Day 10 - Kirkby Stephen to Keld

Today the weather is fantastic, cloudy but warm with smatterings of sunshine, well more than we thought. We all were looking a little sunburnt at the end of the day.

Leaving Kirkby Stephen we cross the Eden River at Frank's Bridge.  Imagine having this beautiful scene at your back door

We will reach the half way mark today - quite an achievement.            

 Looking back into the Eden Valley to Kirkby Stephen and Hartley (a quaint little village just outside of Kirkby Stephen) was magnificent - the camera doesn't do it justice.  We've had to lock it into the memory.  The clouds were beautiful and gave a beautiful light for photos so hopefully they will look clear on the blog.

A beautiful day in the Eden Valley.

Five miles out of town the path divides; the red route heads up the hill to the Nine Standards Rigg. There are different trails to take across the bog according to the time of the year. Severe erosion of the peat by walkers  has caused the necessity for these different trails.  Only if the weather is clear should you consider this route and we were rejoicing because the day shone brightly.  The red route was ours today! 

Today we will cross the Pennines, the so-called backbone of the British Isles.  We also leave the county of Cumbria and enter into Yorkshire and the Dales. But first we must visit this iconic stand of amazing rocks that sit on high ..

Our first clear sight of Nine Standards Rigg 

     

A welcome resting seat before we continue upward 

We proceeded rejoicing because we were very keen to see these amazing structures.  No one seems to know why they were built but they stand strong and visible from a long way off - perhaps England's version of the 12 apostles, just not naturally formed.

The walk up was really pleasant, yes a climb but the scenery was, again, spectacular.

Each Standard is different in size and shape

  and it's tricky to get a photo of them all in one shot, and especially without people in the photo.

Nine Standards Rigg 

Allan, the conqueror 

Graham the Bigfoot..

  

We had morning tea at the Rigg, again a most magnificent spot to selah and enjoy our surroundings.
A happy trio!

From the summit at Nine Standards Rigg all rivers, including the beginnings of the Swale which we will follow for several days, flow eastwards to drain into the North Sea.   We could say  it's all down hill from here!!

Then we pressed on to tackling the bogs!   And what a challenge they were.  I don't think I've had so much fun for ages - and Graham had his camera ready to capture any unfortunate incident that occurred.  Trouble was he was the one that nearly ended up knee deep in the bog.  I couldn't get my camera ready quickly enough and you don't want to keep standing in it.  Ammie nearly lost her boot and I came so close to falling backwards into this brown, brackish water - I still can't understand why I didn't fall, I had lost my balance totally!  Perhaps the poles are more valuable than any of us realised.  But we did thank the Lord for His protection as this part of the walk was very challenging and tiring.

 The Pennine Bog was  tough but fun        

We are now calling Allan 'Jack' of 'Jack be nibble fame!'   He says he is nibble and light of foot - he was the only one not to nearly come to grief...

We paused for a rest and lunch at the tall stone pillar and enjoyed reflecting on our success.

We made it to Ravenseat farm, where Julia Bradbury interviewed Amanda, and ate scones and tea.  What a welcome relief.  Amanda now has 9 children.  We met young Sidney who was four years old but Allan had great difficulty understanding anything he said.  Amanda's husband faithfully served us and lots of others with freshly made tea and scones with jam and cream..

Ravenseat Farm 

  

     

 Loved the sign as we approached the farm..

Allan and Sidney 

Our walk from the farm into Keld was just beautiful.  

many  stone barns  or 'laithes' are a feature of the Swaledale 

Whitsundale  Beck has many waterfalls  

Eventually we arrived in Keld at about 4pm and were very pleased to have a lovely hot shower and a meal, without having to leave the property.

Keld is a tiny hill village with limited accommodation.  These Kurts provide a resting place for the adventurous walkers but we stayed at Keld Lodge, not the greatest accommodation we have stayed in but comfortable enough.  And they had a drying room that was so hot, I reckon you could cook a cake in there!   And what a pleasant surprise - the best meal we have eaten so far, it was magnificent!  S