Day 78 Haverigg to Bootle

The trip had a rocky start when Ben’s newly acquired reliance on modern technology, the mobile phone, proved misplaced in that he either failed to set the alarm properly or it rang too quietly for his ageing ears. However awakening at 0553 in Putney, he managed to get the 0640 from Euston with some minutes to spare. John joined the train at Birmingham without crisis, but then matters deteriorated. The train slowed sufficiently for the team to see the connection to the West Coast line pulling out from Preston as they arrived. In the faint hope that the express might overtake the branch line train on the way to Lancaster, the team stayed on board, but to no avail. Spirits were restored by excellent coffee in the Lancaster station buffet whilst waiting an hour for the next train.

Unfortunately as we got under way, Gary then had sad news that his mother was very poorly and after some consideration decided that he had better not disembark at Millom but carry on to Carlisle and return home to be on hand. So it was the duo of Ben and John who were forlornly ringing for cabs in the teeming rain at Millom to get a taxi to Haverigg. Fortunately after only a short wait, Julie of Julie’s cabs arrived and brightened our mood with talk of the weather blowing through. Finally at 1315 the duo got under way into some of the wettest windiest weather we have experienced. We made surprisingly good speed partly because we eschewed some of our normal brief breaks on the hour to record progress given that the log book would have suffered considerably from the elements. The sea was dramatic, crashing in to the beach as we walked along fuelled by the south westerly which was fortunately mostly at our backs or at least our side. Over the course of the day we met no other walkers which may be a first – certainly unusual. In spite of our good progress, our late departure and the early darkness exacerbated by the gloomy weather meant we had to call it a day near Bootle station after less than 10 miles. Northern Rail turned up on time and we made the short trip to Ravenglass. Gary had reported that the Ratty Arms seemed deserted at lunch time, but the hostelry located right on the station, possibly the former ticket office, opened as we arrived and we had an agreeable pint by the fire drying our feet and warming up. Then we walked the short distance to the Rosegarth B&B for excellent showers before back to the Ratty for supper. An extensive selection of malts resulted in two rounds of stickies before bed.