Day 25: Carlisle to Penrith

Distance: 18.2 miles
Time: 5 hrs 35 mins
Weather: Cloudy and breezy, sun later
Cumulative distance: 423.2 miles

My parents collected me and dropped me off where I finished yesterday. In the time it took me to walk to the motorway junction, they were most likely back in the comfort of their home in Cheshire.

I was pleased that a planned short cut materialised. I'd used Google Street view to check a break in a fence and a short scramble through some nettles, thus avoiding a half mile detour. It paid dividends as a driver stopped to enquire about my walk shortly afterwards and kindly made a donation.

I arrived in Penrith, gateway to the Lake District, and received another donation from a cyclist undertaking the Coast to Coast route. The sun came out and I caught a glimpse of the  Lakeland fells in the distance. I continued beyond Penrith and stopped for a short lunch on a bench in a children's playground in Clifton, where the last battle on English soil apparently took place in 1745 (England v Scotland).

I walked as far as the village of Hackthorpe and planned to pop into the pub for a convenience stop and a refreshing drink until the bus to Penrith was due. The plan failed miserably, as the pub closed at 2pm and didn't re-open until 6pm. 

As I wandered in the direction of the bus stop, some some builders who had just finished working at the village primary school, offered me a lift to Penrith and deposited me at the door of the B&B. Penrith has already made its mark as a welcoming town.

After the customary checking in and shower, I wandered into the town centre and visited the castle ruins. I had planned to eat at the Chinese restaurant we'd been to for my daughter Hannah's birthday, when we stayed in the Lake District last October, but it appeared to be closed on Mondays. Instead I dined at a pub near the station and had a filling lasagne and chips, washed down with bitter and I Spy, both from the Jennings brewery.