Day 5 – Grasmere to Patterdale

Thursday 10th April 2025

After a very substantial continental breakfast, and a good look at the map, I set off to get the bus from Keswick to Grasmere, and was on the trail nice and early and feeling reading for the challenge. I had expected this to be quite gruelling, but in actual fact, it was much easier than I expected. There was a steep climb up to Grisedale Tarn but I think I have become a lot fitter during the course of the walk. I think I may have shed a kilo or two in body weight too, which is a bonus!

I didn’t take many pictures on the way up as I was concentrating on the map and got chatting to quite a few people. There were a few Coast to Coasters about today. 

Looking back on the route I had climbed. Having the benefit of carrying just a day pack today, I was up to the Tarn in good time. 

A fabulous waterfall en route. 

My first glimpse of the tarn.

Grisedale Tarn, I sat here for ages admiring the view and soaking up the peace and quiet. It was a great spot to have lunch – flask of tea and a ham and coleslaw roll which I had purchased in the sandwich shop in Keswick. 

It was quite substantial and just what I needed.

A rare selfie from me for a new Facebook and WhatsApp profile pic! 😄 

I decided eventually it was time to move on from this gorgeous spot and make a start on the long descent. Nice to know it was all downhill from here though, down to Glenridding and then along to Patterdale, where hopefully I will be able to get a bus back to Keswick as I am booked into the Youth Hostel for another night. 

This plaque was a wonderful thing to come across. If it were not for geocaching I probably would have missed seeing this, even though it has a rusty sign sticking out of the rock above it. So many people went past without noticing there was something here to see. It is marked on the map as the Brothers’ Parting Stone, which I had earlier read as Farting Stone! 😂

There were quite a few people on the track, different nationalities too. I had earlier met a young German chap carrying a very heavy pack, a couple from Switzerland and three people from France, all walking Coast to Coast.

I will check later but I think this was Tarn Crag.

Ruthwaite Lodge (climbing hut) which I think is currently used by Mountain Rescue. I need to check to see which summit that is in the background.

Helvellyn in the background. I took the low route on this part of the coast to coast because I have climbed the summits of Dollywagon and Helvellyn before.

King George VI post box

The descent down to Glenridding was a long one, but it was a beautiful day and I took plenty of stops to have a drink. The views were breathtaking, there really is nowhere else on earth as stunning as the Lake District, well there probably is but I just haven’t been there yet. It is easy to see why writers and artists have been so inspired whilst here, Wordsworth in particular, and I can fully appreciate why Alfred Wainwright felt the need to record as much as he did. I wonder if he would have created a blog if he had been around now. 😉

It was wonderful to find a nice shaded spot at one point where I changed my top and had another refuel. I was pleased to have brought some satsumas with me, when you have worked up an appetite through pounding the fells, food tastes so good.

I eventually arrived in Glenridding and then walked onto Patterdale, where I had a very welcome pint of Wainwrights Gold in the Patterdale Hotel, sat in the beer garden, where I saw Teo who was the young German chap I had met earlier on the climb up to Grisedale Tarn. I had come to the end of my walking for the day, but he was going to continue for a few more miles and then wildcamp. His pack was much heavier than mine, at around 13kg.

To get back to Keswick from here I had to take a bus into Windermere and then another to Keswick. It was a long bus ride, but well worth doing because I got to see so much of the Lake District that I hadn’t seen before. I followed the route on Memory Map, identifying the ridges I had yet to walk because I haven’t climbed many of the Wainwrights in this part.

Back to Keswick, a quick freshen up and change of clothes in the Youth Hostel and off to the George for a special deal of a Steak and a Pint for £14.95. Can’t go wrong with that! I may have had a sticky toffee pudding with ice cream afterwards 😘