Wednesday 26 August 2015

Day 15

Appleby to Kirkby Stephen (August 2015)
16 Miles
Weather - Rain, sunshine, wind (occasionally all at once...)

We had breakfast at 8 o'clock followed by a quick visit to the local Co-op to buy provisions for our lunch. We were a little tired this morning as we had a late night the previous night attending a Folk evening at the Victoria Hall organised by Mike Harding. There was much dancing, drinking and listening to fine music which then continued over at the Lion Hotel...  

We shouldered our rucksacks and had a short walk to the railway station to catch our train to Appleby where our walk was to begin.  Settle has a fine railway station which is lovingly cared for by a team of volunteers.  It is a pleasant spot to await your connections.
The train journey to Appleby is a great opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the Yorkshire and Cumbrian landscape but not this day.  The clouds were down, the drizzle was falling and the fells were shrouded in gloom,They were the same fells we would be walking amongst over the next five days - the final stage in my Pennine Journey which I began in 2012 with my good friend Mrs C. This time I am accompanied by Mr McD. aka The Bee Farmer.

The train arrived on time and after a cup of tea and some cake we started the journey.  We skirted round Appleby Castle (one of Lady Ann Clifford's many) and reached the River Eden which was to accompany us for the next few days.  It was warm and still and every twenty minutes or so the rain would fall steadily so we were continually donning our wet weather gear and then removing it for the first couple of hours.  The riverside path was quiet  - just us, the rain, the mud and the cows.  We passed through a number of villages and hamlets - Great Ormside, Little Ormside, Warcop and Musgrave.  At Little Musgrave, we missed a diversion round a building site and followed the old path past the builders and their machines.  Fine, strong bridges punctuated the river and at Brough we admired the magnificent castle whilst negotiating our way past a group of dairy cows blocking the path and gate.











By the time we reached Brough, the rain had stopped, the wind had risen and the sun was shining and warm.  We arrived in Kirkby Stephen at half past six and walked up from Frank's Bridge to Kirkby Stephen Hostel to find a note from our host tucked under the door knocker.  She had been called away on urgent business but left us the code to enter the building and a note of which room we were in that night. This used to be a YHA hostel but was sold off as not being viable...  It's a great place - full of character, serving an  excellent breakfast and a splendid host - Denise.  We had a delicious 'carbfest' dinner at the King's Arms Hotel as 16 miles is a lot of trudging for a first day  Our waitress was entertaining, as we arrived she was just about to tuck into chips and gravy from the chippy down the road and later had to nip to the Co-op for milk as the hotel had run out after a busy day.  

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