Day 6 Burneside to Bowness

Last day and thankfully a shorter one. Only about 10 miles today but the weather forecast was poor with flood warnings in place and texts from home saying 'set off early' and 'good luck'. Hmmm, would we be lucky again or would our luck run out?
There was a good choice for breakfast including American pancakes with fruit and maple syrup. I couldn't resist that one!

Just before we left the heavens opened so we put on our waterproof trousers for the first time this week. Tony had told us that it was easy today and we wouldn't have any trouble finding the route. He was right and the rain stopped very soon and didn't return until we were on our way back to Skipton. How lucky was that?

Cowen Head

I wouldn't have wanted to live here with all this water about!

The only problem we had today was how to get through  a field of cows. We heard a lot of noise ahead and found the three ladies looking over a wall into a field.There was a cow looking very sick lying on the floor and a herd of cows with frisky calves and a bull heading down our path into the field. It seemed a good idea to wait a while until they calmed down a bit and settled down to eat the grass. One or two came up to the stile to see what we were up to.

Eventually I decided to go for it and we all made our way safely across the field.

Not far to go now and we all met up again at the seat at the end of the Dales Way.

After six days of peace and quiet and birdsong and rushing water it is quite a culture shock to arrive in Bowness full of Japanese tourists and swans!

We walked a little way along the lake side and managed to find a cafe for a celebratory scone and cup of tea. Job done, we had walked around 90 miles in 6 days without too many blisters and without getting lost. That's thanks to Margaret not me! It was a most enjoyable experience. The weather could have been better but it also could have been so much worse. We used the Sherpa Van Company to move our bag for us and we returned to Skipton with them at the end. It all worked very well and we stayed in some lovely places. The best place was Lakeland Hills, Burneside and the worst was Station Hotel, Ribblehead but not as bad as expected. The journey home was wet, more rain than we had seen all week but at least we got home quickly and safely.

Thanks Margaret, I really enjoyed it and you are a brilliant, thoughtful and well prepared leader!