Historic day in terms of the C2C because we walked into Yorkshire and passed the half way point i.e. over 96 miles covered, with only sore feet, 2 blisters and Andrea having a rather painful left leg. Today was what the book terms a strenuous day, partly because we walked 17 miles but also because we climbed the equivalent of 108 floors. This was mainly because we went to see the stones called Nine Standards Rigg at 662m. We would have had to clime at least 200m anyway so what is a few more. The guide book scares you to death about getting stuck in the bogs at the top but its been dry recently (well in Cumbria) so it was fine. Talking of fine, we had a bit of rain today but nothing to worry about. Highlight of the day was cream teas at an entrepreneurial hilltop farm.
Longer Version
We had to set out early today because our baggage people (Packhorse) were collecting our suitcases at 8.15am. So by 8.05 we were on the C2C climbing up to Hartley - it has a huge quarry (not that it was worth a photo). Andrea's leg was playing up again so we took it slowly whilst it warmed up (it takes about 3 miles). The climb up to Hartley Fell was typical Wainwright moorland with the intriguing Nine Standards Rigg occasionally being glimpsed. It's a series of 9 cairns that were built some time ago and no one knows why. But they make for a good landmark:
On a good day you can see these from 20 miles away. They may look small but all of them are over 3m high. Interestingly the C2C has 3 routes around here - Dec to Apr (the low land route, well away from the Nine Standards), Aug to Nov (to Nine Standards and then avoiding a lot of the bogs) and then May to Jul (to Nine Standards and then out through the bogs). Well its June so you know what route we took :-) The cairns are made up of lots of individual stones:
It is an interesting point that Wainwright gets you up here without there being an official footpath. Its all a case of following the beaten down grass or footprints. It does make for an interesting visual quiz on the way down through the bogs, trying to work out what is solid and what isn't. Given its relatively dry at the moment, it was fun trying to work out the route: in mist and rain it would be to quote Andrea "hideous". John at the B&B tonight, said it was quite rare that a guest makes it up there!
After getting back on the C2C you wander through the Birkdale grouse moor which is full of birds (many not grouse). It was at the end of this track that we arrived at Ravenseat Farm in Whitsun Dale. I would imagine its a superb place to live in the summer although I am not convinced by the winter
To top it all the farm (well the eldest of what we thought was 5 children) was offering cream teas. Given how many people were doing the C2C I thought this was brilliant and a thing to support:
After this it was a walk down into Swaledale and in particular Keld. Keld is not big by any stretch of the imagination (30 houses perhaps) but it is the half way point of the C2C and also where we cross the Pennine Way, so really should be more famous. Most people stay in Keld (B&B's are the biggest business) but we battled on a further 2 miles along the Swale to Muker where we are staying at the Bridge House B&B (which is delightful - originally a shooting lodge): alas with a mile to go it started to rain persistent small drops - enough to create drips.
Quirky things today:
A vintage car reliability run where various old cars were attempting to get up some pretty steep hills on a 140 mile course. I think it was all part of the 46th Beamish Reliability Run:
I was interested but Andrea wasn't in the slightest :-)
On our walk today we met 3 guys doing the C2C in there 50's who were generally camping but tonight were having luxury in the form of a take away lasagne and sleepng in a Yurt .... not something I expected to see in Yorkshire:
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