Comfortable in Keld

We walked into Keld at the end of a satisfying day's walk, along the route of the Pennine Way. We think Coast to Coast walkers must far outnumber Pennine Way walkers as the Pennine Way is not for the faint hearted and, although we don't consider ourselves wimps, it has certainly never appealed to us.

Now Keld is a delightful and quiet spot in Swaledale. It was the obvious place to stop for the night and the reality is there are no other realistic options, so this was a happy coincidence. It always amuses us that the smaller the place you stay at, the more likely you are to have to ask for directions. There are only a handful of houses in Keld but we couldn't spot Keld Lodge, our destination, so we asked someone where it was. It was right at the top of the village, but well worth the extra couple of minutes walk. It looked good as we approached and it lived up to expectations.

We had a warm welcome and were invited to take tea and cake in the residents lounge. Our room was very nice but we did little more than dump our bags as we hastened down to have our afternoon tea.

The cake was delicious and the lounge was cosy. As we relaxed and read about the Lodge we discovered it was the former Keld Youth Hostel. Our female minder was shocked that she hadn't realised this as she had in fact stayed at Keld Youth Hostel at least 2 times in the past. To get over the shock she helped herself to some of our male minders cake as she thought he didn't want it - apparently he did!

Back in our room we got ourselves clean and sorted. We can confirm that Keld is the official half way point, so it was time to pack up the St Bees to Keld combined map and guide, and get out, and have a read of, the equivalent map for the second half, Keld to Robin Hoods Bay.

Before dinner we took a beer outside to admire the view outside as it was glorious countryside. Gio stayed outside for a while, drinking in the view faster than his beer, but the human element of our party hastened indoors saying that midges were biting - they can't get through fur though!

Dinner in the Lodge restaurant was very nice. The owners had made a real effort to offer a menu with a bit of class, but which still provided the food and portions you need after a good day's walk.

Breakfast was also great and there was the regular cooked breakfast on offer and also the 'Keld' breakfast which was 'as the regular breakfast but bigger'. We'd seen people eating the regular breakfast and it looked pretty good so we settled for it. We were pleased to see one of our fellow walkers, Michael, who we'd encountered quite a few times since setting off, order it, as we wanted to see what it was like. It came and it was big. We wouldn't have managed it, although Yorkie would have had a good go. Michael, who is a big chap, did pretty well, but we have to report that it did beat him - just!

As we enjoyed our breakfast we saw the Pack Horse van draw up and collect our luggage - it is an early collection from Keld, so we had taken our bags down before breakfast.

Knowing that our bags were safely on their way to our next night's accommodation, we decided we should also get on our way. Back in our room, collecting up our rucksacks and gear, there was a squawk of horror from our female minder. Our map was nowhere to be found and she had the sneaking suspicion that both old and new maps might have been packed into the overnight bag, instead of just the old one. As you know our bags had been collected, so what were we to do? We had to get to Reeth but how would we find the route?

Answer next time.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Gio and Wooly xxx