Another very bumpy night but this time with no rain. I'm glad I came off the tops as goodness knows what it must have been like up there. I put a brew on extra early with the intention of catching an early bus from Threlkeld. But as the sky was clear and the stars were out I thought I'd wait and hope the sunrise would give a nice diagonal light on Blencathra. Things didn't turn out that way and as I waited the cloud and rain rolled in. When I realised I wasn't going to get any views I decided to pack up and set off down. Because of the wind I had to be very careful when packing the tent down. I left as many pegs in as I could to allow me to get the polls out and start rolling it up. I put the plastic peg bag down and my tripod on it to keep it secure. The next time I saw it was flying through the air, heading towards Penrith. With the polls and tent packed away the pegs had to go in a side pocket of the rucksack. It had taken longer than expected and it was 7:45am when I set off. There was an 8:26 bus calling at Threlkeld and I was hoping to catch it.

It was a steep descent to the north and I couldn't rush too much because of the uneven ground. I reached the old Coach Road and luckily found a good path continuing the descent. I was now able to speed up considerably and soon reached the isolated house of Newsham. From now I was on a tarmac road which took me over the abandoned line of the railway and over the river. Crossing the main A66 I reached the bus stop. The bus arrived at 8:30am and a £3.80 ticked got me to Penrith Railway Station 25mins later. I was in luck, the next train was the 9:02 to Manchester Piccadilly which goes through Chorley, but unfortunately doesn't stop there, so I can only use it as far as Preston.

The train ride and views of the Howgill Fells

A long wait at Oxenholme station.

At Oxenholme station we stopped for over 15mins to take up the slack built into the timetable. There was a decent coffee stall on the station so I tried it. The coffee was £1.30, expensive but excellent.