Kirkby Stephen …..Relax and Onwards to Bath

On the whole, we enjoyed it very much and of course, would have preferred excellent weather….but, it is the Yorkshires and we came prepared (albeit a bit more conditioning would have been better…but that is what the actress always said to the bishop). Gear wise a few shortcomings > Annie’s hiking shoes should have been more bootish and really waterproof (which contributed to the blisters – although the med kit was up to the task), and both rain jackets should be beefed up, if we do this again, in an area prone to rain > ours were just good enough, if we had had more rain this would have become a problem…otherwise, everything else worked like a damn.

I must add that I would not recommend this walk for people who require a straightforward, well-marked route. We were confused several times but without considerable loss of time and never so lost that we had to backtrack. Don’t do it if you want what most English people love about their long walks, such as the Dales Way, the Cotswold Way, and the Pennine Way: broad well-marked paths with clear directions. If you are up for raw open moorland beauty and windswept limestone crags, navigating with text and map, this is a hike that combines busy Yorkshire and Cumbrian market towns, tiny hamlets, and welcoming innkeepers with scenery unlike any we have at home and with moderate to considerable physical challenge, especially for elderberries.

September 9, 2017

Slept in today and had a homemade breakfast…simple stuff. Then walked around town….it is not as sophisticated as some of the others we have walked through but pleasant…

Good bakery where we bought a nice quiche for tonight’s dinner. Some blogging work and then off to see the Boars, a local rugby team > Saturday is rugby day in England. Actually reminded me of the times when I was playing, same small “crowd” but a nicer clubhouse…lucked out with the weather although there were some mean looking clouds on the horizon..

…then back to the Black Bull Barn, packed up, ordered a taxi for tomorrow and just chilled…

September 10, 2017

Morning dawned cold, wet and decidedly unwelcoming….today we are making our way to Bath via train…

It will be a bit epic …4 transfers, 5 different operators and about 10 hours en route over a distance of some 400 miles >>> as we have to be gone from the unit by 10:00 we stretch it to 10:30 and arrive way early at the station (only a 7 minute drive but no public transport available) for our 13:00 train.

……had the good sense to jump on an earlier train, to make our connection in Carlisle

……..(btw per the map we do indeed go north to go south > yes that does make sense in the UK) , only to learn we had been too hasty and were on the wrong train ….no worries they told us to retransfer 2 stations forward, as our train would catch up to us ….haha. All good, we are now on the right train….in Crewe, we are very careful and board with about 5 million people….apparently there were some problems and they reduced the number of carriages ….luckily we “muscle” our way to 2 reserved seats (not ours) and claim them….this is no joke as it is 2 hours to the next connection….kind of neat listening to one and all, including 4 ladies who consume several bottles of sparking wine and become more hysterical with each passing mile >> btw you are allowed to drink and seemingly everyone is imbibing…..Newport arrives, luckily this train was delayed so we make the connection easily and after one more transfer we are in Bath …WHEW!!

Exiting the station it is windy, dark and raining > we elect to go by taxi and another gong show develops >>> the idiot taxi driver is useless …so we eject and start looking for the B&B …for whatever reason (ultimately our fault) we do not have the e-mail with the street number. In any event, yours truly knocks on a door (these are large houses in a residential area) and a nice guy, wine glass in hand proceeds to help, checking internet etc. aside from feeling silly, we do find the place…the house number is 0 and the name plate is so subtle it cannot be seen in the dark >>> of course no lights)….Anyways the doors open and we are welcomed …all is good and we immediately crank some wine which we had brought with us …thank god…as there are no shops nearby. The place is nice and we relax …we are here for 3 nights.

Over and out !!!