The Keld Lodge was completely full last night and I found that when I came down for breakfast this morning at 8:00am I was the last one down. The breakfast room was full to overcrowding. It seemed everyone was eager to get started early in order to avoid the late afternoon rain that the forecast promised. The walk today was a short one, only eleven or so miles on to Reeth the next stop on the Coast to Coast trek. Although not everyone at the hotel was doing the Coast to Coast. It turns out that Keld is also situated on a north-south route along the Pennines and about half of the layovers were trekking that route. While waiting to get seated for dinner the previous evening (which took way longer than one would have hoped!) I chatted with two gentlemen who were trekking south along the Pennines. taking about six weeks or so to do it. One of them recently retired and this was his method of figuring out what to do next- reflection along the trail.
The whole gang at the lodge (and some of the other B&B’s in the village) heading out in the morning.
Like previous days I set out at about 8:30am. walking with my new friends from Australia, Mark and Sue and Mal and Idris. There were two possible routes to Reeth, a low route that paralleled a stream through the valley and a high route that ran along a ridge where old mines were located. Having no interest in old mines and preferring the scenery of the valley the five of us decided to do the low route even though it was about half a mile longer.
At a bridge where the path splits off to the village of Muker, not on the Coast to Coast path.
Finding the beginning of the route was not difficult, a signpost marked the path out of the village to the next village, Muker, which lie adjacent to our route. The path literally did follow a stream for about half the way so it was difficult to get lost. We were not in a hurry and slowly wandered our way east. Most of the path wended through meadow or pastures with some small stands of trees making an appearance from time to time. The meadows were especially beautiful as the wild flowers, still in bloom, colorfully carpeted both sides of the path from stream to rock wall. Occasionally sheep were amongst the flowers nibbling away indiscriminately. The stream looked low but nonetheless there was plenty of water for ducks to play and we saw plenty of those as we passed by too. Rabbits appeared and disappear as we walked along. One impression I have of northern England is that they are not only rich in sheep but also in rabbits. The morning passed by quickly- at one point I glanced at my watch and was surprised that nearly two hours had gone by.
The stream we were walking along, although it was not always this wide.
Idris and Mark were looking forward to having tea in one of the villages along the trail and around 11:00am we arrived at Gunnerside, which boasted both a pub and a cafe, looking forward to lingering for while. Unfortunately both were closed! Not being a tea drinker I was not too disappointed but I felt bad for Mark and Idris because they wanted to stop and rest for a while. But having no option we pressed on. The sky was starting to look a bit more threatening and I suspected rain was in our future. We still had about two hours or so to go; our pace was not that hurried so I was resigned to getting wet at some point. It was fun to walk along with company though, so I decided it was worth it for today.
My Australian walking companions getting the scoop on tea possibilities in Gunnerside (to no avail).
We climbed out of Gunnerside finally moving away from the stream that we had been following to instead walk along the high pastures. In the meantime we had overtaken another guest from the lodge the night before, an American woman, and she joined our group. In all we had about three different maps, a GPS, and an iPad with a map on it. None of that stopped us from taking a wrong turn down a road about three miles out of Reeth. It was not a disaster as we ended up on the main road into Reeth, coming out of the hills to intersect right where a pub was located. Mark and Idris had their chance for tea at last. So we stopped for about 30 minutes and while resting inside the cozy pub the rain came. Luckily it was not a serious downpour but rather the usual constant light drizzle that seems to be common in England. The hostess at the pub helped us find our location on our multiple maps and made a few suggestions on the best way to get to Reeth, the small village that was our destination for the evening. Mal and I consulted, he on his iPad and me on the topo map, and we decided to continue along the road to pick up a footpath through the woods which leads into the village. Donning rain gear (for me that means rain pants, jacket and poncho) we headed down the road knowing that we had about an hour or so to go. None of us wanted to dawdle anymore since the rain had started so we picked up the pace. Along the way we joined in with the German couple from the lodge the night before and as a group we entered Reeth, only to split up again as we all headed to our various different evening accommodations.
One of the wildflower strewn meadows that we walked through today.
My B&B, Cambridge House, was yet another 400 meters north of town so I still had about 5-10 minutes of walking. But first, I spotted the village bakery and it was still open so I went exploring. I had some tuna on the road but was a bit hungry and hopeful that I could find a savory pastry of some kind at the bakery. I was in luck! I bought a spinach and feta filled pastry and since I could not resist, an oatcake of some kind – that the young lady recommended (mainly because I had no idea what it was and wanted to taste it). Hiking up the road I easily found the B&B and after getting cleaned up am sitting in their “parlour”. It is lined with windows so I can sit here and watch the rain continue to come down, but while dry. There are two American couples staying here as well. One is the couple from Alaska I mentioned a few days ago and the other is a couple from Seattle who is biking as well as walking. We decided to have dinner together so I will learn more about them tonight. My Australian friends are in the village at another hotel and I may see them tonight, or not, but likely will run into them on the trail tomorrow. (Back from dinner and everyone was there- the Australians, the Germans, and some other couples from the Keld Lodge- it was like a mini-reunion. The restaurant was full of people who knew each other from the trail.)
The road we should not have taken, but it ended up well- near a pub.