Slept well. (Un)healthy breakfast of grapefruit juice, muesli, scrambled eggs, three sausages and toast at 7:30am. Departed Hotel at 8:01am and had last sight of St Bee's by 8:25am. A beautiful sunny day. Young gulls practising their gliding skills - parents screeching above. Occasional cormorant lumbering into the sky like a 747. I overtook two American blokes at Fleswick Bay. I think there were puffins on the beach. The Americans caught me up when I stopped to look at guillemots on the cliff face. The cliffs are white with their faeces. Walked as far as Sandwith with the Americans and then continued alone. They passed me later when I stopped for a break at 10:50am, but don't think they saw me. Avoided Moor Row by using the cycle route which is signposted as an alternative. This has the advantage of passing under the A595 and is much more pleasant walk. Reached Cleator just before 1:00pm and decided to continue to the top of Dent before lunch. I treated myself to an ice-cream and bought an orange for later. My legs were feeling good but feet were noticing the weight. A hard slog up to Dent where I arrived at 1:35pm and saw the Americans disappearing into the distance. During the next fifty minutes I was joined by the 'rush' of at least a dozen people in ones and twos all doing the Coast to Coast. No one stayed long. I understand why Dave used to start late! I had almost finished my two litres water supply but knew I could fill up in Nannycatch.

Left Dent at 2:40pm. Some of the forest had been felled making navigation somewhat easier. Got down into Nannycatch and filled up with water. It wasn’t as impressive as I had remembered it. Saw a lone heron, some yellow wagtails and a dead mole on the path. Reached Low Cock Hows about 4pm and paused to text Gemma and David. There was a constant stream of fast moving cars on this small country lane all in one direction. I wondered why and dreaded the thought of having to walk on the road. However, a couple of hundred yards down it I noticed, by a gateway, that there was a path up on the left bank behind the hedge. It was clearly new (perhaps a couple of years old) and as the stream of cars continued I was very grateful for it.

Reached Ennerdale and called in the shop for a tin of beans and pineapple rings and an ice cream which I sat eating on a bench. I enquired and the lady in the shop told me that the lane was the ‘rat run’ for BNFL employees, some going as far as Carlisle.

Continued down the lane towards Ennerdale Water noting the orchids, mentioned by my father, and other wild flowers. I felt excited now that I was definitely in the Lakes and it was as though the walk had begun. Continued along the side of the lake and up over Robin Hood’s Chair. I then started looking for a place to camp. Rejected a couple of sites and eventually found a small flattish spot by the path about a mile from the far end of the lake. It was now 6:30pm and I had walked 18miles. I was just beginning to feel tired and my feet had taken a pounding from the extra weight but my leg muscles were OK. Pitched the tent and made a meal of soup, fried luncheon meat, beans, mashed potato, pineapple coffee and chocolate. I had just cooked the main course when the first drops of rain started to fall. I retreated to eat in the tent. Rang Gemma and texted David as rather surprisingly I had reception. It briefly stopped raining and I washed the dishes but then it set in with a vengeance. I retired at about 10pm, fell asleep quickly but awoke many times in the night. The rain was very heavy at times and accompanied by strong gusts of wind which caused the tent to flap.