Richard, Shari, Peter and I all decided we would eat dinner at the Inn and I was looking forward to a couple of pints of ale before dinner. Unfortunately, the pub had to close for a few hours because it was a Sunday, and it won't open again to serve food or drinks until 7PM. Oh well, only 1.5 hours to wait.
We had a great dinner. I had pheasant casserole with chips (that's what they call french fries here, and potato chips are called crisps). We also had a couple of pints with dinner and then I went to make a couple of phone calls. I called Peter Monbouquette to wish him a Happy Birthday and luckily he had just gotten home, so I got to talk with him. I also tried Joshua again, but no luck. I then went to lay in my tent and listen to my MP3 player. Wonderful!
7/07: We started walking even earlier than the previous days - 7:45 - and it was a beautiful walk today. We are now walking in the North York Moors and the path is well marked, the footing is good and we were up in hills today, so we had wonderful views of the countryside. We actually walked along the path of the Cleveland Way Walk today for about 10 of our 12 miles, until we got to Clay Bank Top. We then had a 2 mile road walk into Great Broughton to where we are staying tonight. We got to Great Broughton about 3 PM and went to the store for a few provisions, and then set up our tents on the camping area behind the Jet Miners Inn. It was cloudy on and off today but it was beautiful and sunny when we got here, so I laid in my tent for a while and listened to music.
We had run into Stuart and Paul about 1 mile from Clay Bank Top, and had hiked with them until they left to go to their B&B. They are also staying in Great Broughton so they came over to say hello and make arrangements to meet at the pub later tonight.
Shari and Peter took the bus at 4:30 to go to a town about 2 miles away so she could get some eye cream at the chemist (our pharmacy). She might have conjunctivitis because her eye is really red and oozy. Hopefully, the cream will clear it up.
I took a shower and went back to the little store to buy beer for Peter and me and it was closed. Luckily, he brought some back from the other town and I'm now sitting in my chair just outside my tent, writing my notes, listening to Rod Stuart and drinking Buddington's Draught Bitter. This is when I like camping!
Everthing here is so relaxed and operates on the honor system. We just show up and set up our tents, and eventually someone comes around so we can pay them. We didn't pay for camping last night at the Blue Bell Inn and it was closed this mroning when we left, so we just left 3 pounds each on the doorstep beside the milk bottles that were delivered this morning.
Shari, Peter and I cooked our own dinner at out tents and Richard ate at the pub with Paul, Stuart and Gary. Gary works with Mike, and Stuart came out to join them for a few days of hiking. He gave up after the first day of hiking but he is staying with them until the end of their trip. He is taking buses while they walk.
We went down to the pub about 8PM to have drinks with them and we ended up staying to play Quizgo. It is a game sort of like Trivial Pursuit Bingo. It was fun, but we didn't win any money. We didn't get back to our tents until after 11PM and it was another beautiful night for sleeping outside.
7?08: Today was the easiest and shortest day of the whole hike. We took a cab about 8AM for the 10 minute ride back to the trail. We didn't want to walk because the road is so busy and it was uphill.
We walked uphill on the trail to the top of the moors and it was a lovely walk for 9 miles along a path through the moors. It must be really beautiful in August when all the heather is in bloom.
We got to the Lion Inn in Blakey at 11:30, before our packs even arrived. Paul and Stuart caught up with us just before we got there so we all had lunch at the picnic table outside the Lion Inn. This place was built in 1553 and it has a nice restaurant and pub. We are paying 2 pounds to camp in the field with the sheep, but we decided we will all eat dinner at the restaurant.
After lunch Shari and I went off to set up our tents in the field. It was a challenge to find a place without too much sheep shit. We used my handy bathroom spade (from the AT) to clean a couple of spaces. Hopefully it won't rain or this place will be quite a mess. There were also three horses tied up in the field (the riders were having lunch at the Inn) and one of the riders came out and told us to be careful not to spook the horses while we were setting up the tents. He said flapping cloth, etc. could spook them and they could break off from their hitching posts. Shari said, "Oh, the things we do to save money!" We were very careful, and the horses were fine.
I took a wonderful nap from 2-4 in my tent and then went to into the pub to read my book. I had some Old Peculiar Ale that is one of Peter's favorites and I also had an Old Speckled Hen. They sell that in bottles in the States, but Peter said it is much better from the hand drawn pump at the bar. They were both very good. My dinner was also good - Chicken Kiev.
I went out to my tent just before 9PM and they had a wonderful concert on the classical radio station. They played Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D - one of my favorites, so that made my evening.
7/09: A long day, about 18 miles. We thought it would be only 15 miles and we realized the error in our calculations about half way throught the day. Luckily it was pretty flat again, but 18 miles is tiring no matter how flat it is. We stopped for lunch about 12:30 beside a river and I actually fell asleep for about 10 minutes. We also stopped to buy groceries in Grosmont and we had a treat. Grosmont Railway Station is where they filmed the Hogwort's train for the Harry Potter movie. We got to see the train pulling out of the station and I took a picture of the train and the station. Unfortunately, my camera has not been working for about 8 days (I can take an occaisional picture) so I have taken almost no pictures since we left the Lake District.
Just after we bought groceries we had a very big uphill walk out of the village and then we went off course for about half a mile. Thankfully we realized our problem before we walked too far astray. We got to our camping place - Intake Farm in Littlebeck about 4:30 and it is great. It is a family farm and we have set up our tents in the side yard and we were able to go in and use the shower upstairs. We even got to use their towels. Wonderful.
Our last night of camping, and now that it's almost over I can't believe it. We have been so lucky being able to camp for 6 nights in a row. We were also extremely fortunate to have hooked up with Peter, Paul, Stuart and Mike. They are great guys - fun to talk with, and I'm not sure we would have found our way along the trail without them. Richard, Shari and I have really enjoyed having Peter camp with us for these last 6 nights.
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