Day 10, June 12th
Friday, June 13th, 6:00 am — Keld Lodge Hotel, Keld, Cumbria, England
I suspect this will be a two-part (two-day) entry. While the internet/wireless is quite good, the packing and organization this morning will take longer than usual; more on that later. We usually have breakfast after we finish packing up, but breakfast is early this morning, and we will need to finish packing up after breakfast.
I forgot to mention yesterday that we have been very fortunate with the weather. We have only had two short and gentle rains while walking. We walked under a completely clear sky and blazing sun two days ago. Even with using SPF-50 sunscreen, I have slightly sunburned arms.
Yesterday, we started with a gentle climb that got steeper and steeper as we walked up the hill. The climb itself was not the challenge. The real challenge was a headwind — 15-20 mph with gusts up to 25 mph. As we reached the top, the 'Roman Road" of large stone squares over bogs started. After resting at the top, we headed across a large bog plateau. The trail crews had put down many sections of the stones and installed probably 10 or more short bridges over particularly wet areas. Still, much of the hike was jumping stone to stone, carefully stepping on grasses that would support your weight briefly and avoiding moss and obvious boggy areas. We were very fortunate in that we did not sink into the bog any deeper than up to the laces of our boots.
While we were checking in, the woman at the bar/check-in told us that they regularly used a hose to wash hikers off before the trail improvements. Many of the hikes had sunk into their knees or even their waists. They had a shower room inside the hotel to rinse their clothes and boots and a heated drying room! We celebrated our good fortune with a Laphroaig single malt Scotch whiskey each.
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Here is a link to photos from yesterday. The first part of the walk was through a more stark and featureless area, but as we descended into the village where we were staying, we entered James Herriot territory (All Creatures Great and Small) — stunning!
You will need to copy the link and paste it into your browser address bar. Sorry!
https://www.reedpikephotography.com/coast-to-coast-photos/day-10-june-12th