Land's End to John O'Groats - The Cumbria Way video

After diverting to Ulverston,  I set off on the Cumbria Way to Carlisle. Having lost so much time at the start of the hike because of the problem with my infected leg, I did not now have enough time available to complete my hike to John O'Groats. I therefore decided that Carlisle would be a good point to halt the walk and also to re-start the hike across Scotland at a later date. The Cumbria Way proved to be the most spectacular part of my hike to date.

LEJOG Day's 23 & 24 (44 & 45) - Coniston to Keswick - May 19th & 20th 2019

Day two started with low cloud and drizzle but after walking to Coniston village from the campsite and having breakfast in a cafe, the cloud lifted with the sun even putting in an appearance in the afternoon. The highlight of day two was the exquisitely beautiful Tarn Hows and the ever expanding view of the Coniston Fells. 

Coniston Village

LEJOG Day 22 (43) - Ulverston to Coniston - May 18th 2019

I left Ulverston after taking a selfie or two at the start point monument. This trail started gently through quiet hills and valleys before crossing into the Lake District National Park during the morning and almost immediately the scenery began changing as the Coniston Fells become more and more imposing ahead. On trails such as the Maelor Way and the South Cheshire Way, I regularly chose to hike along quiet country lanes as a way of more easily and quickly getting to my destination with little worry of missing any outstanding scenery and also to avoid the struggle of searching for invisible paths in the many boring fields of wet grass.This was never an issue on the Cumbria Way as the exquisite scenery kept me enthralled and the paths were always easy to follow. As the Old Man of Coniston and surrounding fells became more visible, I eventually descended to Coniston Water towards the end of the day and camped at a fairly busy campsite. The site was full of groups of ´car-campers´ enjoying barbecues and drinking heavily while listening to loud music. I escaped the noise by heading for a local pub for dinner where I watched Manchester City winning the FA cup before heading back to my tent. To be fair to the 'car-campers', they did turn down the music low at around 11pm and I slept quite well in the tent for the first time on this trip.