|
Journal: |
I slept fine in the "doll's house", but Keith had trouble and
ended up sleeping out on the hard wood verandah, although not very
well. Our host, Winston, reminded us at 7:30am that he was
cooking our breakfast and we wandered across to the main house where
he had done us proud. Although a local, Winston had spent a
lot of time in Australia, mainly around Toowoomba, and we enjoyed
chatting to him while we ate. It was a big day in
Horton-in-Ribblesdale, which accounted for our difficulty in getting
accommodation, and Winston was also busy selling car parking in his
nearby paddock.
Apparently, not only was it the local gala day, but there was a
charity event involving climbing three nearby peaks which had
hundreds if not more hikers, and the Oxfam 100km Trailtrekker was
passing nearby, as we discovered later.
Keith and I started walking around 8:30am on another dry and hazy
day and, following an old stone-walled farm track, gradually climbed
higher and higher. All around, in the distance, we could see
the three-peak hikers travelling along paths and silhouetted against
the sky-line on ridges. There were also a few other hikers,
travelling along the Pennine Way like us, including a mixed group of
six teenagers who we later found pondering how to get a frisbee ring
out of a dark cold pond they had managed to throw it into.
Again, the scenery was superb as we got higher and higher with
views across to moorland fells in the near and far distance.
Our path continued along mostly walled farm tracks which were
sometimes rocky and rough. They took their toll on Keith's
back up pair of shoes, which were gradually falling apart and,
before long he was using my backup shoes (luckily the right size) to
preserve what was left of his for his train journey home tomorrow.
Just before noon, we passed a tent set up by the track which
turned out to be a Checkpoint near halfway for the Oxfam
Trailtrekker and learned that the first teams, which had set out
from Skipton at 7am this morning, were due shortly. We were
tempted to wait around for a while and watch them come through, but
carried on. We learned later that the teams still hadn't come
through half an hour later.
We ate a couple of rolls we had bought yesterday at the cafe for
lunch in a beautiful spot high over a valley and enjoyed the sun.
During the morning, I had finally managed to call and book what
appeared to be the last two beds in the Hawes Youth Hostel, so we
were a lot more relaxed about our pace. After a long descent,
during which we took a non-fatal wrong turn (i.e., ended up in the
right place, anyway), we arrived at the Youth Hostel soon after 3pm
and left out packs in the foyer (it didn't open until 5pm) and
walked into the centre of Hawes. The town was buzzing with
tourists, many of them hikers, enjoying a beautiful summers' day in
the Yorkshire Dales. We had an ice-cream and a wander around
and I bought a map I needed for the next section, and made out way
back to the hostel to check in at 5. During the day we had
seen Gay and Karen, hiking separately, a few times and we all had
dinner in the hostel together before going into town for a drink at
one of the pubs. We have all enjoyed each other's company over
the last few days, but will go our separate ways tomorrow.
Keith is returning to London by bus and train for work on Monday.
Karen is having a day off and Gay is continuing on the Pennine Way,
but not as far as me.
The weather forecast tomorrow is not good and there is a big
mountain to cross. I have booked a B&B room more than 40km
away, so will have to get away early and maintain a good pace.
I've enjoyed walking with Keith and we have had a good time.
It's been like a holiday from a holiday.
I passed the halfway mark today.
|
