Day Seven: Orton to Kirkby Stephen

Orton to Kirkby Stephen: 19km

While I wasn't a big fan of the service at the George Hotel, I must say that the porridge there was was one of the best places I sampled the fare. It was piping hot and creamy and had salt added and there was lots of it. Our packed lunches, as we expected, left something to be desired: sandwiches on white bread, a piece of fruit, a bag of crisps and a chocolate bar. Not our idea of healthy, and definitely overpriced at six pounds a piece.

We set out at eight thirty and the Australians soon caught up to us (we're not the quickest hikers when we don't have to be; Brent takes lots of pictures). We hiked with Peter, Shirley and Lou for a good chunk of the morning because our guidebook showed a shortcut through the moors whereas their guide book took them on a paved road for several hours (paved roads=bane of our feet). When we stopped for a break behind a fence to get out of the wind, we finally learned all of their names--after hiking with them and seeing them for six days!

Oh good, we are going the right way
Getting to know our hiking companions

It was so windy today that it brought tears to my eyes as we were walking, and although it was bright sunshine, we had to wear our coats. It made hiking slow going at times.

Glistening grass waving in the wind

Over the course of the day we saw two more stone circles (in case you hadn't guessed, I have a fascination with these) and the remains of a bronze age village. We crossed under a disused railway bed and then under another bed that we had traveled as we went north to start our hike. We also walked through two working dairy farms, which was interesting because it gave us a feel for how farming works here.

Another stone circle, so big it doesn't all fit in one picture
A doorway...into another world? (Not. I tried.)
Fire hazard on the moors: no vehicles allowed
Viaduct and the old railway (vy a duck? vy not a goose?)

We ate our lunches on the Swaledale Bridge (Swaledale was the valley that we were hiking down through). I had been feeling for the past couple of days that our metabolisms had sped up and that our bodies were efficiently using all the food that we were eating--and we were eating a lot! But because of yesterday's short distance, in combination with the chocolate factory and today's gross lunch, I could feel my stomach complaining.

Another way across the fence
A little geology: this is limestone, the first fences we've seen of this rock

We reached Kirkby Stephen at two; not bad for 19km straight into the wind. Kirkby Stephen (the second K is not pronounced) one was one of the bigger centers in which we stayed. It had a tourist information center, several pubs and tea houses, a bakery, a grocery store, several antique shops and an outdoor outfitting store. We wandered around town window shopping (we couldn't get into our B&B for another several hours). I would have loved to go antique shopping, but we really were like bulls in a china shop with our backpacks and boots and besides, we really had no room for breakable antiques in our packs. We were glad to see the bakery and the grocery store because it meant we could buy our own lunch materials rather than having to rely on the B&B owner to make what we wanted.

We walked into the church which was, as was common throughout our trip, unlocked. It was a beautiful church and we took a few pictures. I love that the churches aren't locked during the days, enabling us to go in to look around. Someone told us that the churches never used to be locked at all but in recent years, occurrences such as the lead roofs being stolen have forced the congregations to change their assumptions that churches are sacred places.


Kirkby Stephen is quite a pretty Victorian town. All the buildings on the mainstreet are tall and very closer together with small dark alleys that only an Austin mini cooper could get through. Our guidebook says that there was a car chase between some criminals and the police in town at one point and the criminals were able to get away because their car was small enough to maneuver the streets whereas the police got wedged in between two buildings!

Window shopping: It's bank holiday Monday in England, so lots of tourists

We stopped for tea in a little tea shop and who should be in there but again Peter Shirley and Lou. We piled our backpacks outside the door, making quite a hurdle for people trying to get in. We had scones for a snack, for me a fruit scone with butter and jam and for Brent a cheese one with butter. Brent also had a milkshake, which was not a "normal" milkshake: it was very creamy but not very thick or cold. Quite different.

The Jolly Farmers Guest House was clean and quite spacious, but the people running it were not particularly friendly or interested. Staying there also were two little English ladies who were hiking the C2C at the same time as us. They were probably in their early seventies but were so chipper and in shape. Brent and I often commented that if Rachel and I outlive Trevor and Brent, that we should be like these ladies: hiking up a storm and generally enjoying life. We would see these ladies much more in future days.

The Jolly Farmer Guest House
(although we didn't see any farmers, jolly or otherwise, ourselves)

For supper we went to the King's Arms pub and hotel with the pilot couple and the Australians. The Australians had booked us a table ahead of time, and we found ourselves in a cozy room off the bar where we could laugh and talk without disturbing too many other dinner-eaters. We had a lovely supper and a wonderful time chatting, learning about each other and hearing stories about the Australians' other hiking adventures (for instance, the Annapurna circuit in Nepal, which is a hike I've wanted to do for a very long time). It was only at the end of the night that we found out the Florida couple were both pilots. We knew that Mike was an ex-RAF pilot and that Cathy seemed to know an awful lot about planes, but they were so humble and unassuming that they told us that their present jobs were "just staring out the front window of the plane." We really had a wonderful time with the whole lot of them.

From left to right: Lou, Peter, Mike, Cathy, Shirley, Me, Brent

Kirkby Stephen at sunset