We'd thought that it had been a long day walking over to Shap, but it was nothing compared to the day which lay ahead, officially a 21 mile day over to Kirkby Stephen, the half way point of the walk. We were feeling slightly daunted, but another cooked breakfast helped lift our spirits as did Margaret cheerfully telling us that our long walk to her house the night before, meant we could shave a bit off today's total.
The first landmark of the day was our crossing of the M6. This really did signify for me the end of the Lake District section, but I was keen to explore new pastures (literally). It was quite exciting crossing the M6 on the sturdy footbridge and we enjoyed waving at the motorists hurtling beneath us and seeing how many we could get to toot their horns at us.
The speed of the vehicles made our heads spin especially as we had enjoyed an almost traffic free week and got used to a slower pace of life.
The M6, followed by a big quarry, was quickly behind us, and normal service resumed as we found ourselves once again in open country. I had to admit it was still lovely scenery even though it wasn't the Lake District.
Gio was happy when he found another of his monkish tiles depicting rural agriculture of days gone by.
We kept up a steady pace as we had a long way to go, but it was a beautiful walk on fairly easy terrain, so we could make good progress. We did quite a bit of moor walking, passing Robin Hood's grave and crossing limestone pavements, but also passed through lush pastures, perfect for a hungry sheep like me - talk about food on the go - and also one serious quagmire.
We had one big descent down to a river which gave us some marvellous Settle to Carlisle railway viaduct views, before a big climb out of the valley. As we got closer to Kirkby, we passed through a farm yard, where Gio had a sense of deja vu when he saw the yellow arrow pointing out the way.
For a moment Gio thought he was back on the Camino de Santiago where the path throughout Spain is marked by almost identical yellow arrows.
It was strange walking into Kirkby Stephen as this, being the Coast to Coast Packhorse base, was where we'd spent our first night before getting the minibus out to St Bees. It almost felt like coming home, even though it was by no means the end of our walk.
We were pleased to find we had made good time and were approaching our Bed and Breakfast accommodation shortly before 6.00 p.m. It was a rather special B and B, we'll explain why next time.
Lots of love, Wooly, Gio, George and Yorkie xxx
