Day 3 - Thursday 15th July
Seatoller to Little Tongue
12 miles: 10h 35mins

Up at 6:45am and packed before I went down to breakfast at 7:55am. Musesli, grapefruit, juice, cumberland sausage, scrambled egg, coffee and toast. Paid and was away by 8:50am. It was an easy stroll into Grasmere. I spoke to two Coast to Coasters by the shop who told me they had a good laugh when they saw me photographing a sheep! I carried on up Stonethwaite Beck. A glorious morning but extremely humid. Even on the flat whenever I stopped the sweat would pour off my face. Once I began ascending I had to frequently stop to cool down. I drank continuously, refilling my small water bottle at nearly every stream - and there are a lot of them. I stopped and chatted to two women and three girls (not Coast to Coasters). I'm sure one the women had an Irish accent. The other seemed to have a South African accent but they came from Glasgow. I said surely there were enough mountains in Scotland. She replied that they were smaller here and there are no midges! (Looking good for the holiday in Skye in August!). A bit further up I passed and re-passed several times an Afro Caribbean bloke with his girl friend. They had a 'music player' that was on continuously and I could hear my father's comments ringing in my ears!
Before ascending Lining Crag I stopped and made a cup of tea (it was 11am). At this point the German family (who are actually Austrian!) appeared with the two girls trailing their parents. They stopped and chatted for about ten minutes and we talked about several things including climbs in the Dolomites and a particular chimney that is totally enclosed and slimy! They continued on about ten minutes in advance of me and I noticed how the parents would alternate between being ahead of the girls and then one ahead and one behind. I'm not sure the girls were really enjoying it. I caught then up on top of Lining Crag and found them reading the label on a bottle of squash. They had bought it in Rosthwaite and wondered why it tasted so strange! I explained that it needed to diluted with water of which they appeared to have little and clearly did not consider you could drink from fresh mountain streams. A sign of the times?!
On my way up Lining Crag I observed and photographed the starry saxifrage mentioned by Wainwright. David, in his account, mentioned boggy ground beyond Eagle Crag and I had therefore put my gaiters on. I decided the boggy ground had dried out, until, that is. I got beyond Lining Crag!  I stopped  on Greenup Edge as it was 1pm and spotting with rain. I donned waterproofs, removed my boots and sheltered my feet under my gaiters. This was an excellent way of letting them dry out. As I sat eating lunch the Austrians re-passed me and I contemplated that this was probably the last I would see of them. I set off again at 2pm by which time the hordes of Coast to Coasters were all gone apart from a couple going in the opposite direction. She was amazingly tanned but they divulged that they had experienced virtually no good weather. I continued over Calf Crag and met only 'day trippers' some of whom I would say a few words to. I reached Helm Crag just before 4pm and stopped to brew a cup of tea and text Gemma and David. Since lunch it had been spotting with rain but it had never really materialised. It was too much not to have rain gear on but almost too little to have it on. I had been sweating profusely in the high humidity and decided now that enough was enough and took it off. It turned out, for once, to be the correct decision! I also removed my boots to dry my feet out again. The left large toe was still swollen but not as bad as yesterday. David had commented that he could not understand why he had taken no photos on this stretch although the views are fantastic. I understood! They are fantastic but it is a 360° vista of mountains. It is just doesn't fit into the viewfinder of a camera and photos will never do it justice. I took some anyway. I dropped down into Grasmere, arriving there at 5:30pm. The shop was still open. I bought a tin of peas and a tin of new minted potatoes, for tonight's feast, an ice cream, a half a pint of skimmed milk and a bottle of ice cold Fanta. I consumed the milk and ice cream sitting on a bench and continued on my way by 6pm. I found the bustle of it all quite disturbing and was glad to leave it behind once more. I had got use to the relative quiet of the hills.
I made good progress and within an hour I was at the bottom of Little Tongue. I stopped and consumed the Fanta, which was still cold, and started climbing up the track which Wainwright says turns right at 1600ft. I could clearly see the cloud was just above this point. I decided it was time to make camp and when I espied an almost rectangular grassy spot that looked as though it was made for camping, I pitched my tent. It also had excellent phone reception. It was 7:15pm. I ate my meal of soup, mince (TVP) with tomato puree, peas and potatoes and while I consumed my coffee and chocolate phoned Gemma. There were midges here but insect repellent and a woolly hat were sufficient to keep them at bay. Turned in at around 10pm and slept almost immediately. It had been a long and tiring day. My foot had not been as painful but the humidity had made progress slow. I had hoped to reach Grasmere shortly after lunch but it was well after tea. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier although I doubt it! I had consumed enormous quantities of fluids throughout the day.

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