Nearly there

Yesterday was yet another wet day - countryside was mostly farmland and seen through a continuous. Curtain of rain was not that interesting. We we're glad of our wet weather gear and our walking poles were really appreciated as we slid our way up and down wet and muddy trails.  Joanne put her head down and went for it!

 The mud has to be seen to be believed! It is a combination of mud from heavy rain and poo (cow and sheep - I think the animals conspire to race up to the track whenever they need to go!  Never have we seen so much mud and the smell!!!

Today 6 of us set off to walk from Carlisle to Brugh on Sands in sunshine (yippee) through lovely parkland nod following the river Eden flowing west to the Irish Sea.  Rain had been forecast for 10 and sure enough at 10.05 down it came - we had already put on the wet weather gear. Oh wonderful Gortex!

The terrain was not hard as again fairly flat but the muddiest day yet.   Unfortunately we got a bit lost as there had been a landslide on the path and the signs showing the detour had disappeared so we became a little "bushed" but not for long.  Di called a friend Graemeand he and his son John came and met us and showed us around the detour.  Sunshine by now, so we sat in Graeme's garden of his 1700s house and drank tea poured from an industrial sized teapot.  Lovely.  The taxi then picked us up and took us back to our BB.

Here are today's walkers plus me outside the BB.  The others explored Carlisle.

So, here Are our clean and perfect feet last Tuesday at the start of our walk.  Tomorrow is our last day and we are feeling elated and sad at the same time.  It has been a challenge for all of us but each of us has coped in our own way and we feel pleased and proud of ourselves. We are on top of the world as we prepare for the last 14k tomorrow - our feet are a bit patched and covered in tape (whoever invented Compeed is a star) but ready and the coast here we come.  We have each bought a pebble from the east coast and we'll have a pebble ceremony as we cast them into the Irish Sea on the other side of England.

Then bring on the champagne, 

Lesley.