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5/24 - 14 miles
We had a long day ahead of us and really wanted to get an earlier start BUT the award winning breakfast at the Lanercost B&B had us thinking we had to set off after right?!?! They had many choices, and it was definitely worth losing the extra hour of walking over! We were lucky that our lingering B&B owner told us a route that would allow us to avoid the giant hill we traversed down yesterday. He did have a funny story that went along with it, he said that many walkers going West to East ask if they can have a lift to the top of the hill because it's so big! The owner was like "Do I tell them that hill is nothing compared to what they'll climb up and down the next 3 days?" We all agreed mouth shut is better!!
We ran across another murder of crows. Haven't mentioned these yet, but boy oh boy crows here are prevalent, loud, and seem to take over whole sections of trees! This had to be some sort of inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock right?
Our route today was relatively flat through more farmland.
We had seen one other, but stopped at what's called an "Honestly Box" that's filled with drinks and snacks for walkers along with a box to honestly pay for the items. Today was much warmer than any other we experienced, so even a few hours in we got some ice cold water and a candy bar.
Today was rough and long. The surroundings weren't as exciting and it was a long haul. We were all tired and just moved forward. I decided I needed to distract myself from the pain and started to make up a trail song. It was kind of cute because as soon as I sang it to Matt & Jen they were thinking of their own or humming along. A fun distraction! If you're curious, I'll put the current lyrics at the bottom of the blog.
We started to make our way into Carlisle, a fairly sizable city & stop for the night, and hit my worst enemy....pavement. Lots of it. A few miles of it. This equals death, pain, agony!!! Sorry to sound so dramatic, but it takes a toll on an already torn up body & feet!! We got to our B&B
and put our feet up for awhile before heading out to dinner. Being in a bigger city/town we actually had more than one choice for a place to eat, woop!!! Along the way we passed a pharmacy (another woop) and restocked on blister medical supplies and industrial strength ibuprofen. I picked up a knee brace for the last day that was a tad too small, but worth a try anyway. As we continued our walk to dinner, we passed a few other walkers we had come across the previous days. They all greeted us with an enthusiastic, "You made it" throwing their fists in the air. Sheesh, we must really look like a broken troop! LOL
Dinner was at an eclectic, hipster sort of place and was really good, but soon we all sort of just sat there like zombies yawning and spacing out. As we made out way back to the B&B at around 8:30pm, we passed all of these cool bars and shops and it made me sad. Here we are in this cool little English city with a great vibe and we're so beaten down we can't even really enjoy it. Especially since it's not completely
dark here until after 10pm (I was a little off on my first blog. Sunrise is before 4am, sunset around 9:50pm). Well, that was enough boo-boo for one blog! I propped my legs up on my pillow, pulled the duvet up, and hit the hay!!!
5/25 - 14 miles
LAST DAY!!!! Worst night's sleep yet as I just could not get comfortable all night long. That's what happens when every part of your body is aching, throbbing, and screaming at you! LOL. I decided to wear my sneakers for the walk out of Carlisle knowing that it would be pavement. I have to insert a plug here for Allbird shoes. They're not true sneakers, but I wouldn't have made it in the evenings (or through today) without these most comfortable shoes EVER.
On our way out, we stopped for our second to last passport stamp and then immediately hit another diversion from flooding. Our trail icon is an acorn, and as we were taken through the streets of the city it was like a scavenger hunt to find them. They were stuck to poles, signs, bike racks.... We managed to stay on track, and at one point
an older man pulled his car over to ask if we were on our way to Bowness and offer us his directions through the diversion (the kindness of strangers here is well worth mentioning!).
Most of our morning walk was through a giant city-like park and then more farmland. Now is where I will mention that today's high temperature is going to beat a multi-year record here. It's around 80 today and brutal. The trail is only open from May 1 - Oct. 30th, and we deliberately chose May for cooler temps (OK and yes for my Bday!). Anyway, it was hot as hell and literally sucked all of the last energy we had right out of us. It was hard to escape it as there wasn't a lot of shade along the way. So, we were SLOW moving, and Jen especially was in the most pain of the trip thus far with her ankle killing her likely from overcompensating for the heel peel 😞
The good news for today was that there were actually towns and stuff along the way with toilets and restaurants to refill water. We stopped for an hour lunch where I took my
boots off (no shame at this point) and felt slightly recharged after. We then hit what is called the "marsh lands" where you just walk beside a main highway that hugs marshlands. At high tide, the water actually closes this road completely, and we had to check the times to ensure we would be passing at low-tide. This section was more-or-less 3 miles, but it felt like an eternity!!
We hit another small town, now about 4 miles away from Bowness-on-Solway, and ran across another honesty stop that was a small building with a toilet, coffee machine and ICE CREAM!!! Oh how lovely it was to sit for a moment out of the sun and eat that cold, delicious ice cream bar!! That moment was short lived though, as we took a wrong turn leaving and probably went a good 1/3 mile before I had that feeling of not being on the right track. We pulled out the book and were standing alongside the road, when a car pulled over and a young man confirmed that we indeed had taken a wrong turn. Not a day where we wanted extra mileage or steps, but we turned around and headed
back.
We went through more farmland and then again were questioning if we were on the right track as we stood next to this huge farmhouse. Now this giant barn had 6 freshly dead crows tied to the outside of it and we had seen people working outside. Jen and I sent Matt to ask if this was the path and as he walked away, we hoped we weren't sending him into some sort of weird witchcraft situation where he wouldn't come back! LOL. We were still on the right track and forged on. We hit another tiny town about 2.5 miles from Bowness and just had to stop for a bit as we were all dying. Once we refreshed a little with cold beverages, we set out for our final hour. I think we did have a little more pep in our step as we made our way, and luckily this area of the trail was heavily shaded which felt like a gift.
One mile from Bowness was an older man who made this cool sign that he uses to of course make some extra money in his retirement. He was super sweet and gave us the
play-by-play of our last mile. I have to say I probably moved faster than I had in two days on that last mile as Bowness-on-Solway came into view with the setting sun glistening over the low tide of the Irish Sea. We made it into town and saw our very last sign telling us that in 600m we would find the trail end. It was a moment of many emotions: elation, pride, relief, exhaustion.... We all took turns placing our final stamp into our passports to truly signify that we had made it!!! 91 miles from the North Sea to the Irish Sea.
We quickly checked into our inn and hit the one pub, as we were in jeopardy of missing their cut off for food service. Dinner wasn't worth mentioning, but we did see our English friend from Greenhead who gave us the bandages. This guy seriously needs to start a Jen fan club! He was honestly more excited than we were that we had made it, and just kept telling Jen, "well done, well done!" We think that she really showed him up knowing he quit the first time for his feet. He had seen Jen's heels
and likely knew that his were no where near that bad. Jen is a warrior!!!
OK, so I know what you all want to know now.....would we do it again?? Well, yes but no. Was this harder than we thought? Yes, much! Did I naively think that our endurance and stamina would increase each day? Yes. Did I think our feet and backs would hurt less as they got the message of what was happening each day? Yes. Did they? NO! Am I proud as hell of this accomplishment? Yes. It will be one of those fun facts I can throw out at a work icebreaker, "I walked England coast-to-coast." But what we learned is that we don't need the start-to-finish, completion bragging rights. I wouldn't change this trip, but looking back I would just do the highlights and hike Heddon-on-Wall to Greenhead over 4ish days. Less miles, and even maybe a rest day in between. The hiking day-after-day, long miles is not something we'd likely sign our bodies up for again. Much of the trail you were just walking to finish it.
But like I said, I wanted this experience and am glad I did it. It
taught me a lot about myself, my limits, my strength. I'm a person that often quits when things get too physically challenging. I now know that even when every step for miles and miles is pain-filled that I can still go on. I didn't give up, even though there were several moments on the walk that I mentally questioned if we'd make it....but we did!!!
TRAIL SONG:
"This is how we feel when we walk (Bum bum bum),
Our feet are telling us to piss off!
But we turn that frown around, and tell them to pipe down!
Cause this is how we feel when we walk (Bum bum bum)."
"This is how we feel when we walk (Bum bum bum),
Our backs are saying 'lose the packs,'
Time to show them just who's boss, before they get too cross!
Cause this is how we feel when we walk (Bum bum bum)"
This is how we feel when we walk (Bum bum bum),
Jen's heels are literally peeling off!!!
But she fights back, and gives that pain a smack!
Cause this is how we feel when we walk (Bum bum bum)"
"This is how we
feel when we walk (Bum bum bum),
Erin's knee ain't so pleased!
But she limps on, and keeps the medi's strong!
Cause this is how we feel when we walk (Bum bum bum)."
"This is how we feel when we walk (Bum bum bum),
Our legs are saying 'that's a wrap,'
But we forge on, CAUSE WE ARE STRONG!
And this is how we feel when we walk!"
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Tom Lyle
non-member comment
You're finished..... congrats
Blister, blister....go away....never to return....blister, blister, goooooo away