Half Way Today

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

The Last House in Shap

Haweswater is a big lake, so it took us quite a while to walk to the end, at which point it felt as if we really should have finished walking for the day. However, we hadn't, we still had quite a few miles to go to get to Shap.

So, we put our best paws and hoofs forward, and on we went. The scenery began to change and to flatten out. First we swapped the lake for a stream, then we passed through agricultural land and a marshy / swampy area, before the landmark of Shap Abbey came into sight ...

Gio who regards long distance path walking as a personal pilgrimage, was very taken with the Abbey and he felt really at home when, close by, he found the following wooden post with a rather beautiful tile depicting a monk tending to his sheep. It told us all we needed to know about the history of this place.

Just after the Abbey, an enterprising farmer had left bottles of beer for thirsty walkers. We avoided the temptation as we thought we were almost there. More fool us!

As it happened, we weren't too far from Shap, and we hit the edge of the village at about 6.00 p.m. We set off in search of our B and B thinking it could only be a few minutes away. What we didn't know, was that Shap is an extremely long village, and our B and B was just about the last house there was. It seemed to take another hour to get there - we walked, and we walked, passing at least 3 pubs, but there was still no sign of it. In the end we had to phone up for directions - which were that we had still further to go.

Finally, when as good as out in open country again, there it was, Brookfield, as you can see, a fine looking B and B. And it's owner and proprietor Margaret, there to greet us and demonstrate the ingenious use of a door wedge for getting our bags in and out our rooms!

We felt almost like naughty school children, when Margaret told us that, had we arrived at 5.00 pm like her other guests, she would have given us tea and cake, but at nearly 7.00 pm it was a bit late. We actually thought we'd done very well to get there when we did, but we had to agree that tea and cake would have been a distraction, when what we really wanted to do was to shower and change and head for the Greyhound pub for a meal and some beers.

As always, we enjoyed our evening in the pub and, fortified by food and drink, were soon feeling chipper again. We were gratified to find a fellow party of C to C walkers, some friendly Australians we had got to know, came in considerably later than us. They were staying at the pub, and didn't even make it to their rooms before grabbing a table for a meal.

On our return to Brookfield, Margaret was up and about to let us in and have a chat. She is a lovely kind lady who clearly enjoys a good chat and, being a sheep, I especially appreciated the discussion on the merits of sheep's wool for treating blisters, not that I've ever had one.

Love from Wooly, Gio, George and Yorkie xxx