Day 3 - Haweswater Reservoir to Kirkby Stephen
25.5 miles
6 hours 36 mins
2,877ft ascent
This was supposed to be the easy rest day between tricky days.
We stayed in Shap last night at the New Ing Lodge, run by Scott who did the Northern Traverse in 2022 (in 50 hours!) and had given me some advice on prep for my attempt - really nice guy running a really nice lodge and campsite. Despite Shap being directly on the route, we drove back to where I finished at Burnbanks which felt annoying but necessary as there was nothing left in me the previous day to add Shap on the end. It was a flat day today, so I elected to have no poles, and within the first 20m of the run I was down to a hobble and regretting not having poles with me for support on the tiny undulations through woodlands. The night’s sleep had not miraculously healed my now swelling left knee, or the deep throbbing in my shin, and I wondered whether the van was still there, if I could turn back, whether I was just in far too over my head with the whole thing.
After 4 miles of mixing hobbling and running, trying to ease my legs into a rhythm, I met Tomtom who had cycled down from Shap to the Abbey to meet me (and avoid the first few stiles/fields). We ran through Shap, over the M6 and officially out of the Lake District, then continued over the moors toward the first check point with Pa outside Orton. We passed a few who had stayed at the New Ing Lodge with us the previous night, and were met by cyclists who had passed Pa at the meeting point before they travelled toward us. There have been quite a few times that my path has crossed with people doing the Coast to Coast over the last few days, adding to each day meeting them and hearing their journey and account of their experiences. Half way into the morning Tomtom claimed to have placed a boulder on the moor, so once we arrived I couldn’t help but climb it - tricky with dicky knees and a wonky shin!
I continued to experiment with a compression sock, to alleviate pain and discomfort from my right knee, having used it to support the left knee through some of the Lakes, but every day has been starting with ibuprofen anyway, and this morning co-codamol from the off too. The miles today came slowly, the weather was calm and quiet which was a kindness, and the scenery was dramatically different with the absence of crags and neck craning summits to soft rolling hills and far distant horizons blued out with haze.
I was having to walk sections that were flat and comfortable under foot because I couldn’t keep running for no reason other than each step hurt. I had plenty of energy and strength, but no way of getting it to the floor without sharp retort from my limbs. In the end I was having to walk down hills and run uphill sections because the angles were easier on the mechanics of my legs. After far too long, the view of Kirkby Stephen in the valley below came over the horizon and we met Pa one last time a few miles out of the town at a chance road crossing, then made it to the meeting point in the centre by the statue of Lady Anne Clifford, concluding just shy of marathon distance and turns out it wasn’t that flat after all anyway.
