Coast to Coast: Shap to Kirkby Stephen, 21 miles, Monday 14th June

So, this is the first big one… twenty one miles, and by the end, we’d had our first casualty!

Was it…

Amanda, who joined a silent convent of Nuns at Oddendale, took Holy Orders, and decided to stay for ever, or

Emma, who purchased a flock of sheep and retired to the dales to become a shepherd, or

Chris, Lia and Sally, who bought a Bed & Breakfast business and lived happily every after in Crosby Ravensworth, taking in paying guests and then posting sarcastic blogs about them on the internet, or

Spike, who took a turn for the worse after eating a dodgy burger the previous evening, made it seven miles to Orton and then had to take a taxi to Kirkby Stephen.

All will be revealed by the end of the blog!

So, we’ve completed our first National Park, walking around eighty two miles in total.

As we set off for Kirkby Stephen, we couldn’t help but look back sadly, at the receding mountains – still covered in cloud.

Our own weather was much improved, but still overcast, as we very soon approached the bridge over the M6, which in a way was another landmark point in the journey. A long climb across Ravensworth Fell soon brought us to the pretty village of Orton, and views of the next challenge lay ahead; the Yorkshire Dales. But there was little time to linger so we pressed on to across Crosby Garrett Fell, Smardale Fell, and passing under the Settle-Carlisle railway line, before arriving in Kirkby Stephen, eleven hours and ten minutes after setting out from Shap.

We’re staying at the Jolly Farmers Guesthouse, and were offered tea, home made scones and were generally smothered with hospitality by the landlady and her family. We were also offered tins of beer and lager, but as this isn’t my favourite beer, I declined.

Dinner was at the very agreeable Kings Arms Hotel just down the road where they served Aviator Blond beer, a very nice pint even after the wait.

So, who was the first casualty?

Well actually it was virtually all of us, but not necessarily for the reasons I said.

If you guessed Spike was the first, then you’d be correct. Very bravely he soldiered on to Orton, where he finally gave in and got a taxi to the next Kirkby Stephen.

Amanda was the next to go, suffering the biggest blister I’ve ever seen. The taxi came for her just west of Kirkby Stephen railway station, with less than four miles to go.

Of the remaining three, Emma trapped her fingers in a farmyard gate; Lia’s calf muscles started to seize, and I developed my first blister.

The taxi driver told Amanda that “lots of people get picked up around here, but usually a few miles earlier, about ten miles out of Shap”

Blister count: Lia 1, Chris 1, Amada 1 HUGE one

Consecutive Full English Breakfasts: 8

Arguments: 0