My aching feet and the truth comes out.

My aching feet and the truth comes out.
Today was the hardest so far, we started from Patterdale this morning, up a steep incline. An old man walking his dog is the foggy weather smiled at me struggling about halfway up. "Don't worry dearie, this is the hardest day." The climb was steep and while it briefly leveled off, our guide pointed out that we ultimately were aiming even higher. The sun came out -as is now painfully apparent from my sunburnt hands- and we continued to climb. We hit a point between two mountains and two breathtaking lakes but we were aiming for the highest point of the week and while we did stop to take in a view, we were very aware of the climb. Finally we hit a plateau with a mountain tairn - a lake and "the girls" as we have been called, decided a swim was in the cards. Our guide gave us 10 minutes- this was a long hard day and he didn't want us dawdling. Heck, it is not possible to dart out of sight, strip down to nothing, change into a suit, go swimming, and then get dressed again in 10 minutes. I came closest, at 20, in large part because I was concerned about the rocks and only got slightly oowet. Yes, there is a picture of me In my suit by the lake. No, you will never see it. We dressed but not before I soaked both my running bra and my long sleeve t shirt in the lake. The cold felt wonderful against my skin as we continued our climb to the top - about 2600 feet. Once there the view was spectacular and we were allowed to stop briefly to take in the view. Our guide is a bit of a task master and he wanted us down, off the mountain before we stopped for lunch. The climb down was among the hardest we have done so far, very steep, lots of rocks and more than a few scrambling places. Also a few hinie places, where if you were smart you simply sat down and wiggled to the edge before dropping to the next landing.
At the bottom, we were rewarded with a lovely stream, perfect for lunch. Of course by that time, I was so hot I took off my shirt and soaked it in a lake steam. We continued to walk this time along side a 5mile lake which was built as a reservoir for Manchester and buried a town previously in the valley. The sun was shining brightly but eventually we were rewarded with the view of the dam and the knowledge that we would reach the lake's end. After a quick stop for tea, we set out over the last five miles across fields which included one freshly dumped with manure- yuk, yuk, yuk!
We finally saw Strap abbey in the distance. Another ruin created by the devolution of the monasteries in the 16th century under Henry the 8th. The reuins were impressive, like so much I've seen In Wales, large and totally destroyed showing what was likely a great community back in the 12th century.
I hit my wall during the final walk into the town- asking our guide how much farther and relying on my teammates to encourage me on assuring me that we would see the town after the next curve. We finally did but had to walk to through the entire town to reach our hotel which was the most painful walk I can ever remember. Hotel is nice and tomorrow we have the longest mileage of the trip-20 in one day.
Tonight over my nightly Strongbow-which tonight became two pints-our guide confided that he was very impressed with me, being totally uncertain how a 40 plus woman from NYC would do on this trip. I told him I wax half Irish and half italian and stubborn as hell so I would get through it. Being that he is 60 plus, I don't think I can congratulate myself too much.