Day...4?

Ennerdale to Grasmere. Done about 40 miles now. In quite a lot of pain. Dave has pulled muscle in his leg. It rained terribly today, and we are in a Youth Hostel tonight, in much needed warmth.

Day 2, C2C

Seems a lot further in than day two... We two travellers are now sturdy and worn hikers with 14 miles behind us. It's not a great feat, you might say, but oh with those bags and down that hill. That hill was Raven Crag , a spot so steep that people complain to the guide book for putting it on the trail. Actually it wasn't on Wainright's original walk, but has since become standard. Your knees shiver and begin to numb, and you continually wonder about sliding down on your bag. 

Most beautiful part of the walk was just after that descent, on the cusp of the Lake District, through a meandering valley. We met one man and his dog. Having coffee now in the Fox and Hounds, gotta run. 

Departing

Today I depart. Somewhat stupidly I decided to go back to china on land, and sandwich that trip with two wholemeal slices of travel, namely a 192 mile hike across England's rugged north, and a visit to Japan's old capital, Kyoto, to live for a week in a capsule. 

I calculated the mileage to be about 8892, although no website appears to be able to calculate train distances, somewhat annoyingly. So 8892 is a very rough estimate. It is however longer than the equatorial diameter of the earth, so pleasingly I can report that if I did this trip downwards, from New Milton through the centre of the earth, I'd pop out a few hundred miles south east of New Zealand and keep on climbing into the sky for hundreds of miles more. 

Tonight I'll be in New Cross, London. Tomorrow, the north!