Day 25 – Pooley Bridge to Haweswater
Actual distance 19.42Km or 12.07miles (or 25,893 adult male badgers)
Total Ascent 445m (or 2,225 red squirrels)
Staying at RSPB Haweswater
Today was wet, but really good. We woke in a warm and cosy home, had a lovely leisurely breakfast then set off back to Pooley Bridge to start part 1 of todays route. We set off from the Pooley Bridge Inn and headed off on foot up Heughscar Hill when we met up with Amee (our host last night) and her two gorgeous dogs (Oliver and Walter). We walked with her across Askham Fell before going our separate ways, but only after she kindly provided us with a hot cup of tea and cake!
We continued down onto the road and into Bampton where we stopped for lunch in the Bampton Valley Stores, a lovely and very welcoming general store and coffee shop. We happened to pop in our of the rain at the same time as two groups who were walking Coast to Coast and chatted about our respective journeys over lunch. As we were leaving John joined us having walked up from Haweswater to join us. He had been in the local pub in Bampton whilst we were in the cafe, and took us in there before we left the village to meet a gentleman who was the chair of the local drystone wall association. He kindly took time to explained to us how the drystone walls are built which was fascinating.
We continued the short walk up to Naddle Farm, our base for this evening and met Annabel who is the visitor experience manager here at the RSPB centre. The site is a conservation haven working to improve the locality for wildlife, water quality and for people. We were treated to a hot drink on arrival, then shown around. Annabel had kindly arranged for us to use the centres yurt for the night and an area of adjacent field.
Just as we were finishing our drinks, the Littlewood family (some of Bethan’s friends from home) arrived at Naddle Farm to joined us for phase 2 of today’s journey. We all hopped onto our bikes and cycled down to the car park at the other end of the reservoir. It was a nice short ride with a couple of manageable hills. Having said our goodbyes, Phil and John (with Hattie tagging on for the ride) headed back to Pooley Bridge to collect the van, whilst the other half of the team relaxed in the yurt.
Dinner this evening was an extra special treat. We welcomed the inspirational Fell Foodie who popped by and cooked us an incredibly delicious curry on a camp stove complete with rice and flatbreads- an utter treat. It was truly inspirational to taste just how amazing camp cooking can be. Thank you so much Harrison for coming to visit us this evening!
Having said goodbye to the Fell Foodie we retired to our portable hide (or our roof tent on the van!) to see if we could spot some of the local badgers which Annabel had told us about. Sadly despite clear badger paths in the field, we didn’t spot any this evening.