I caught the bus to Chorley then waited for the 08:17 Edinburgh train for which I'd bought a ticket to Penrith on Monday. It was about 10mins late which is just as well as Ian Miller, who works in Lancaster, had arrived on his bike to catch it. If it had been on time he'd have missed it. So he caught it and we chatted while standing all the way to Lancaster where he got off. I arrived in Penrith about on time but it didn't matter as I had a long time to wait for my next connection, the 11:10 108 bus to Patterdale.

The Clock in Penrith Railway Station.

Penrith Castle and Moat.

There were patches of nice sunshine so I took the opportunity to have a look at the 15th century ruins of Penrith Castle which is just across the road from the Railway station. It is built in a very nice red sandstone and the moat is pronounced and deep. I was waiting at 11:10 but there was no sign of the bus. It was over 5 minutes late which I found odd because the Railway Station is the first stop on its run. We drove through pleasant sunshine and I got off at Aira Force just before 12noon. There had been torrential rain at home first thing and judging by the amount of water running down the road there must have been something similar here.

It was still sunny when I set off up Park Brow but the temperature was a bit chilly even in the sun. Just below Bracken How a path leads to the left opposite a small car park on the right. The first thing I noticed was how unbelievably wet it was underfoot. The path runs through an attractive wooded area at first and the path was nothing more than a squelchy stream. Wherever where I could I kept to the adjacent ground. The path continued diagonally up through open ground and improved a bit as I reached another wood at Spying How.

View of Ullswater.

Higher view of Ullswater.

Though steep the path here was much easier to negotiate as it was firm under foot. After a couple of switch backs I came to a wooden stile to cross the stone wall below Brown Hills. It was nice to sit on the stile and admire views back down the path I'd come up and also across Ullswater. The path levelled off for a while and crossed more wet ground before reaching another wall crossing and revealing Glencoyne ahead.

My planned camp was at the head of the valley on what is probably the only piece of level ground. The path followed the contour and was generally firm underfoot but still very wet. I could see evidence of mine working due to a spoil heap. I didn't plan to go that far as the flat patch I pitched my tent at was just short of it. A stream was nearby and there was just a little sun as I pitched the tent. The sun soon went and I retreated to the tent for the remainder of the afternoon. My concern was for tomorrow which had heavy rain forecast.

Pitch in Glencoyne.