on the road to Newbiggin-on-Lune. We got tot he bus stop about 3:00. The bus wasn't to come for a couple of hours. I sat on the bench and took my shoes off as quickly as possible. The bottoms of my feet were burning. I noticed when I took off my socks my legs were all spotted red where my socks were. It was a heat rash. I started getting this rash a while ago and it seems to be more frequent. Today it is pretty bad. It doesn't really hurt, just a little itchy.
As we were waiting for the bus, Laurie asked a woman, that was outside, if she was waiting for the school bus. The reason being is that it looked like there might be a bus earlier than the one we planned on taking. The woman said yes, and then she offered to have her mother give us a ride because she was going that way. At that time the bus came with the school kids and the bus driver said she would take us after she dropped the kids off.
We got the bus and she dropped us off right near the hostel. The hostel is in an old church. There wasn't anyone there until 5:00, but we were able to get into the dining area and kitchen area. We had hot drinks while waiting for someone to open up.
Laurie and I ended up being the only females so we had the rooms to ourselves. The shower and bathroom was attached which was very convenient.
We saw the four guys, Mike, Pete, Paul, and Stewart check in. They were staying here also. We sat around talking before dinner. The men all opted to buy the cooked dinner. Laurie and I planned to cook our own.
After dinner, we sat around talking. Pete and Mike left to go up to the pub. We told them we would meet them later. I was tired, but they were a lot of fun so I decided to go. We couldn't stay out too late because the hostel closes it's doors at eleven.
So we did pretty well today. We walked at least 15 miles. Tomorrow it is only 13. Pete is suppose to walk with us. I hope he won't be sorry. We will probably get lost.
July 3, 2003
I decided that I would use the pack horses today. I felt that since I was walking with the others I would have a hard time keeping up. So I packed my small day pack. It felt like I had nothing on.
We didn't start hiking until about 10:00. We knew it wouldn't take us long to get ti the hostel. Also, Stewart wanted to look at shoes.
It was a pleasant day's walk except all the bog areas. We got guite wet and muddy. The most pleasant thing besides a small pack was the fact that I let the group navigate for us. It felt really good not having to stop and read the book or map all the time. I was able to walk and enjoy the scenery.
We stopped and had lunch at the nine standards. It was like nine large ___all in a row. There are different opinions of why they are there. One was the pretense of an army to keep the Scots away. It was enjoyable walking with eveyone because it was a chance to get to know them all.
We got into Keld about 3:30. The skies looked like rain. Laurie, Pete, and I wanted to tent, but decided against it. We got a room at the hostel with the others, which was nice.
I met three young girls, 16 years old. They were from England and they were doing the Pennine Way which is about 290 miles. I thought it was terrific that they were doing it, especially at their age. I talked to them for awhile. They told me that they met a couple that had hiked the AT. The couple was coming to the hostel. Believe it or not it was someone we had met hiking when we did the AT. It was Nomad and we met him in Maine. He was also a good friend of our friends, Bear bag and Sweet Pea. Nomad married a girl who also hiked in 2000. I never met her, but I remember seeing her name on Trailplace where I had my journal. What a small world!
I cooked my dinner of Ramen and cheeses while most of the people got the hostel dinner. Their dinner looked pretty good, but I didn't want to spend the money.
After dinner we sat around talking. There was a couple from California doing the coast-tocoast. They were very nice.
A group of people were playing cards. It was a game I heard of but didn't know how to play. It was whist. It was very easy to learn, but I lost both times. It was a very enjoyable might.
July 4, 2003
Happy Independence Day. I suppose it really isn't appropriate to celebrate the 4th in England!
We started hiking about 8:30. As always we have high hopes for good weather and it looked somewhat promising.
We had a climb out of Keld, but it wasn't too bad. The area was pretty with the hills, stone fences and old stone structures spotting the hills. We walked through an old lead mining area and we saw lots of remnants of the mining shafts and structures. The ground was not as wet as it had been yesterday. The weather held out for us and it was actually quite nice.
We got into Reeth about 3:15. Laurie and I went to the information center to see if they could get us information about a place to stay in Scarborough for when we finished. They actually booked us a place.
The seven of us, Richard, Pete, Paul, Mike, Stewart, Laurie, and I stopped at a Teahouse for scones and tea. The teahouses in England are certainly different than the ones in Nepal. Mike and Stewart were staying in Reeth. Paul was hiking to a hostel a little bit down the road. Pete, Richard, Laurie, and I were going to Marrick which was another three miles. They were three easy miles. We wanted to camp and we wanted to go a little further to make some of the future days shorter. We had our packs delivered to the Lodge. It is a B & B with camping. We neglected to call and notify the woman that we were coming. She was quite surprised when she had four packs delivered to her house.
The woman was very nice. She invited us in for tea. We sat in her little kitchen and had something to drink and chatted.
