Day 17 - Reeth to Richmond

Distance Walked: 18.3km, Time Taken: 5h 6m, # Beers: 1/2 pint Black Sheep

Today can be summarised in one word - rain.  It was either light rain or moderate rain but always rain.  Sadly, it was also a mix of light breezes and moderate breezes - in our faces.  The combination of moderate rain and a moderate breeze is actually painful.  I wore my glasses.  Not to help me see because they didn't.  The outside of the glasses were covered with rain and the inside with steam.  But they did protect my eyes from driving rain.  It was miserable.  On the plus side, we made very good time.  Paul, our guide, did make two attempts to interest us in the native flora but quickly gave it up as a loss.  We just had our heads down and walked as fast as possible.  We made good time.  Normally we do 3km/h but we managed over 3.5km/h today.

Aaron and Robin walked the first section today to Marske before being collected by Richie, the Head Badger support van man.  We ate our lunch huddled under the opened rear door of the van before waving them goodbye and heading on our way.  Sue, Liz, Mark and I are determined to walk every single step of the way.  

Tomorrow we walk to Danby Wiske which is 22km away but along terrain that is basically flat.  Wainwright describes this section of the route as "dull" and "off little interest".  We will be content with dry.  Robin & Aaron are spending the day in Richmond sightseeing.  They are actually going to have a hot meal at lunchtime, sitting at a table, indoors.  We are all deeply envious.

We are staying at a pub again here in Richmond.  Each room has a different layout.  Mine has twin beds and the tiniest bathroom I've had the entire trip.  One advantage of my bathroom is the radiator works. I have it festooned with all my damp laundry.  It is so crowded I have to move things out if I want to use the loo.  Mark scored a large room with a large bathroom which has an actual bath!  He went out and bought a big bag of Epsom salts once we got here.  One of our previous hotels supplied them and he has become a convert. 

We had dinner at the pub here.  I had shepherds pie which was Harmless.  You couldn't tell the meat was lamb because the filling was made with such a strong red wine (no complaints from me), however there wasn't enough mash on top to give it a You Can Eat It rating.   For dessert I had lemon and honey marscapone cheesecake which was Not Very Good as it managed to be completely tasteless!

They are predicting fine weather tomorrow except for when it is raining.  A very English forecast.