Fighting Fatigue and Frustration

Day 9: Keld to Reeth
Miles today: 15.71
Total mileage: 116.39

The guidebook says "This option adds up to about 4-1/2 hours of level walking (11-1/2 miles) and you may well end up in Reeth soon after lunch." Lunch must have been a typo and he must have meant tea time because we walked into town shortly after 4 pm. And once again, the guidebook mileage was way shorter than the actual miles. It's very frustrating because you're thinking you've got only 5 hours or so of walking and then it ends up being seven or more. We're having a hard time planning our days because of the additional walking time. Sometimes we would like to stop in a little town and take a look around but time simply doesn't permit.

There were two route options today. The first was higher and followed a ridge while the other was along the River Swale. The low route passed by the charming little town of Muker. Rumor has it that Muker was a favorite of James Herriot. Having read all of his books, I thought it might be worth a stop.

Approaching town we heard music playing and as we got closer we realized it was live and coming from the public hall. Coincidentally we ran into Chris, the proprietor of the B & B in Keld and he told us it was the Muker Silver Band and they play all over the world. What a stroke of luck to hear an impromptu concert! We spent a little time taking pictures, had some tea and hit the trail again.

The first part of the walk was very pretty and we saw thousands of pheasant, partridge and grouse. They were everywhere! We walked along the river bank and were making pretty good time.

Then, it was back up onto a hilltop and through what the guidebook described as woods. It was actually overgrown brush and it seemed like we were fighting our way through the Amazon. Like I said, there's a new adventure every day! Jim said they should do what the Americans would do--bulldoze it and put in a snowmobile path. It sure would have made walking easier!

The rest of the day was pretty, but it got to be a bit longer than we anticipated. In the end, when we finally did reach Reeth, Mark and David were sitting outside the pub having a pint and soon Andy and Joe from the previous night showed up. It's fun to see everyone at the end of the day and regale the day's walk over a beer. All agreed, the walking got long today and seemed like it would never end. It seems everyone is having some fatigue.

We had dinner, then went back to the pub where Mark and David joined us to watch the Rugby World Cup. It was a big match since England played Wales (kind of like the US playing Canada in hockey). Our friends were pulling for England but unfortunately Wales pulled ahead near the end of the match and won. We don't even pretend to know how rugby is played (and don't know the difference between Rugby League and Rugby Union) but it was fun to watch.

We're going to Richmond tomorrow and will have a rest day on Monday. Mark and David are pressing on and are going a few miles beyond Richmond so it's very unlikely we'll see them again. Kind of sad, but we exchanged email addresses and hope to keep in touch.

A couple of pix from another lovely day's walk!