Oh, what a wonderful day!

Yahoo!   We didn't get lost once! Knute, you are no longer Hawkeye, ME is!   We even arrived early--too early--B&B not even open.  Wow! This is a first!  But nothing to do here.  Very small.  Three uniformed school children walked off the public bus.   But, oh yes, good time to organise suitcases.  Yes, how pathetic, but you have to do this kind if trip to know about such organisation.  And, as Matt, says, we are organised women.  

Lovely walk today.  The wildflowers continue to be breathtaking!  Sue identifies and ME  captures with stunning photography.  All of these gorgeous flowers brighten our walks, as do your comments, dear friends and family.  

Oh, met a cyclist, aka Wally, Bill Bender!!!  See photo of ME!  Met 2 lovely women, mom and daughter, horse back riding

for cancer.  

Dinner at pub with fellow hikers from    Tustin, CA, Greg!  Close to Newport Beach, Matt.  

Another great day, and our German friends emailed us.  Lovely dinner with our Canadian friends last night. 

Those who wander might be lost!

Before we left Reeth we checked the weather and the forecast called for rain all day. At that point we checked the map and made the decision to walk on the road for the first three miles and then rejoin the hiking path. We thought we could go faster on the road than on the rocks and we were hoping to stay dry. Well, we somehow missed our turn and ended up walking eleven miles on the road!  The roads here are very narrow and there are no shoulders and they drive on the wrong side of the road so our walk today was as scary as walking through fields of bullocks. We did today's walk in record time for us and we walked into town at 1:30. Our early arrival gave us time to walk around the city for a bit. It is the biggest place we have been in since we left St. Bees. Lots of little shops but it is Sunday and very little was open. We made our way to our B&B which is in a very old section of the city called French Gate. This section was once held by the French after one of the many wars they fought with England. There is an old castle here. The home we are staying in dates back to the 1300's. We are meeting our Canadian heroes for dinner and then we will be in bed early because we have 14 miles to go tomorrow!

Arrived in Richmond

We have arrived in Richmond and are staying a house that was probably built in the 1300's.

Rain, rain, go away!

Last night we basked in the luxury of a lovely B&B in Keld, population 24, and dined there with a British couple touring the Pennines in their Morgan, a young S. Cal. couple (stunt woman and tennis instructor; she had blisters--not us!), and 2 Dutchmen hiking the Pennines. 

This morning we set off walking along the banks of Swale

river, a path of verdant grasses, pinks, bluebells, and even white masses of leeks (you know by the smell).  

This is James Herriot land and if you watched the PBS series or read his books, you'd know you were there. These Yorkshire Dales (goodbye Lake District) are fields of the greenest grass, masses of golden buttercups, populated by Swalesdale sheep ( and their poop), sectioned by dry stone walls, of which England boasts 125,000 miles. We squeeze through breaks in the walls just big enough for us, but not if we keep eating the ploughman's breakfasts. 

As we walked on a bridge over a babbling brook, surrounded by moss laden trees and intertwining vines, Vinny told us that if we believed, this was the spot of fairies. 

New friends-Brits, Kay, Emma& Vinny, arrived just when we needed confirmation of our direction (we are blessed) & we walked until tea time with them, Vinny treating us to our first tea & fruitcake with local cheese (odd but tasty) at a tea room. 

Then our Canadians came upon us, happy to see us ( whew-  they have a GPS) and we walked and talked the rest of the trek to Reeth, the Capitol of Swalesdale, one of the nicest villages, but we're too tired to explore--in bed at 7:00. Another lovely B&B! 

Although we walked in 7 hours of rain, high winds, and sleet, our hearts were warm by our walking companions.

Keld marked the halfway point!  We've walked 82 miles and taxied for 26. Last night at dinner the Dutchmen suggested trying rail transport. We may!

Arrived in Reeth

After seven hours of walking in the rain we are safely in Reeth. It is only four o'clock so this was a good pace for us. More later after warm showers and food.

Keld

We just took a little walk around this area called Keld population 25 and I am sending along some pictures. The hostess of our B&B told us that Keld was once a Viking settlement. It is obvious that these buildings are very old and have been restored many times over the years. The house we are in is well over 200 years old.

Heavenly Keld

Today was another day off and from the looks of the bedraggled hikers we have met it was another good decision. We have heard tales of lost wandering hikers and we know without a doubt that that would have been us. We spent the better art of the day in Kirby Stephens, a lovely little village, and at two our taxi picked us up and we had another guided tour to Keld. We got here too early to check in so we popped into the Keld lodge and had some wine while all the proper folks were having tea. At four we walked over to The Butt House, our B&B for tonight and fell into HEAVEN!!! Linda our hostess is lovely, she is also a trained chef who will prepare our dinner tonight. The rooms are beautiful and we even have a tub to soak our weary bones. There is nothing else at this little crossroads but this little bit of heaven and we are sure glad we landed here. Our memories of

Misery Farm have almost faded away. Sue is still having nightmares but I am more afraid of what lies ahead than what is behind us. We are looking at six days of walking but Linda is trying to convince us to spend a day in Richmond and we are an easy sale so we will probably listen to her advice. Tomorrow looks wonderful and the Swaledale Woolen Mill is on our way!