Our Grand Tour of Europe

Saturday, August 14 - Orton to Kirkby Stephen (12 miles)

We have gone 70 miles so far on the walk—quite a bit farther already than our other two walking vacations. My feet are in much better shape, and we all seem to have fewer complaints. We’ve settled into the rhythm of the walk and are enjoying it. We set the alarm each morning for 6:30 am—Charley and I get dressed and get our bags ready before we wake Kelly up. The big blue bag is crammed full. The inns typically serve breakfast at 8:00 am or sometimes even as late as 8:30. Although we would prefer an earlier start, we’re usually on our way about 9:00 am.

We met a father and son from Saudi Arabia at breakfast this morning… also on the Coast-to-Coast walk. I had seen them at the White Lion in Patterdale but didn’t think they were walkers because they were nicely dressed. The father is a professor and this is his third C2C trip—he said he finds it really relaxing. He had to drop out of one of his other trips because his feet became so infected he had to see a doctor—two days from the end! The son seems less enthusiastic about the walk and much more interested in the four days in London before they return home.

We made plans for a farewell dinner tonight with Mike, Sue and Michele in Kirkby Stephen. Mike and Sue had only planned to do the first week of the walk, and are headed to a second week’s vacation at a timeshare in Keswick. We are staying over an extra night to have a rest day in Kirkby Stephen (hooray!), and Michele will be continuing on the walk. We also invited the father and son from Saudi Arabia to join us also.

We ordered two packed lunches from the owner of the George Hotel—we’ve found that the three of us can share two lunches and it’s certainly more economical. It was a beautiful day, and I hiked in shorts. A market was being set up on the main square of Orton—across from the pub—as we set off on our way. Mike and Sue left just before us. We took a short cut on a trail across a field (I saw it on the ordinance map) and ended up in front of them. We could see Mike and Sue for the next few miles, but we didn’t hike together today. Sue later said that she wasn’t feeling well and wasn’t very sociable.

We expected an easy day due to the manageable distance, good weather, and relatively-flat terrain. Our route took us first through the tiny hamlet of Sunbiggen, then onto heather-filled Tarn Moor, with Sunbiggen Tarn (lake) below us in the distance. We came off the moor at an intersection and walked the next two miles on a country road, passing through a farm and stepping carefully across cattle grids. Kelly stopped to visit across a fence with another friendly horse. We could see the range of the Pennine mountains ahead of us, the next big challenge in our walk. We will have to cross those mountains on our way to the North Sea. The route headed off the little road onto a path crossing Great Ewe Fell. We had to carefully pick our way around Ewefell Mire, a kind of muddy swamp. Kelly and I were happy for Charley to lead the way.

Near Bents Farm we passed a group of large rounded boulders and decided to stop for lunch. Mike and Sue were just behind us, but decided to press on. Michele also passed by while we were eating… she seems to prefer walking alone. I think it’s really quite safe for a woman to do this walk alone, but I doubt I would pursue a walk like this—in another country and language—alone. In Grasmere I picked up a brochure for a company called Walking Women, that organizes group walking trips for women in various areas of England and even some other countries. Their walks were classified by degree of difficulty. I would prefer a group situation like that vs. the solo walk of Michele, but I definitely admire what she is doing.

At Crosby Garret Fell, we apparently passed near several prehistoric village sites (the Severals Village Settlements), but from our vantage point we really couldn’t see anything. The grassy mounds that remain of these villages are better seen from the air. I desperately needed to go to the bathroom and had become accustomed—pretty much every day—to stopping and squatting at a private place with a downhill slope. (It’s so much easier for men! Poor Kelly has yet to “go” outdoors… her approach is to drink less water and hope she can hold it.) We walked behind some crumpling cottages to what seemed like a possible place—with Kelly standing guard at one end and Charley on another, I unzipped my shorts and started to squat. Then, looking out across the wide valley, I saw two hikers across the valley sitting on a rock… looking at me! I was horribly embarrassed. So much for that! I decided I could certainly wait….

We descended down the pretty valley to Smardale Bridge, a beautiful stone bridge crossing a small beck. Farther down the dale, we saw the impressive viaduct of an old railway bridge. This was one of the prettiest spots on the walk so far. We saw Mike, Sue and Michele down at the bridge, perhaps a half-mile ahead of us. Just after we crossed the old bridge, we met a nice retired couple from York headed in the opposite direction—they’re doing the Coast-to-Coast walk as a series of day trips. They were interested to hear about our trip, and the woman got into a long conversation with Kelly. They seemed very physically fit and described some long cycling vacations in Europe.

We followed the track up a steep slope onto Smardale Fell. On Limekiln Hill we passed the remains of several old limekilns, whatever those might be! We watched a young couple carry their mountain bikes over a steep stile… the trails on the fell seem like great places for mountain biking. Near the base of the fell was a very tall stile… almost like a ladder on either side of the wall. We saw a bare-chested man with a dog and wondered how the dog would get over… the dog just ran up and over the stile—no big deal! When we got to the other side, the man was at his small car giving his dog a drink of water. Kelly stopped to visit with the dog, and Charley and I talked with the man. He was perhaps Charley’s age, but with the tanned and gaunt look of the very physically fit… someone who runs ten miles a day on the fells for fun perhaps. He told us “oh yes, I do the Coast-to-Coast Walk three or four times a year.” He lives in Kirkby Stephen and sometimes leads guided walking tours for a company in California. Pointing ahead, he told us about the mountain—Nine Standards Rigg—that we would cross on our next day. We could just make out the nine standards—tall stacks of rocks—on the top of the tall mountaintop. When we told him where we were staying in Kirkby Stephen, he paused and said, “Oh yes, I know Carol. It’s a clean place.” Hmmm, not much of a recommendation! He also recommended a restaurant, the Old Forge—“the best place in town.”

The last few miles were relatively easy—we crossed through a railway underpass into another field with a prehistoric village settlement that we could not see… then saw Kirkby Stephen ahead of us. We walked through a farmyard, where Kelly was excited to see an American flag on the backboard of a basketball hoop. The path took us into the town on a back lane. Our guest house—the Jolly Farmer—is on the main street, a few blocks before the market square. We arrived around 4:00 pm and had made relatively good time today. However, we hiked mostly on our own and realized once again that Kelly is a more pleasant, cooperative walker when we are with other people. She did take the map for most of the day today, though, and is becoming very good at reading the ordinance map.

We were apprehensive about the Jolly Farmer Guest House after the comments of the man we’d met beneath Smardale Fell. It is a clean and comfortable place… just not very jolly! The owner Carol is clearly a busy woman running a business… not someone in the hospitality industry because she loves to meet people. Carol and her family live in the house… we spotted a couple of girls watching television in a small private living room off the main hallway… their living space is mixed among the eight or so guest rooms (not in a separate wing or apartment), which seems a bit awkward to us. We asked Carol about dinner arrangements, as we had taken responsibility for locating a place for our farewell dinner, and Mike, Sue and Michelle would meet us at our inn. The Old Forge was full, but Carol recommended the Castle Hotel and made us a reservation there.

We have a nice room with three twin beds and a good shower—an important priority for us. As soon as we arrived, we went out to look around the town. We weren’t sure when the stores would close or if they would even be open tomorrow—a Sunday. Kirkby Stephen is a small town, though the central town for a large rural area. There aren’t any major chain stores (like a Boots the Chemist), but there are a variety of shops, cafes and pubs. We also saw a Tourist Information Office, a bookstore, an outdoor shop (!), a Laundromat (!!), and an ATM machine (!!!). The Tourist Information Office man said there was a small internet café in a coffee shop, though their server had been down. We will check that out tomorrow on our rest day. Most of the shops—and the Laundromat—are open at least a part day tomorrow. We had a beer at an outdoor table at one of the pubs, savoring the idea of our rest day.

Mike and Sue came to meet us about 6:45 pm. The Saudi father and son are also staying here, and we talked in the sitting room with the father while we waited for Michele. His son had left their digital camera somewhere… perhaps as much as four miles back at Smardale Bridge. They had realized this at the railroad underpass, and the son had gone back to look for it. He did not have a map, but said he could remember the way. They have been downloading photos onto a laptop most every night, but still—the loss of a digital camera plus whatever photos were on the memory card! I wonder if we would have gone back under the same circumstance… probably. The father declined our invitation to dinner to wait for his son. Michele came at 7:00 pm and, and we all walked up the hill to the Castle Hotel, just on the edge of town. The “castle” referred to is Croglam Castle, perhaps once the location of an Iron Age hillfort. We had passed by on the walk, and there really wasn’t any castle evident.

We had a very good meal and the company was excellent (Mike and I had lamb chops), but the restaurant got very crowded and the service disintegrated as the night progressed. We would have liked dessert, but it would have added another hour. Sue had brought a gift—a little bracelet—for Kelly… so she would have something to remember them by. Kelly was thrilled—she’s really connected with Mike and Sue. We are sorry to leave these friends and hope to stay in touch… I hope somehow we can see them again.

We said goodbye to Mike, Sue and Michele on the street in front of the Jolly Farmer. Michele will be one day ahead of us for the rest of the trip. We’re glad to have a rest day… we’re proud of what we’ve done so far, but we’ll do even better after a day off. I think that if our second day (the Black Sail Hut day) happened now, we would make our way over that mountain. Charley and I are especially proud of Kelly for what she’s accomplished—other than Duncan (almost 14), we have not met another child on the walk… it really is an achievement for an eleven year old! And not bad for a 48 and a 59 year old either!

Sunday, August 15 (Rest day in Kirkby Stephen)

We didn’t set the alarm, but I woke up early anyway… so much for sleeping in! Charley and I had breakfast downstairs—we have changed our breakfast routine after a week of the full English breakfast. We have juice, cereal and toast and don’t always have the hot breakfast. I do like the scrambled eggs and mushrooms though. I’ve been drinking tea instead of coffee the entire time we’ve been in England.

We talked with the Saudi father and son who were heading off on the day’s walk to Thwaite. The son had not found the camera yesterday after walking an extra five or six miles to look for it. Without a map, he also made a bad turn and ended up in the wrong village. He didn’t get to the hotel until 10 pm… after dark.

Charley went to a store down the street and got us a Sunday Times—I was eager for news, since we’ve only gotten two newspapers since we started the trip. Our main project for the day was laundry! The Laundromat opened at 10:00 am, and we loaded up the big machines. It was expensive to do laundry here. After we started the washers, Kelly and I walked around the town while Charley stayed at the Laundromat. We went to the hiking shop and bought us each a new pair of hiking socks and also a pair of Coolmax socks each. I’m convinced that part of my problem with my feet is related to my socks. We consulted with the man at the shop about our problems. We’ll wear the Coolmax socks as an inner layer that fit to our feet, then the new socks as an outer layer that fit to the boot. I also bought some special blister pads called Compeed—we’ll see how they work… they’re expensive, so I’m hoping that means something. Kelly and I also walked down to the other end of town to the Old Forge restaurant… just a small place but very nice people. They could seat us at 6:30 pm, but had a big group coming at 8:00 pm. I didn’t see us lingering over dinner tonight, so that sounded just fine. We also stopped at the tea shop with the internet café and spoke to the lady there. Their server was still down, so we won’t be able to use the internet here—the library has PCs available, but is closed on Sunday.

We took the clean clothes back to the Jolly Farmer and went looking for a place for lunch where Kelly could get something she liked. I was interested in a traditional English Sunday lunch, which we haven’t yet experienced in our time in England. We picked a pub called the Black Bull where pizza was on the menu. One of our waitresses was just nine years old—very serious about it too and just so polite! Charley and Kelly had the pizza and it wasn’t good—some type of frozen pizza. I had a good meal, however-- roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, gravy, potatoes, a big bowl of vegetables. I especially like the leeks and the cauliflower. Kelly actually tried the roast beef and liked it. Unfortunately, she is extremely reluctant to try something new, but occasionally she does and often finds she likes it.

We walked over to the River Eden, which runs behind the town. Our walk will begin here tomorrow. The pretty Franks Bridge crosses the river and there are benches and a little beach-type area down on the riverbank. Some little children were playing in the water. Charley got bread to feed the ducks, and I sat on a bench while Charley and Kelly fed the ducks—one of their favorite pastimes. For whatever reason, feeding ducks just doesn’t interest me much. We all got ice cream at a nearby shop.

We rested in our room, reading the Sunday paper and enjoying our leisurely day off. At 4:00 pm we went down for afternoon tea in the sitting room of the Jolly Farmer. We haven’t had scones for a long time, though Carol didn’t serve them with clotted cream. A group of other people had just arrived and also had tea, part of a group of eight doing the walk. Most of the group seems about my age, though there’s an older mother who might be 70. We haven’t figured out which of the others she’s related to. Two of the people (one woman and one man) aren’t walking, but are acting as a “support group.” They handle the logistics like checking into the hotels, moving the luggage, even showing up at designated meeting places with lunch or hot tea. This is actually the large party who will be dining at the Old Forge tonight. We already miss the group of friends we had developed during the first week... now we will connect with a new group of walkers.

After tea I decided to get out the map and look at the rest of our route to Robin Hood’s Bay. We’re not quite to the halfway point. I’m so glad I did this, because I found a terrible problem with our trip itinerary… the last day would actually involve 29 miles to get from Blakey Ridge to Robin Hood’s Bay! It seems a stop is missing… I didn’t know enough about the walk before we left to catch this mistake. I now need to call Sherpa in the morning. We hope there is a way to reconstruct our arrangements, even if it means losing our other rest day. We don’t want to have to take a taxi on the last day!

We had dinner at the Old Forge… at 6:15 pm we were sitting on a bench across the street, waiting for them to open. The owners saw us there and invited us to come on in. We had drinks and gave our order in the little bar—the nice owner (a older gentleman named Tom) ran the bar and visited with us. The bar was covered with postcards he’d gotten from guests all over the world… mostly people on the Coast-to-Coast walk. Kelly got his card and promised she’d send a postcard from Provence. When our meal was ready, we were called into the little dining room. I had a very good trout… I had checked to make sure the head was removed! Charley had… steak-and-ale pie (no great surprise) and Kelly had pasta (also no great surprise). We had a lot of food today and not much exercise! I’m glad that I’ve tried such a variety of food on this trip. We’ve eaten out every night for over a week, which I’ve enjoyed a lot, but it is definitely expensive. We are probably spending $60 to $100 a night for dinner during the walking trip. We’ll be back to cooking our own meals once we return to our self-catering accommodations. Self-catering really helps you save money on a long trip like this.

When we got back to the Jolly Farmer, some young girls were playing on the sidewalk in front of the guest house. One of them was our nine-year-old “waitress” from our lunch at the Black Bull this afternoon. “Did you like your lunch today,” she asked coyly. I assumed she was visiting with one of Carol’s children, but it turned out she was one of Carol’s children and lived at the Jolly Farmer! Later I found out from one of the Group of Eight that Carol had recently gone through a divorce, and her husband (and his new wife) owned the Black Bull. Perhaps this explains why Carol wasn’t a very happy person.

I had read in the paper that tonight’s episode of Islands at War was the final episode… nicely timed, since we were worried we’d leave England before the series ended. We’ve been watching this show since the fourth week of our trip. The series ended with some important issues resolved but others still uncertain. Most importantly, the senator’s son was not executed. He and the senator and the nice island policeman were sent off to prison somewhere. However, we don’t know what will happen to the English girl who fell in love with the nice Nazi soldier. We have all been gotten very interested in this show—in some ways I’m relieved to not have to worry about the characters any more!

Monday, August 16 - Kirkby Stephen to Thwaite (14 miles)

We were ready to walk again after our day off. (We needed to walk again after all the food we ate yesterday!) There were two groups at breakfast at the Jolly Farmer this morning… most of the group of eight we had met at afternoon tea and also another group of six people, everyone on the Coast-to-Coast walk.

We left just past 9:00 am—the sky was overcast. We stopped at a phone booth in the center of Kirkby Stephen so I could call Sherpa. I could not reach a live person, and ended up leaving a message on a recorder explaining the situation and asking them to look at our itinerary and leave a message at our next place.

We crossed the River Eden on Franks Bridge and headed up a steep road by a quarry. Our destination was Nine Standards Rigg, a 2171 foot mountain topped by nine old stone columns (cairns). No one is sure what the original purpose of these columns was, but they are from at least the 18th century. A couple of miles up the road two of the men and one of the women from the “Group of Eight” at the Jolly Farmers passed us. I had seen the woman wearing a marathon shirt at afternoon tea yesterday… obviously she’s in great shape.

It started to sprinkle as we made our way up, but the rain didn’t last long. When we reached the Nine Standards, it was cold and windy…. and somewhat eerie. We walked around the cairns and took photos, then put on our fleeces. A pair of fighter jets swooped overhead, not that far above us. When a pair of helicopters flew by, they were so close we could wave at the pilots. We’ve seen fighter jets overhead almost every day the last couple of days. Apparently this is the route for practice runs. We’re not accustomed to seeing fighter jets like this, so we stop dead in our tracks and scan the sky every time we hear the approaching sounds.

The “authorities” and the owners of the land have negotiated routes over Nine Standards Rigg based on the season of the year. This is mainly to allow the ground to recover from increasing erosion. We followed the May/November and then the August/November route. On the other side of the mountain it was extremely boggy and muddy for at least a mile. With Charley in the lead, we worked our way through mud and water—it was very challenging and slow. Charley would put his walking stick in the boggy mess to test how deep it was so we could find the best way across. There were many places we really couldn’t identify a path at all. At some point in this mess we crossed from Cumbria into Yorkshire and entered the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

We came down into a valley called Whitsundale, which ran along Whitsundale Beck. The whole area was very bleak… just a few sheep here and there and not a house in sight. We continued to pick our way through the mud. We finally found a dry area with a couple of rocks and ate our packed lunch there. Two women with big backpacks passed us with a cheerful greeting. As we were loading up, two couples from the Jolly Farmer came by (not part of the larger “Group of Eight”) and said hello, then a few minutes came back to claim our spot. It may have been the only potential lunch site for miles!

Near a pretty farm called Raven Seat, we came to a crossroads where the path and directions simply weren’t clear. About the same time, we converged with the group who had taken our lunch spot and the two women with the big backpacks. Our interpretation of the map took us the same direction as the two women, and the other group headed off a slightly different way. (It turned out that both routes were actually correct, though our approach got us along slightly faster.) We passed over an old stone bridge, then through the farmyard of Raven Seat. We caught a glimpse of a waterfall, then continued on a bit behind the two women across the pasture and then to the main road and eventually the village of Keld. There are several magnificent waterfalls in the area around Keld, but we didn’t stop to find them. The “official” route for the day ended at Keld, but our Sherpa route took us another two miles to the next village of Thwaite. Keld and Thwaite are both old Norse settlements on the River Swale, founded by early Viking raiders. We had actually driven through these two villages on our James Herriott driving tour of Yorkshire on Kelly’s birthday… about four weeks ago. Now we would spend the next several days walking along the Swale in the beautiful valley of Swaledale. Instead of the more scenic—and demanding—route on the Pennine Way (my vote), we decided to pound along the road (Kelly and Charley’s vote).

We arrived at the Kearton Country Hotel in Thwaite about 5:30 pm. We were proud of our ability to successfully handle a challenging day. Navigating our way through the boggy sections was really difficult. We liked Thwaite and the little hotel was very pleasant with tables and chairs out front on a tiny terrace. The hotel also had a gift shop. I asked the owner if Sherpa had called me… they hadn’t, but he suggested we call Mary at Sherpa Van. This was the same Mary who Trina (now on vacation in Tuscany) had coordinated with about our two big bags, so she knew about our family. Although Sherpa Van is a different division of Sherpa (they really only handle the transport of luggage in this part of England), she was very understanding and immediately recognized the issue with our itinerary. She said to give her 24 hours to coordinate with the people who made reservations and she would talk with me tomorrow. I told her that we would be happy to give up our scheduled rest day in Richmond… now I’m definitely glad we had it built into the schedule.

Our room layout here is very unusual. We have a room with three twin beds, which is fine. Then there is a separate toilet room. The sink is along one wall of the bedroom. And then the shower stall is built into the room next to the sink, with a clear glass door that opens right next to one of the beds! So much for privacy during a shower! We took our showers and went downstairs for a cold beer on the front patio.

The meal was also a different arrangement than we’ve had elsewhere. (There is no other place in Thwaite to eat.) The meal was served at 7:00 pm—while we were relaxing on the front terrace, we were asked to make our choices between two starters (appetizers) and two entrees. One of the entrée choices was a fish dish and Charley and I both picked the roast turkey. Kelly wasn’t ambitious enough to try roast turkey in England, and we managed to talk the waitress—a nice older lady—into some chicken nuggets. Everyone gathered in a very large living room until we were summoned for the meal—they actually rang a bell. In the living room we sat down near two women on a mother/daughter trip for a few days. The daughter was about my age, and the mother lived in York. They said they have been coming to the Kearton Country Hotel at least once a year for over 30 years!

The roast turkey was wonderful with good gravy and vegetables. Kelly’s chicken nuggets were… well, chicken nuggets. She sampled the turkey and wished that she’d had it instead. For dessert there was a nice dessert table with a variety of choices—fortunately Kelly found plenty that she liked there.

We went to bed early. We are now halfway through the walk! The Compeed pads and new sock arrangement really helped my feet today. I also found some Tylenol PM in my toiletry kit, which helped me get a good night’s sleep.

Tuesday, August 17 - Thwaite to Reeth (12 miles)

We had a choice of routes today—we could go two miles back up to Keld and take the “official” route across the moors… a longer trip because of the extra two miles and with lots of ups and downs. This route traveled by the remains of old lead mines. Or, we could start from Thwaite and take the “enticing alternative” through the valley along the River Swale… a much more scenic route. We decided to take the low route, primarily for the scenery of course!

We had a good breakfast at the Kearton Country Hotel and decided it would be a nice place to spend a few days. We made two new C2C friends while sitting outside before breakfast—Bill and Geoffrey, both early retirees from Yorkshire… about Charley’s age. Bill is a big man, well over six feet tall… very outgoing and affable… very funny. Geoffrey is small and slight, about Kelly’s height… more serious. Bill had managed to put together a series of friends and family members who were transporting their luggage from place to place along the walk.

Bill said he had heard about our adventure on Black Sail. “Oh, so you’re the American family who got lost at Black Sail—I’ve heard about you!” They said that they had met lots of Americans on the Coast-to-Coast walk… interesting, as so far we haven’t met a single American. Bill said they had met an American family with four children—the youngest only seven—backpacking and staying in tents. And then now there’s the American family who had to spend the night at Black Sail.

We had another sunny day today… I hiked in shorts again and worked on my suntan. We really like the Yorkshire Dales… there’s a style of farming here that involves miles and miles of stone walls and lots of small stone barns. Charley wondered how much work has gone on over the years to build all these walls and barns. In this area we passed over stone walls through small openings in the stone, normally with some type of stepping stone(s) on either side… a kind of a stone stile called a “gap stile”. Sometimes the gap is quite a tight fit! In other areas, we’ve gone over wooden stiles and through gates of various kinds. We especially like the kissing gate, where you push a gate forward into a small semicircle gated area and then pivot around to the other side— the pivot can be very challenging with a bulging pack!

About 20 minutes from Thwaite we walked through the village of Muker, even nicer than Thwaite I thought, with a few interesting shops and an old stone library. The Sherpa notes said there are 53 stone barns in the one-kilometer area around Muker. The route was easy and pretty… mostly right along the river. We made a couple of water crossings and took photos of several beautiful stone bridges. We had packed lunches from the hotel and ate lunch on the rocks by one of the stone bridge.

We saw several of the women from the Group of Eight a couple of times—the six who are walking seem to split up to walk. Today the mother and three of the women were together. We ran into Bill and Geoffrey at a place where we were unsure which way to go—they weren’t sure either. Geoffrey has a GPS system that he used to precisely identify our position. (Apparently this was very helpful up above Black Sail, where he led a large group through the fog and rain.) Bill decided to take the road, so we walked a while through the woods with Geoffrey, then let him go on ahead.

We had one very difficult crossing, over a wide stream just joining up with the Swale. It was quite a challenge to find our way across on rocks that were stable and not too far under water. As we successfully continued along the path, we saw the group of women begin to plan their route across. Further down the path we encountered Colin—part of the “support group” for the Group of Eight and I think married to the woman named Jane. He was carrying an umbrella and hoping to meet up with the women. He said we weren’t far from Reeth and recommended we take the route by the swinging bridge.

We heard thunder but arrived in Reeth at 3:30 pm before any rain. We had also driven through Reeth on our James Herriott tour and remembered the big grassy town square (more like a circle) surrounded by pubs, tea rooms and little shops. There are three pub/hotels here, and we are staying at the Kings Arms (called the Middle House because it’s between the other two pubs). An old plaque above the door says the hotel was built in 1734. We have a nice room on the second floor, looking out over the big grassy square.

We changed our shoes and went outside the hotel to sit at one of the picnic tables out front. Charley and I really wanted a cold beer. Kelly headed off to an ice cream shop. Bill and Geoffrey joined us and we learned more about our new friends. Bill is a retired police officer and Geoffrey is a retired mine safety engineer. We saw a lot of other C2C walkers too—the Group of Eight and then the Group of Six from the Jolly Farmer. (The Group of Six seems to be really two groups—one couple doing the entire walk and then two other couples who are less ambitious and just doing a middle segment. The two “less ambitious” couples had taken our lunch spot yesterday.) We also saw the two women backpackers, who put their packs down and sat with us for a while. I had thought they were two friends, but it turns out they are actually a mother and daughter…. from Rugby like Mike and Sue. The daughter is about sixteen… nice that they could have this trip together. (The English Rugby is much, much larger than the little East Tennessee Rugby, and so they didn’t know our friends the Mintons.) The Mother and Daughter are doing their walk staying in youth hostels, tonight at a hostel in Grinton, on the C2C route about a mile outside of Reeth. We guarded their big packs while they went over to the village shop to buy food for their dinner.

While we were at the picnic table, I looked up the cobbled street… and suddenly saw a familiar scooter with a Tennessee Elvis1 license plate. It was the old man with the scooter/wheelchair we had met on Kelly’s birthday trip in Askrigg… maybe ten miles from Reeth. We had spoken to him because of the Tennessee license plate and ended up in an extended conversation. He tried to give me money to buy him some more Elvis memorabilia from Tennessee. Charley went up to speak to him, and then Kelly and I went up to say hello also. I took his photo with Kelly, though I decided he kind of gave me the creeps. I didn’t really like the way he tried to get Kelly to sit on his lap… He has apparently just moved to Reeth—how strange to see him here again!
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I called Mary at Sherpa from the pay phone on the square. She is working with the main Sherpa office to restructure our arrangements and will fax this to us at our next accommodation in Richmond. A few of our hotels will change because they don’t have availability on the new date. As I suspected, we won’t have the second rest day in Richmond, but we won’t have to deal with 29 miles on the last day and will be able to walk the entire route. There were just three walking days in between the two rest days, so we really don’t need a rest day anyway. And we have some 10-mile days coming up, which now seems a very short distance.

After our social afternoon down on the square, we went up to shower and had dinner at the hotel. We visited with a solo woman at the next table while we ate. She is a chemistry teacher from Leeds… teaches at an all boys school. She’s a very big walker, though not on the C2C. She seemed disdainful of the whole idea of the C2C walk… too popular of a walk for her… she’s much more of a loner I think. Charley and I had steak and ale pie and Kelly had roast beef in a baguette. Later that evening—before it got dark—Kelly looked out the window and saw a couple with a dog down at the picnic tables. She went outside to try to pet the dog and ended up in a long conversation with the people. We’re pleased with how confident she is and how easily she meets people—if there is a dog, she has an instant connection. We saw a rainbow from the window and took photos of the beautiful sunset.

Wednesday, August 18 (Reeth to Richmond – 11 miles)

Today was another easy walk along the River Swale... decent weather, not much elevation, and some beautiful scenery again. Our guidebook said this was actually the easiest segment of the walk, designed to allow time to explore the town of Richmond—the only real town on the walk. We had two packed lunches from the hotel, but knew we would walk through a few small villages and hoped that we could find a shop to buy Kelly some ice cream.

We took a footpath on the other side of the bridge at Reeth, then headed down toward Grinton where we saw another beautiful stone bridge. The path went by the ruins of Marrick Priory, built in the 12th century for a group of Benedictine nuns and then dissolved by Henry VIII. Today it’s been incorporated into some type of youth camp—we saw kids piling into vans as we walked by. The Two Men from the Group of Eight passed us—we haven’t learned their names, but they are always friendly. They normally walk separately from the women and seem to be having a good time. They both walk with a pair of walking sticks… kind of like cross country skiing poles.

Just past the priory we headed up a steep path made of enormous stones, working our way up through a forest… it was a bit damp and foreboding—and steep! Wainwright’s book said the path consists of 375 steps. As we came out of the wood and across the field, we saw the Mother and Daughter with the backpacks a ways behind us. In the village of Marrick, somehow the Two Men appeared again—they had taken a wrong turn at the beginning of the village. Shame on them for not using their map! Much to Kelly’s disappointment, there wasn’t an ice cream shop in Marrick.

Outside of Marrick we crossed through a field, then another field and down a hill. As we came down the hill, we heard cows bellowing… a big herd of cows. The Two Men were waiting by the fence as two farmers herded most of the cows through the gate and into the farmyard. The cows were actually running, many of them bellowing… I wondered if they had perhaps been separated from their calves… or if they knew that some of them were headed off to the slaughterhouse. When most of the cows were past us, the farmer waved us on. I don’t like walking among cows, especially cows that aren’t happy. We saw an enormous bull, but he must have been old… he could barely move.

We walked along behind the Two Men to the next village, Marske, with the Mother and Daughter not far behind us. Marske wasn’t big enough for a village shop either, but we decided to stop and eat our lunch. The Mother and Daughter sat on the village bench, and we sat on a wall across the street. Marske seemed a pretty village, but our opinion of it was influenced by its lack of a shop! There were two black (Dales) ponies in a field, and Kelly couldn’t be separated from the sweet, sociable one. We didn’t linger long over lunch and let the mother and daughter go a bit ahead. We crossed through a couple of fields, and then forded a little creek down in a valley. Ahead of us we could see the cliffs of Applegarth Scar… and the Two Men and the Mother and Daughter making their way up the hill. Then we spotted another group—the Two Less Ambitious Couples—behind us. We decided that we definitely did not want to let them pass us and hurried along. Kelly has developed a skill twirling her walking stick, as if she was a majorette with a baton. As we walked through the fields, she took the lead… twirling her stick.

We passed through farms at West Applegarth, Low Applegarth, and East Applegarth, pausing to greet a farmer repairing a wall at one of the Applegarths. Up above we could now see Whitcliffe Scar, topped by a monument at Willance’s Leap. Robert Willance was a resident of Richmond. In 1606, while riding his horse up on the scar, he and the horse somehow went over the cliff. The horse was killed, but Robert somehow survived, forever grateful for his deliverance. This was of special interest to us, since tonight we are staying at the Willance House, the oldest house in Richmond and the former home of Robert Willance.

After we passed the leap we walked about a mile through Whitcliffe Wood, dodging puddles along the way. It was dark and rather depressing. At that point, we followed a track and then a road into Richmond. As we passed the town marker, we noticed that it recognized the Coast-to-Coast walk. We passed another walker headed in the other direction—an elderly man wearing a t-shirt over his pajamas, walking an elderly dog. Kelly stopped to visit with the dog, and we chatted with the man. It may have been a high point of his day.

Kelly took the lead to guide us into Richmond, a busy town with a castle, a town square and lots of shops. It’s big enough to have a Boots the Chemist, always a signal to me of a town’s prosperity! We arrived about 3:00 pm. Our guest house—the Willance House—is over 400 years old. Bill and Geoffrey are staying here tonight also, though we never saw them on the walk today. They may have taken the road, which is Bill’s preference. The owner, Mrs. Jackson, was very friendly and showed us to our room. It’s pretty tight for the three of us. The bathroom has been built into a corner of the room, making the original bedroom even smaller. I’m just as glad not to stay here two nights. Mrs. Jackson did offer to do a load of laundry for a very reasonable price, and we gathered up dirty things from the last three days and gave them to her.

We had a fax from Sherpa with the details of our revised itinerary. Two of our hotels have changed, and our last day is now in Glaisdale… we will walk about 20 miles on the last day. I hoped for Egton Bridge or Grosmont, which would have been closer to Robin Hood’s Bay. Twenty miles would have been impossible early in the walk, but at this point I’m now confident we can do it.

I had not used the internet since we were in Carlisle—11 days ago! We thought Richmond would likely be the only place we could find public internet access. The library was closed today, but Tourist Information told me the YMCA had computers available. The Y was right on the main square and had a room with maybe ten PCs… perhaps a place they use for computer training. I had about an hour before they closed, and caught up on my e-mail. My parents are leaving in a few days for Africa, so we will be out of touch with them for several weeks. I sent them a long message and also posted a short update on my blog.

I had read somewhere that there was an Italian restaurant in Richmond, and Tourist Information told me it was on the main square. I knew Kelly would love Italian, and Charley and I could also use a break from pub food. Latinos was an authentic Italian restaurant, complete with an Italian owner. We were one of the first customers to arrive and had a great meal. Six of the Group of Eight came in just as we were leaving.

Thursday, August 18 - Richmond to Danby Wiske (14 miles)

We talked with Bill and Geoffrey at breakfast at the Willance House… we’re staying at the same place in Danby Wiske tonight also. We went over to Tourist Information before we left, since Kelly and I had seen some Coast-to-Coast patches there—we wanted one for Kelly and wanted to send one to Sue Minton for her backpack. Tourist Information wasn’t open when we arrived, but the nice ladies saw us waiting and let us in early to make our purchases. We stopped at a small grocery store to buy provisions for a picnic lunch—we’ll make our own sandwiches today.

We saw the Women from the Group of Eight headed out of town on the road, and then also saw Colin (Group of Eight Support Team) on the street. We talked about our schedule the next couple of days and learned that we’d be staying at the same guest house in Osmotherly the day after tomorrow. Colin hadn’t been at the Italian place last night, and said that he and Jane had decided to eat Indian. Bill and Geoffrey also had Indian food last night. Sounds like all of us needed a break from the pub food! We also saw the Two Less Ambitious Couples who told us goodbye—their interlude on the Coast-to-Coast walk was ending. One of the men told me how impressed he was watching Kelly’s walking stick twirling yesterday!

Wainwright’s official route actually goes 23 miles from Richmond to Ingleby Cross—we would do this segment in two days. This section of the walk is almost totally flat and takes us from the Yorkshire Dales to the North York Moors, beginning along the River Swale…

Although there was a short cut out of Richmond along the road, I wanted to take the “official route” that went by the castle since we didn’t have time to see the castle yesterday. The castle sits alongside the River Swale and is quite large—it was constructed beginning in 1071… a lonnnggg time ago! I took a couple of photos of the castle from the other side of the river. It was very very muddy along the river, maybe one of the muddiest sections we’ve experienced so far. I know Charley and Kelly didn’t really care about seeing the castle and would have preferred the short cut on the road.

We did walk quite a ways on the road, though… by the ruins of an old Benedictine priory (from about 1100) and then a sewage plant. Charley gave Kelly a little lecture about how a sewage plant works. Our route crossed a farm and then took a path through woods and a farm. Once again it was very very muddy. Yuk. It rained lightly on and off. We passed through the village of Colburn, then by the site of an old hospital from the late 12th century—we detoured off to read the historical information, which had fallen off its mount. We also passed very near the big military base at Catterick Camp. Someone had told us that sometimes on the walk you can hear the target practice. At the town of Catterick Bridge, we crossed a busy road by a race course and then headed off on another muddy path by the River Swale. We have been walking alongside the River Swale for almost four days, and we would be heading in different directions very soon. The rain had stopped, and Kelly and I asked to stop and eat our lunch. We sat on some rocks on the side of the path… quite bedraggled. The Two Men passed us as we trudged along the edge of a muddy field—they seemed to be having a good time even in the mud.

We had a small diversion in the village of Bolton on Swale. In the churchyard is a memorial to a man named Henry Jenkins, who supposedly was born in 1500 and lived to be 169 years old! Hmmmm…. We took a picture of the monument—the stonemason hadn’t planned well, and ran out of room on one of his words. We had a short walk along a creek, then came out at a crossroads. For the next five miles we walked on the same stretch of road… thankfully very flat and mostly dry, but also very boring. Near Streetlam we could have deviated from the road for a time, but we decided to stick to the road and avoid the possibility of mud. Even the scenery wasn’t too interesting—the stone walls we had enjoyed so much in the Yorkshire Dales were nowhere in sight. Afar in the distance we spotted the rise of the Cleveland Hills, the next (and last) range we would cross on our “march to the North Sea”. We might have seen two cars on the road.

At one point Jackie—the Group of Eight woman with the marathon shirt—came running by… she was apparently running the route today on the road. As she ran by us, she shouted behind her that she had gotten lost trying to find this road. Much farther down the road, we encountered an elderly man (this time wearing Wellington boots) out for a walk with his dog. We stopped—as we always do for elderly men with dogs. While Kelly visited with the dog, Charley and I talked with the man. He was proud to tell us that his elderly dog had won a prize in a dog show yesterday. When we started walking again, we saw Jane and Gail from the Group of Eight back behind us… we stopped at a bridge for a few minutes and let them on by. They seemed in a big hurry, and said they were going on a brewery tour tonight.

We arrived at the White Swan in Danby Wiske around 3:30 pm. There’s not too much to the village except a few houses, the White Swan, a phone booth and a mailbox. As we walked up to the front door, we saw two walkers getting ready to get in a taxi… a woman and a man. The man looked a mess, one of his legs all bandaged. He told us that his knees were shot. They were supposed to walk the 23 miles to Ingleby Cross today, but he couldn’t go any further—they would take a cab back to Danby Wiske in the morning to finish this segment of the walk. He looked so bad, I couldn’t imagine they could possibly walk 21 miles tomorrow. We never saw this couple again on the walk, so we don’t know if they made it or not.

The innkeeper Paula is a great hostess… definitely someone who should be in the hospitality business. She poured us two cold beers (a soft drink for Kelly) and visited with us in the pub while we relaxed from the day’s walk. Paula was extremely friendly and welcoming to Kelly—they made an immediate connection. I was impressed that Paula always called Kelly by name. She and her husband have owned the pub for just about a year and have a strong business with local “regulars”. They have a couple of rooms which are dedicated almost 100% to Coast-to-Coast walkers. (We couldn’t think why anyone else would need a hotel room in Danby Wiske.) They are open for lunch from noon till 2 pm, I think mainly for the walkers coming through. Paula cooks a dinner meal for her hotel guests and also a few guests of local B&Bs that don’t serve dinner—there would otherwise be nowhere to eat in Danby Wiske.

Bill and Geoffrey are the only other guests at the White Swan tonight—in fact, we are sharing a bathroom. This was the first time we’ve had to share a bathroom… it was a bit strange but not impossible. We had an enormous room that could have slept four.

We ate dinner with Bill and Geoffrey and enjoyed our time with them, as usual. Bill has lots of interesting stories to tell, and we learned more about Geoffrey too. He has been dating the same woman for many years, but they’ve never married. Bill is married with grown children and grandchildren. There were three other people at dinner—two women and a man—sitting at a table a bit farther away. They are staying at a nearby B&B, though for most of the walk they’ve been camping in tents. They do have their equipment moved each day by Sherpa. Bill and Geoffrey have met these three people before, and apparently they started the walk with a small dog, who has since been sent home…. he couldn’t keep up. One of the women is from Moor Row, a village on the first day of the walk, not far from St. Bees. After seeing all the walkers passing through, she wanted to see for herself what the Coast-to-Coast walk is all about. Bill and Geoffrey both have an interest in genealogy and will be making a detour the next day to look for some information about Geoffrey’s family in village along the route. Paula and her husband have a PC up on the counter of the bar, and Bill pulled up a website he’s put together about his family.

Paula cooked us all a really good meal—Charley and I had a chicken dish that was very good. Kelly wasn’t brave enough to try it and had a chicken sandwich that wasn’t really what she was looking for. She liked Paula and did her best to try to eat it. She was much happier with her dessert. As the seven of us ate our dinner, the pub began to fill with locals… and smoke. Paula and her husband were very busy taking care of everyone.

Somehow, as we all talked, we learned that the professor from Saudi Arabia and his son had been in Danby Wiske last night—they had stayed at the same B&B as the three people and had eaten dinner with Paula at the White Swan. One of the two—we didn’t know which—had gotten sick or hurt, and they were dropping out of the walk. The walk meant so much to the father… we hated to hear that news.

Friday, August 19 - Danby Wiske to Osmotherly (12 miles)

It rained very hard during the night—Charley said he heard it, but I slept right through the storm. A heavy rain means mud… lots of it… we hoped the route would include a lot of road walking today. We got ready for the day, using the shared bathroom quickly.

Paula cooked us all a good English breakfast, and we visited with Bill, Geoffrey and Paula while we ate. Paula told us more about her life as a pub owner… in her former life, she was some type of computer programmer. Her days are long… starting with breakfast for the walking guests and ending when the pub closes—I’m not sure she really likes this new life as a pub owner in this tiny village, but she certainly is a great host. I needed to transfer some money from my brokerage account into my checking account, and she was happy to let me use her computer. I’d also found a book that interested me on a bookshelf in the hall and asked if I could buy it—Paula said to go ahead and take it. We enjoyed our short stay at the White Swan, and reluctantly headed out along the road. Bill and Geoffrey are staying in Ingleby Cross tonight while we will go a few miles farther to Osmotherly. We’ll be at the Lion Inn together in a couple of days.

It wasn’t a very interesting route today… nothing particularly scenic, though it was very flat. We continued along the same road, sticking to the road instead of taking the shortcut through the fields. On a muddy day like this, we wanted as much road-walking as possible. We crossed the A167 road and then followed a track past a farm. The farm road was horribly muddy, almost impossible to navigate in a few places. We saw the three people from dinner last night a couple of times—their names are Paul, Sue and Tammy. Paul and Sue are married and Tammy (from Moor Row) is a friend. The two women are very outgoing—Paul seems very nice but says barely a word.

We crossed over some railroad tracks (Stop, Look, Listen) and then had a stretch of maybe two miles on a dirt track that was relatively dry. At one point we saw Bill and Geoffrey up ahead—Bill is quite distinctive due to his build and his floppy yellow poncho. Paul, Sue and Tammy were not far behind. There’s a comfort to know that other walkers are nearby… also to know that we no longer lag far behind others. Sometimes now we are even in the front!

We had a strange experience near a farm. As we passed through the farmyard, Kelly and I saw a lot of cows running in the distant field… making lots of cow noises. Even a cow in the barn was bellowing. We couldn’t imagine what was happening, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to walk in the field with the running cows. We headed into the field (fortunately in the opposite direction from where we had seen the cows running) and followed the natural path. We were looking for a stile in a corner and couldn’t find it. As we wandered around the field—the path nowhere to be found—we heard people yelling at us from across some woods… some of the women from the Group of Eight. One of women directed us across a stream on the other side of the field, which we forded with some difficulty. We then went down to a bridge to cross the River Wiske. We’re still not sure how we had gotten so mixed up in the field.

We passed Paul, Sue and Tammy near the ruins of an old house (I think they had stopped to have a smoke), and then followed a track to one of the most dangerous sections of the walk—the crossing of the extremely busy A19 road. We heard the traffic a while before we reached the intersection. There was a gas station, shop and a “Little Chef” restaurant at the intersection, and we saw Jackie and Gail (from the Group of Eight) out front of the shop. Jackie (the runner) had been the one who had yelled to us and helped us find the right way out of the field. They told us that they had also gotten lost in the field… a dog had followed them and somehow the dog triggered what they described as a cow stampede. The cows we had seen and heard were apparently running toward them! The farmer came and yelled at them… why had they brought a dog in the field?? It sounded quite terrible… I don’t like being around the cows anyway, so I was very glad the dog had not followed us.

The A19 was extremely busy with several lanes of traffic. Our Sherpa directions advised us to be very careful in making the crossing and said we might have to wait as much as five minutes to cross. Big trucks and cars were whizzing by at 70 miles an hour—two or maybe three lanes of traffic in each direction. Jackie and Gail said that the mother (Glenda, who we learned was Jackie’s mother) and the other woman Jane had decided it was too dangerous and had called their Support Team to get a ride the rest of the way. We decided to go ahead and cross and stood on the side of the road assessing the situation. Fortunately there was a median, so we could break our dash across into two segments. Ten seconds after we got to the side of the road, Charley shouted, “Go!!!” and Kelly and I shouted, “No!!!!!” We simply weren’t ready. I wasn’t sure how fast I could run in my clunky boots with my backpack. We waited a bit longer, held hands, and the next time Charley shouted “Go!!!” we went running across, probably shrieking the entire way. I felt a bit like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid jumping off the cliff. We waited less than a minute on the median and then held hands and dashed across the other lanes. Once there, we laughed with excitement and relief—it was really quite a thrill.

On the other side of the busy highway was the village of Ingleby Cross, home of Tim and Duncan, the father and son we had met earlier in the walk and we liked so much. We sat on a bench on the village green… soon joined by Jackie and Gail who had safely made their crossing of the A19. They headed onto Osmotherly, where we would see them later at the Vane House. A few minutes later Bill and Geoffrey came along—they had completed their genealogical research and were staying at the little inn right there in Ingleby Cross. While we talked in the square, Bill’s son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren drove up—they’re taking a holiday and have taken over transporting Bill and Geoffrey’s luggage from inn to inn. Kelly liked their big dog. Paul, Sue and Tammy walked up next—they are camping tonight near Osmotherly. We took some photos of Ingleby Cross, and I asked a man passing by if he knew Tim and Duncan—in a small village like this, I thought it was possible, though I couldn’t remember their last name. He had no idea who I was talking about.

I thought we were just a short way to Osmotherly, but I hadn’t read the rest of the directions carefully and we had another three miles to go. After two days of walking in the flat lands, we were suddenly hill-walking again. We hiked up a steep forest road into Arncliffe Woods, a dark and foreboding place. Midway into the forest there was a “Park House” (perhaps some type of outdoors center), with a sign advertising that they sold Coast-to-Coast souvenirs. Kelly’s antenna went up… and mine too. We were looking for more patches and also walking stick mounts. We walked down to the Park House and saw the little souvenir shop in a shed. We rang the bell as directed, but the place was deserted.

Heading out of the Park House we saw hundreds of birds on the road and in the woods… we weren’t sure what they were—grouse perhaps, or pheasant? We’ve seen a variety of birds on the walk and have occasionally flushed a pheasant. These little birds wouldn’t move off the road until we were almost right on top of them. The woods were just full of the birds.

The view up above Osmotherly was spectacular. We could see at least 30 miles across the plain, back toward the Yorkshire Dales. We arrived in Osmotherly about 3:00 pm, happy to be reaching our accommodation at a decent time and looking forward to our hot showers.

Osmotherly is one of the prettiest villages we’ve seen on the walk. We found the Vane House easily, right on the main street just before the village square. Melanie—the “leader” of the Group of Eight (one of the two not walking)—was there at the house when we arrived. Our bags were in the hallway. Melanie said the owner—Mr. Abbot—was also a driving instructor and that he had just left to give a lesson. She thought he would be back in about 30 minutes. There had been some confusion with their rooms, and Mr. Abbot seemed to have overbooked the Vane House for the night. Melanie felt sure that he had a room for us and thought she knew which one—she said it was a wonderful room.

We decided to look around the village while we waited for Mr. Abbot’s return. The main square has a market cross and a big stone table (called a barter table). John Wesley preached here 16 times in the 1700’s. We walked down to The Three Tuns pub, had a beer, looked at the dinner menu, and decided to make a reservation for dinner. About 45 minutes later we were back at the Vane House, but still no Mr. Abbot. We went back down the street to a tea shop and had warm drinks… Paul, Sue and Tammy were also at the shop, warming up before heading off to their camping location. Thirty minutes later Mr. Abbot was still not back at the Vane House—we were beginning to get very concerned. We were hesitant to just move into the room that Melanie thought was ours, though we decided that if Mr. Abbot wasn’t there by 5:00 pm, that’s what we would do. We waited in the little breakfast room and chatted with Melanie. Kelly desperately had to go to the bathroom, so Melanie showed her our room. Unfortunately, when Kelly came out, she accidentally locked the door, so we couldn’t even go in at 5:00 pm as we had planned.

The Post Office/Shop is next door to the Vane House, so I suggested that Charley go there and ask if they knew how to reach Mr. Abbot. They called him on his cell phone and he arrived a few minutes later. Charley was quite angry, even more so when Mr. Abbot didn’t even really apologize. Our anger melted when we saw our room though—it’s the best room we’ve had in two weeks… in a brand new addition to the old house. It’s a big sunny room with a double bed, two twin beds and a wonderful, new shower. The beds are so comfortable with fresh new linens and great pillows. We decided this room was worth waiting for.

We took our showers and headed back to The Three Tuns for dinner. It was an upscale environment with a gourmet-type menu… an enormous contrast to the White Swan the night before. We had a very good meal. I had mussels as a starter, which I absolutely love. Kelly had Cajun chicken and Charley and I shared an entrée and dessert. Most of the Group of Eight was also having dinner at The Three Tuns. We had learned a bit more about the group from Melanie, who is extremely outgoing. She and Jackie (the runner) are Glenda’s daughters. Jackie now lives in Canada, and Gail is her friend who came over with her to do the walk. One of the Two Men is Melanie’s “partner”—we’re not exactly sure which one, and we don’t quite understand how all the other people are connected. Melanie has made all their arrangements for the walk.

We went back to our wonderful beds at the Vane House and watched the Olympics on the brand-new television. It’s interesting to watch the Olympics from the British perspective. Tomorrow we start over the moors.