Another day and yep you guessed it another full English breakfast. Not the best breakfast but for the first time it had Black Pudding which was a real bonus. The hotel we stayed at in Nateby was absolutely stunning with the best room and food of the walk so far. I’d love it of we could just stay here every night but it’s on to Reeth today on what most people think is the worst day of the challenge. There’s a lot of boggy ground on today’s route and so most people only walk as far as Keld but we are going to go straight through to Reeth on a 25 mile hike. While in Patterdale on Tuesday we got talking to a coast to Coast guide and he showed us a way to avoid 4 of the 6 miles of bogs. So because of the mileage that’s what we did.
After breakfast we set off and took a route through some fields rather than do a 4 mile trek up to Kirkby Stephen and back round. It was quite steady for a few miles and then we hit the boggy hillside of Nine Standards Rigg. It wasn’t as bad as first feared and wasn’t long before we were at the top. The nine standards stones are well worth this walk. Basically they are 9 piles of stones all built up in different shapes and sizes. No one knows how long they have been there or what their purpose was. The most common theory is that they were built so that they looked like an army on the hill to frighten off the Scots should they think about invading Kirkby Stephen. Looking at them it’s hard to imagine that but whatever the reason, they are really impressive objects and I’m glad we went up to see them. While at the top a guy came up placing markers in the ground marking the route for the nine standards fell race which us taking place this Sunday. He advised us to follow them all the way back to the road thus avoiding the worst of the bogs. It worked and 40 minutes later we were down. At this point we met up with another couple that had been staying at the same hotel that day and whom we’d come across on several of the previous days. They were from England but had moved to Australia several years ago. They explained that the had come back over just to do the coast to Coast walk which was very impressive. Along the roads the miles just flew by as we chatted and all was going well until we saw a lamb that had been hit by a car and dragged along the road. It really wasn’t a pretty sight and lowered the mood a little.
As we approached Keld we said our goodbyes and head into the village to the tea shop. It was now lunch time and we took in the fact that this was the half way point of the route. It’s hard to take in that we have walked so far in just 6 days.
We got back on the road and then dropped down to the River Swale, via a lovely waterfall, which we would now follow the rest of the day. Another interesting fact is that all the rivers up to this point flow west to the Irish Sea. The Swale is the start of all the rivers now flowing to the North Sea in the east. I’d never thought of this before but I guess it make sense really.
Our legs on this second half of the day were really starting to suffer but there is just so much beauty here in Swaledale that it helps you just keep pushing on. Field after field of green grassy paths that split the buttercups. Jaw dropping beauty that you just never tire of.
After 15 miles we approached the village of Muker which apart from a lovely bridge and picnic spot by the river, isn’t that special. But, it signalled us hitting the 100 mile point of the challenge. I just can’t believe we have walked 100 miles in less than a week 🙂
More fields and riverside trails continue on to the village of Gunnerside. Here we made the decision to deviate from the Wainwright route and stay down by the river. This was a great decision as we came across hundreds of baby rabbits in the fields, geese and their young walking along the riverbanks and even a badger although that turned out to be plastic but had us looking or a minute lol. The funniest moment was when the geese spooked by us walking towards them all tried to enter the river by jumping off a 3 foot bank. The little ones just dive bombed into the water and all bar one of the adults flew down. The odd one though decided to jump but belly flopped into the water with a huge squawk.
The next surprise came when we hit the roads again. First a motorbike came past with Course Safety on it. While we were trying to work out why he was going past we heard a noise behind us. As we turned we saw 4 cyclists with Team Sky clothing on. As they got along side us we noticed it was Tour De France champion, Chris Froome and three of his team mates. We then realised that he must be training for the Tour which is in these parts soon. This was confirmed by some locals in the pub later. The only bad thing is that I didn’t get time to get my camera out as they just flew past us effortlessly. Nevertheless it was a real treat and totally unexpected. Our decision to create our own route to Reeth was fully justified. Another few miles and finally we were done. Today has been a really hard day and we now are feeling a bit wary of tomorrow as we have to do the same distance again but on really sore legs. I’d walked today in boots because of the bogs but they just made my feet and ankles ache on the roads so tomorrow it’s back to the walking trainers. Weather again was awesome with sunshine for most of the day and zero rain.

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