W10 - Reeth to Richmond - relaxing

The 4 Belgium's (I thought they were Dutch) who we met at the Ravenseat farm on W7, when having cream teas, were staying with us at the Hackney House: its a small world on the C2C. After a good breakfast (although no Weetabix !!) we set off for Richmond. It is primarily rolling farmland with a bit of woods thrown in for good measure. It was only 11 miles and 36 floors so we did it in under 5 hours i.e. in time for lunch in a pub. It is the largest town (the population is still less than 9,000) on the whole of the C2C and to come into the bustle of Richmond is quite a shock - cars, people, shops etc.

Longer version
We left Reeth behind with fond memories: it is build for tourists and had a good selection of pubs - we ate at the Buck before England's mind numbing match against Slovakia (well done Wales btw). The route is easy and takes you down the Swale to the old nunnery of Marrick Priory (now an activity centre) before cutting up to the hamlets of Marrick and Marske. The Belgium's caught us up by Marrick but we overtook 2 American couples (who we had met before). The valley is wide here and there is the sound of lambs bleeding and the meadows being cut to make winter forage:

This tranquil scene is slightly upset by the sound of gun fire from Wathgill Camp over the other side of the valley, which seems to be an army gun range. Well you cannot have everything, and we are pretty close to Carrick, which is a huge army base. Surprisingly after Marske, the valley narrows and becomes more wooded: the rock formation changes I believe.

After walking through the woods you come out up above Richmond - did you know there are 57 Richmonds in the world ! Richmond came from "the honour of Richmond" which was given by William the Conqueror to Count Alan Rufus in 1071 which included most of north east Yorkshire.

Richmond is now primarily focused on agriculture and tourism. The castle although a ruin since 1525 is still pretty impressive

There are lots of pubs, restaurants and coffee houses. Whilst having lunch in a pub, the Belgium's turned up - small world. We have also met 4 other groups doing the C2C. It's a really sociable walk. Oh, if you are wondering, Andrea's leg seems to be getting better (which is great) and we haven't seen any significant rain since Day 2 ! Tomorrow, unlike most people who are going 20 miles, we are only doing 11 - so a bottle of wine tonight :-)

Quirky thing
I had to take a photo of this in a second hand car garage just outside of Reeth:

Maybe just what you need to get the shopping in Yorkshire.