Today was a looooong day of walking. It’s the “boring bit” - flat farmland between the end of the dales and the start of the moors. We wanted to get it over with in one day rather than having a two-day trudge and a stay in the middle at the uncharming village of Danby Wiske, so we soldiered on (me despite foot discomfort) through barley, wheat, broad beans, maize and more. On the plus side, it was good walking weather - cloudy and breezy. Although Patterdale to Shap was two hours more and had a lot of ascent, today was harder - all flat, so the same movements all day, and a fair amount of hard-packed earth and tarmac, which is all hard on the hips, knees and feet.
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| A field of sweet-smelling clover |
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| Farmer Simon was saying there’s been a dire lack of rain this year |
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| The halfway point - knackered already |
Saw a few of the usual suspects (other walkers) on arrival at the Blue Bell, but very few people during the day, apart from one youngish guy who extolled the virtues of Altra trail running shoes back in Keld.
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| Genuine joy at finally arriving! |
The Blue Bell is very nice - we’re waiting to order our dinner, and the other diners’ meals look very good. Our tents are pitched on a very windy field. Hope they stay put all night.
I don’t think we’ll have any trouble sleeping. A less arduous day tomorrow - we walk up to the moors in the morning and have about an 8-mile walk. We have midge headnets at the ready, just in case.
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