An 11km run on marshy ground made more difficult by an outage of the OS mapping app.Route: leaving the car near the Coledale Inn and crossing the Buddhist bridge to Hope Camp and continuing along the level track to Thornthwaite, turning right to descend by a stream to cross both valley roads. Turning right on the A66 to find a stile with a sign implying the removal of the Bog House bridge but continuing all the same and taking a farm bridge closer to Bassenthwaite and then heading south on the east side of Newlands Beck to Bog House (where it turned out that the bridge was in tact).
Turning fully left to cross a bog - more sticky than soggy with deep mud, much churned up by horses - to reach a signpost indicating a crossing of the Allerdale Way. There continuing to the side of the River Derwent and heading south. Soon giving up on this plan, on being foiled by a branching and unbridged beck, and rejoining the Allerdale Way to How Farm. There taking a path back to the river signposted to Portinscale. Following this, under the A66 and up over High Hill (the road into Portinscale) and on by the river past the Velocity Area Station (little stone building on the far side by a weir) all the way to the footbridge on the Portinscale-Keswick path. Heading back on a road to cross the A66 and circuit Hodgson How on a grassy path to Newlands Beck Bridge and then through Braithwaite back to the start.
Conditions: cloudy and very humid with a touch of drizzle at the very end.
Pub: the Coledale Inn, Braithwaite, for Corby Blonde.
