 117.7km

Total Ascent/Total Descent:  647m/673m

GPS satellite track of today's route: Day 6 (click!)

Strangely, it felt like coming home.

The first thing I noticed was the limestone pavement, so similar to the limestone above Malham in the Pennines and also on the South Downs.  After days of alternating bog and rocky tracks, the walking was easy on the curiously soft, green lawns so typical of limestone walks.  Walkers and sheep keep the grass really short and it is surprising that the weight of traffic mostly fails to wear out the grass.  Then, slowly as I breasted a rise, there in the distance the Pennines appeared.

Let it be said that it is a strange sort of walker who thinks of the Pennines as home, but then one has to understand the curious relationship I have with them.  I remember the anxiety I felt as I approached them for the first time, watching them slowly rise as the near landscape became ever hillier.  At the time I had read much about walkers who hated the uniformity and couldn’t wait for the conclusion.  Certainly, I had my challenges, but overall the Pennines were for me a revelation.  The sense that I will be there again, just as soon as I've walked through the Valley of Eden, is one of anticipation and excitement.

Leaving the Lake District behind so soon in the walk is itself controversial.  Although Wainwright preferred to walk from west to east, he understood the value of leaving the best to last.  I have met walkers who argue that Lakeland demands so much in the way of stamina that it is useful to have ten days strenuous walking under the belt before attempting it. For me though, the persuasive argument, as with LEJOG, is to have the weather behind your back.  Today, as I was being wafted up a steep incline with the wind behind me, I rejoiced in that choice.

Reflecting on my time in Lakeland, I suppose the overwhelming conclusion is that it is a place of mountains rather than lakes.  I always carry a naïve impression of a place or experience before I get there, and it may also be true for others in that most people who go to Lakeland, go there in a car to visit a lake.  60% to 70% of the houses in Lakeland are second homes.  Walking through Lakeland, or, for that matter, even looking at it on a map, it becomes obvious that the real attraction is about those strangely beautiful hills and the high passes that lead from one beautiful valley to the next.  It is a surprisingly small and clearly defined environment, a product of the violent geology of these islands and the effects of the vast glaciers that covered the surface.  I now understand perfectly why so many people want to preserve it exactly as it is, but for me it really isn’t part of this green and pleasant land.  It is just too dramatic for that!

For some reason today was different in that I didn’t see another walker until just before reaching my destination. I started late to give myself a good rest after yesterday’s exertions and I enjoyed the peace of a solitary plod in the howling wind.  Marilyn and I had supper together tonight, and she invited me to join her and the others tomorrow, but I found myself politely declining.  She is the only nerd I've met who even begins to threaten my knowledge of Garmin walking technology and we spent a pleasant hour talking about technology and business (she must be my age, yet she is in the process of starting a new business from scratch; some ambition and, if she succeeds, some achievement!).  

Somehow, though, the last few days have been just too intense.  I think I need a little time on my own for reflection; especially as I approach, ascend and transcend the Pennines…..

Looking back at the Lakeland fells

The M6 and the West Coast Main Line separate Lakeland from England

The cement plant near Shap; such a contrast

The intriguingly odd little hamlet of Oddendale

The Pennines appear!

The lovely grassy walking surface over limestone

Limestone pavement

This is curiously deserted countryside, starkly beautiful,

with the Pennines as a backdrop,

and strange, large rocks, randomly deposited - presumably by a passing Glacier

Contrasts

Then suddenly, I'm within 9 miles of Appleby; site of the Roma's famous annual horse fair, less than a month away! 

A limestone kiln on the way down to Orton

The lovely Orton Valley

This beautiful little beck

by way of a serious set of oxbows

turned into a proper river in Orton, all in no time!

Evocative architecture in Orton

The day's elevation profile