Coast to Coast Day 4 Grasmere to Patterdale

Day 4 done like dinner! What a beautiful day – from trail to views to weather, wow.

We kicked the day off with another great breakfast at The Swan Hotel – scrambled eggs, porridge, tea, coffee, the works. Then grabbed our kit and made our way the short way back through Grasmere to the Co-Op. A convenience store meets grocery store for small towns and one of my favourite shops for trail side provisions. I found my Prawn Cocktail crisps (potato chips) and was already excited to crack into them on our lunch break. Yummy!

About a kilometer of quiet road walking to kick off the day and then we were back on rocky paths.

Before heading up, we did a quick chat with Ankles. A very nice chap also doing the Coast to Coast that we had seen for the last couple days. Nicknamed (by us) for his two reconstructed ankles and our amazement that he is doing, albeit it looks painful, the Coast to Coast Path. I will officially complain less about my annoying knee brace!

Up and up and up along a rocky path between the trees and bracken, led us to a gorgeous river crossing and our first route decision on our way up to Grisdale Tarn (538m or 1,765 feet), our lunch spot for the day.

To get to Grisdale Tarn you had to go around Little Tongue – a baby ‘mountain’ – and there was the left side that has steeper sections and more exposed path or the right side Little Tongue that is a sustained climb but a way from the edge. Both at about 1.8km before the paths rejoined and all leading to Grisdale Tarn our lunch spot.

Surprise! I went right and my trusty partner in crime, Hailey, came with me. Also, surprise! Dad and Shar went left for a bit more adrenaline. With a wave and smile we set off.

The Little Tongue route Hailey and I took was absolutely breathtaking! We continued to walk on the very obvious rocky path, with a beautiful stone fence to our left most of the way (in my mind some farmer from way long ago out built it as a safety fence for me, thanks Ned!). We walked up and up and up on a gentle but thoroughly thigh burning incline – the little river or stream crossing every 100 or so feet helped break up the plod.

We left all trees behind pretty quick after the split (and would not see any again along the trail until almost into Patterdale our destination) and wow was it heating up. While still only 15C, we were feeling the sunshine!

A little micro break before the path turned up the incline for the final push over the pass to the Tarn was perfect for some more sunscreen. (You can tell the incline of the path by how we are seating in this photo.) Ankles joined us for this break and we got a bit of the back story on his injuries – soccer – me too!

Nothing to be done but up and over – we were now into Scaredy Bear climb territory – Hailey and I started the hot climb up to the Tarn. Which included lots of those stone steps into the side of the hill for our path and way too many sections that had my heart racing but we made great, steady progress. We were soon in a pretty spot without risk of falling and picking our way through an old rock slide with a smile. (For those from Alberta reading this, it reminded me of climbing through Frank Slide area)

One more final, hot push and we came over the pass at the side of Grisdale Tarn – our meeting spot with Dad and Shar and this side of the hill offered a nice breeze too! We hunkered down for our lunch break. Shoes and socks and knee brace off – felt amazing!

Reunited with Dad and Shar, we had another decision point on the trail today. There are 3 routes to get from here to Patterdale.

Striding Edge which is basically a long, exposed path up to a knife’s edge ridge walk then down to town – no thank you from all of us!
St Sunday Crag which is a little shorter but still long, exposed path up to a safe, wide ridge for the views then down into town – that was a yes for Shar and Dad.
The Valley which is the official route which is a long, decline down through the valley into Patterdale – that was a yes for the Valley Girls, aka Hailey and Brande.

A little photo montage from the Valley! (Highlight was that we could see Shar and Dad make their way up, up and up the climb to St Sunday Crag until there just a little mint and red specs on the hillside!)

A little photo montage from St Sunday Crag!

After a few hours all of us had had our Valley or Ridge thrills, then started to make our way down the long decent (no matter what route you took the toes were feeling it) into Patterdale. We celebrated the end of an amazing day with a cold pint on the patio of The White Lion before making our way to our accommodation.

For this with only a min to spare …

Date: Saturday June 18 2025
Trail: Coast to Coast Path, England
Day: 4 of 17
To/From: Grasmere / Patterdale
Start/Finish time: 940am / 500pm
Distance: 13.8km (Hiiker)
Steps: 27,934
Terrain: rocks, rocks and more rocks (from boulders to pebbles, we had rocks!)
Weather: gorgeous 17c with a few wispy clouds mid afternoon for a short time
Breaky: full English / cooked breakfast
Lunch n Snacks: 11sies cookie, 2sies half sandwich, Harry Potter candies, 5sies a pint
Dinner: baked potato
Tonight’s home away from home: Old Water View (wow what an absolute gem!)
Mood: feeling good, tired!
Body: feet are good, the calves are tight thanks to all this incline
Highlight: feet are good, the calves are tight thanks to all this incline
Lowlight: terribly sore tummy this afternoon and evening
Deep thoughts: it’s really is the little things

Our accommodation is the Old Water View Inn and wow wow wow. This place is an ode to Wainwright himself and stunning. They have a fantastic back garden with picnic tables over looking the river, full bar, baked potato inspired dinner menu, and a resident Red Squirrel (which is quite the treat to spot!)