Distance Walked: 20.5km, Time Taken: 5h 8m, # Beers: 1/2 pint Black Sheep
The weather today was Miserable. We had heavy rain and strong winds and low mist/clouds. The first 10km were along the moors. We could barely see more than 20m in any direction. I had my Garmin watch set to vibrate when we'd walked a 1km. Without that we would never have known we had covered any ground. It was like walking in a bubble. We couldn't see any changes in the landscape. In a bizarre sort of way this was Type 2 fun.
By the time we'd dropped down into Eskdale the rain had basically stopped and we were sheltered from the wind. Richie, the Head Badger van man, met us at a pub in Glaisdale village and Aaron and Robin called it a day. Paul, our guide man, insisted we all get into the van and eat some lunch to fuel up for the rest of the day. I wish we hadn't as we were soaked to the skin by that stage. We were warm enough when we were walking but got cold quickly sitting in the van.
After lunch we covered another 8km through Eskdale. There was no wind and only drizzle, but we kept up the brisk marching pace to keep warm. On our travels we picked up a very friendly golden labrador who kept us company for about 1km or so. This part of the day was definitely an improvement over the morning's effort. Except the one point where we had to go under a railway bridge which was a little flooded. The water came to mid-shin on me at the deepest point.
We got to our destination for the day, Grosmont, at about 1:45pm. Way too early to check in. Paul and Richie suggested we walk an extra 3km along the path out of Grosmont to get a climb out of the way and shorten what would otherwise be a long final day. What they failed to mention is the entire last 3km were uphill, sometimes seriously uphill.
The only pleasing part of this extra bit was passing over the Esk Valley railway line by Grosmont station. On the railway bridge near the station there was a crowd of people. We pretended they were there to watch us go by and cheerfully waved to them. Quite a few waved back. They were actually waiting for a steam train to go by.
We had our 2nd to last dinner here at our hotel and fortunately for Paul they had custard. For main I had duck breast with bramble sauce and mashed potatoes. The mash was lumpy but the duck was good. For dessert I had boozy bread and butter pudding with custard. I only ate half my jug of custard. I offered the extra to Paul but he is beginning to find the joke a little tiresome. We must make sure to make more custard related jokes tomorrow.
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