Day 8 Reeth to Colburn Village via Richmond 15.5 miles

After a good nights sleep in the caravan it was flap jacks for breakfast and we headed over to the village store to pick up some lunch and we set off for Colburn at around 09:00. The weather started overcast but cleared to good sunshine as the day went on. Not long after we left Reeth we noticed in the distance that our path was blocked by a rather strange looking animal, as we got closer it was a breed of sheep,  however quite a bit taller than the usual type and looking quite agitated as it wanted to get past us. Sarah did the obvious and hid behind me prodding me in its general direction, but we all got past each other without too much of a problem.

By lunch time the weather was great and after passing through Marske we stopped for lunch at Clapgate Beck. The views were excellent and not wanting to tempt fate we even splashed some sun cream on and whipped the sun glasses out for a while, the knee was holding up well and Sarah was still setting the pace. We had to tiptoe round a heard of Bulls through the next stage which surprisingly seem to have free roam around these parts, however Sarah used the original tactic of sending me first armed with my walking pole. Although I am not sure how effective this would be against over a tonne of solid muscle and horns, thankfully we didn’t need to find out.

We arrived in Richmond for around 15:00, and the weather was still good, the walk down into Richmond is a fine one with great views of the castle on a good day like today. It was quite something to be in a busy town again as the coast to coast route is very remote, being able to go in a shop, buy a coffee, use a cash machine and have a phone signal was something of a novelty for us. We bought some more tent pegs and some sleeping bag liners to keep warm as it was back to the tent for us tonight and also some lunch for tomorrow.

And after about an hour enjoying the civilisation of Richmond we set off on the 2 mile walk to Colburn where we were staying tonight. After losing my way in my guide book we followed the compass and some rather dodgy some directions from a passer by and somehow ended up in Catterick Bridge that afternoon, about a mile further on than we should have been. So noticing a local taxi number, having no idea where we were and not wishing to add any more needles miles to our day we got a taxi back to Colburn Village at the Hildyard arms where we were booked to camp, we arrived about 17:30 however the pub was closed until 7pm so we had to wait until someone turned up so we could get out bags and pitch our tent. After initially thinking our bags had been stolen we eventually got the tent pitched for around 18:30 and our pre booked meal was served promptly at 7pm.

I think the best way to describe the Hildyard arms is odd, very odd. One poor Chap Steve who we’d met walking that day waited until 10:45pm to get in to his room as Rupert the owner was not on site, me and Sarah for once were glad we were camping, even if there were no showers or water points outside. Luckily the locals were very welcoming and we had a good laugh chatting to them and generally making light of poor old Steve’s situation who I have to admit took it all very well and had a great sense of humour…………which he needed.