C2C | Taking Our Time

June 27 – Twelve miles planned for today. It is supposed to be just as hot as yesterday – getting up to 79 degrees! No joke though, when there is not a spot of shade all day, it feels hot enough.

The Yorkshire Dales have been low rolling hills, fairly tame and feature free for the past few days. Not that I want those Lake District mountains back! We met three men from York today who declared this the most gorgeous scenery on God’s green earth, so I guess it’s a matter of opinion. Here are the remains of a stone circle. I told Jim if he could get the sheep to sit properly, the circle would be easier to see! Also the remains of an old school.

Our sunbrellas were up by 10am.

We ran into Becky and Jerry from California again, and also three New Zealanders we met in the pub a few days ago. Not everyone has passed us by! Here is an empty lake (tarn) bed.

A reservoir.

Sheep looking for some shade.

By 2pm, I could feel that my legs were sunburned, despite repeated application of sunscreen. I guess my stride was too long for the shade of the umbrella. Why didn’t I wear my long pants today?

Kirkby Stephen (pronounced by the locals as Kirby Steven) is one of the bigger towns we’ve visited, so Jim was able to go to the chemist’s and got me some aloe vera gel and some stronger sunblock for my poor red legs. There is a very nice old church here, (kirkby means by the church) built by the Normans in the 1100s, but it’s called St. Lukes, not St. Stephens – a mystery!

Rules for the marketplace 1302!

June 28 – We’ve been contemplating taking a day off, and today seemed like a good day to do it. Following a lovely breakfast at our B & B, we waited downstairs with the baggage, and when the van came to transport our bags, it transported us too!

Up fell and down dale we went – some very pretty and hilly country. Bill, the van driver, told us about grouse and curlew and the red squirrel, which is trying to make a comeback if only the grey squirrel population can be kept down. Here’s a grouse hopping along the ground:

In a half hour, we reached Frith Lodge, where we will spend the day and the night. It is so high up that the van dropped us at the edge of the property, and our host met us and drove us (and our packs) a mile further up the hill. Totally isolated, with nothing else about.

Our hosts Neil and Karen made us feel very welcome, and their dog Jess checked us out to see if we’d be dropping any food her way.

They maintain a lovely garden.

A quiet afternoon and a nap made me feel so much better, although my legs are still awfully red. When it was time for supper, Neil let us know that there would be a delay, as the other couple came in late suffering heat exhaustion and the husband had to be put to bed. Unprecedented heat for this part of the country!

June 20 – We arrived to breakfast at 7:30, thinking we’d be the first ones up, to find the dining room packed with hikers eager to get an early start on their first day of the Coast to Coast Walk (C2C) 192 miles from the Irish Sea eastward to the North Sea.

Our first view of the Irish Sea.

Here is the map posted at the start of the walk.

The morning is cold and windy and overcast. It may be raining, or we may just be getting hit with sea spray carried by the wind, but it is definitely wet. Our first task is to climb up the cliffs overlooking the Irish Sea. It is a hard, steep climb. The wind is so strong I have to occasionally stop and crouch down, for fear of being blown out to sea!

Please note that the fence is erected for the protection of the sheep. The walkers are outside the protection. This ain’t Disneyland!

Our next objective is to reach the lighthouse at St. Bees Head. Can you see it in the distance?

I thought once we were up on the cliffs that the walk would become easier, but the first cliff ended, we had to walk all the way down, then up the next one.