Day 5 : Patterdale to Shap

After a comfortable night and good breakfast at Old Water View,  a favourite of Wainwrights, we set off on what many think is the hardest day of the CtoC.  The guidebook says "be prepared to be very tired indeed at the end of this 16 mile stage" and so we are! Jen and I both had shaky,achy knees as we walked into Shap. It was a long climb up to Kidsty Pike and then  what is described as a gnarly descent to Haweswater. Gnarly and nasty it was unless you had long legs to help you climb over rocks on a steep decline. Squash-players lungs no doubt helped  P and A too but for others it was  more difficult! Altogether we had 1300 metres of ascent today, if you add in the undulating trawl along the lakes edge. From Kidsty Pike(2500ft) the splendid views made the hard slog worthwhile. Up there we chatted to 5 army chaps on a team building CtoC  walk. 4of them had served in Afghanistan and said "the harder it gets, the closer you become." I hope the C to C doesn't get harder!
For a while we were delayed by hundreds of sheep being shepherded down the lane ahead of us. It was fascinating watching the farmer's Australian sheepdogs doing their stuff.
Our BandB is in a 300yr old house but what we most appreciated was loads of hot water and a nice bath.
We had fish and chips across the road and will soon go to bed. I am sitting doing this in the bathroom as it is the only place where there is reception.