All that comes with it

The previous evening Dave had been talking about adding two or three miles onto the distance of our last day by walking from Kendal to rejoin the Dales Way rather than getting Kerry to give us a lift. His suggestion was met by incredulous looks and open hostility.

Dave had probably been the one amongst us that was least phased by the walk so far. He cited regular training and a job in which he spends most of his time on his feet as being the primary reasons for his competence. Sounds a bit like cheating to me. I secretly wondered how fast he’d be walking if I gave him a quick kick in the balls, but decided against it in the interest of group harmonics.

Seeing as though no one took Dave up on his “lets walk three unnecessary miles” idea Kerry once again kindly ferried us to where we needed to be and we set off on our final day’s walking in good spirits.

Ten miles would seem like a long way to walk at any other time, but after nearly a week of walking up to seventeen miles a day we had downgraded it in our minds to a gentle stroll before lunch. In fact we were so blasé about the whole thing we didn’t even bother taking a packed lunch with us - figuring we’d just get something at the other end. A decision that we would later regret.

The guidebook described the final leg into Bowness as “an extremely straightforward day bringing the Dales Way to it’s happy conclusion”. What it doesn’t mention is that there is a great big bloody hill slap bang in the middle of it. Now I realize that my tolerance of hills is probably a lot lower than the rest of the human race, what with me being grossly overweight and a complete lazy bugger. But there is no way that the guidebook is justified in describing the mountain we climbed as “gently rolling upland pastures”. Gently rolling my arse.

Mushy wasn’t a fan of the hills either

Despite being lied to by the guide book once again we eventually made it to the top panting and heaving. Then, it being noon, we stopped for the lunch that we hadn’t brought. What’s more it was an exceptionally hot day (the hottest this year someone later told me) and many of us had run out of water.

It was at this point that Craig came out with the funniest gag of the whole trip. It probably won’t translate too well into the written word, but never the less I feel it needs to be recorded for posterity.

Picture the scene: there we are huddled in the only shade for miles around us, glumly contemplating the next five miles of walking in the baking heat with no water to quench our thirst when suddenly Craig exclaims excitedly -

“I’ve just remembered, I brought a load of drinks with me in my backpack!!”

Turning round we see him with about ten little packets of dry powder in his hands.

“Look, I’ve got instant coffee, hot chocolate, and teabags! Who wants one?”

Genius. Pure genius.

Mr Kelly, I salute you (photo by Oli)

Fortune favors the foolish and as luck would have it just half an hour down the road we stumbled across an unlikely tearoom on the outskirts of a farmyard. Apparently the ice cream was absolutely fantastic. However I didn’t have much cash on me and so opted to prioritize in favor of a much needed injection of Diet Coke.

And then suddenly we were nearly there. A quick phonecall to Kerry to check our greeting party was ready and waiting and then onwards with a spring in our step (well, maybe a spring in our limp would be more accurate).

It’s difficult to describe the emotions as we walked down the hill to the finishing point. Relief certainly. But also a fair bit of pride and sadness that it was all over. I’ll reflect further on the walk as a whole on a subsequent post, but I will just say that the walk, while sometimes difficult, was never anything other than a fantastic experience. And I would do it again in a shot (although not just yet, my blisters have just healed and my toenail is still in the process of falling off).

Neil and Rachael were at the finish line to cheer us on, as were their daughters Lydia and Eve. Kerry was there too, and Caroline (Craig’s partner) and Nat (Lee’s wife). They gave us a resounding welcome and we even got presented with special Joseph Salmon Trust foot balm.

That man will take a photo of anything

A quick pose for some pictures then it was off again down the hill to dabble our feet in the waters of Lake Windermere, the unofficial ceremonial end to the Dales Way. The hustle and bustle of tourist hotspot Bowness was quite a shock after the tranquility of the last six days. But we soon got over it, aided of course by a couple of cheeky pints in a nearby pub.

Brooky exhibits his impressive six day beard growth

And then the fellowship was broken. Oli, Mushy and I went off with Kerry back to Huddersfield while Gav drove Rich and Brooky back to their homes. Lee and Nat drove back down the M6 to their home, while Craig, Dave and Caroline stopped on in Bowness for another couple of days for a bit of rest and relaxation.

The final total we have raised is yet to be calculated as money is still coming in from various places. But it looks like we have made well over £4000 ($8000), and we may have even hit £5000. That is going to make a big difference in a lot of peoples lives, and the people who read this blog have been a massive part of that. So thank you, your generosity has been overwhelming.

So, anyone up for a walk next year?

I think it’s this way

Vital Statistics

Time set off: 9:30am
Time arrived: 2:30pm
Rough distance traveled: 10 miles
Big bloody bastard hills: 1

You can find more photo’s of the day here and you can still see the video for the final day over at the ITV local site. Neil has also kindly uploaded some of the day three footage to youtube: