We woke in an
extremely warm room, which in fairness had been converted into drying room for
the night to dry out our freshly washed gear. We headed down for breakfast at
8am, a bit later than usual as today was a little shorter than the days past,
so we took the chance of a later start!
We had the usual
cereal and toast whilst chatting to Ian and Charles over breakfast about their
walk so far. Charles was still struggling with blisters, so their plan for
today was to follow the B6270 all the way to Keld, avoiding too many climbs and
hopefully keeping their feet dry, Charles was also going to try to see a Doctor
in Kirkby Stephen before hitting the trail this morning.
After breakfast we
set off towards Franks Bridge, as we did we spotted a small outdoors shop in
the village which I wanted to visit, over the last few days of heavy rain my
left boot had developed a small leak, whilst I knew that new boots would carry
increased blister risk, I was still interested to see what was on offer. Before
we entered the very small shop I said to Sarah “don’t mention my leaking boot
for god’s sake” knowing I was a sucker for buying things I didn’t need at the
best of times, and didn’t want the shop owner to know this.
After a quick look
around I decided to press on with my old trusty boots, Sarah managed to pick up
some warm leggings, so a beneficial visit overall. As we walked over Franks Bridge we noticed a
sign at the side of the bridge indicting it was still 108 miles to Robin Hoods
Bay from this point, still a fair old way then we thought, with mixed emotions.
As we climbed the
conditions stayed dry and actually improved with great scenery looking back
towards Kirkby Stephen and the surrounding landscape, conditions improved to
the point where the shorts were out and water proofs off, which was something
of a novelty to us after the recent weather.
As we climbed towards
Hartley Fell we could quite clearly make out the Nine Standards Rigg, which we
were glad of as we had no intentions of climbing to see them. The bogs up and
around the Nine Standards are notorious at the best of times, and with the
recent rain fall and leaking boot I didn’t want to entertain them today. We
followed the green route which was a nice walk with great views today, after a
while the heavens inevitably opened so on went the water proofs, although nice
and clean water proofs after our laundrette visit the night before.
We continued to
press on through the rain, eventually joining the B6270 road which would lead
us directly to Keld. After taking a couple of photo’s as we crossed from
Cumbria to Yorkshire, another milestone, we took shelter in a disused stone hut
and shared a chicken and bacon butty we’d picked up in Kirkby Stephen last
night, it wasn’t the most glamorous of lunch stops on route as the rain
continued to poor from the broken slate tiles above us surrounded in sheep
droppings....
After a very short
lunch stop we pressed on to Keld along the road, we arrived at our lodgings for
the night, Park House B&B and bunk at around 14:00. Our bag which was been
carried by Sherpa van’s hadn’t yet arrived, however we were able to make a brew
and watch telly in the lovely living area which was available at the Park House
(highly recommended).
Sarah went for an
afternoon sleep whilst the opportunity was available, whilst I read my C2C book
and watched the weather with detective like interest. Other walkers began to arrive;
Wendy who we’d met at Shap’s New Ing Lodge arrived first, followed by Ian and
Charles, all looking soaked through.
Park House provided
evening meals and drinks, so there was no need to venture out in the rain which
we were all pleased to know. Our bags soon arrived and myself and Sarah were
able to get showered and changed before ordering dinner.
As we all sat
chatting in the living area over a Black Sheep ale, two other walkers arrived,
again completely soaked through, a father and daughter from Sussex (Astrix and
Martin) who were walking C2C and wild camping, but thinking better of it
tonight with the weather and upgraded to the bunk house.
After a really nice
dinner we all sat chatting in the living area, learning about our experiences
so far and having a really nice night, with the laughter and chat instantly
silenced as soon as the weather forecast popped up on the small TV in the
corner of the room, with all eyes drawn to it.
Despite today’s
weather and the heavy rain still pouring down outside we were once again
assured on the forecast of sunny warm condition awaited us. Overall a really
nice evening was had at Park House, good times....
We headed to bed at
about 10pm, a late night on C2C, but we had another short day tomorrow with
only about 11 miles to cover to Reeth, so we were in no rush to wake early and
looked forward to a good night’s sleep. We fell asleep to the sound of the
water fall crashing down just at the side of the B&B, channelling the huge
amounts of rain from the fells, and now directing the water to the east coast
and no longer the west coast, naturally confirming what we knew from our maps,....we
are now half way on our Coast to Coast adventure.
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