Day Thirteen: Clay Bank Top to Glaisdale

Clay Bank Top to Glaisdale: 29.5 km

This morning neither of us wanted to get up. We didn't sleep well in our small bed in our small room. Two roosters were arguing very early in the morning and I think because the part of the building we were staying in had previously been a horse stable , there were particles in the walls that made me really allergic. At any rate, it was another yucky night. However, at least at breakfast we didn't have to ring the ancient heirloom bell for the lady to bring in our food; our steaming hot and yummy porridge was served and we ate it with golden syrup, an English tradition, that we decided was quite satisfactory.

It was misty and moist when we got up but it didn't start to really rain until we were just about to leave. We put all our rain gear on, said goodbye to the lady and the farmer hiked part way up onto the moors with us to show us the right way to go. He showed us the path, shook our hands and we were off into the driving rain.

It rained quite heavily up in the moor and continued to all day. We struggled along as fast as we could to stay warm, stopping briefly when the rain slowed down for a moment to eat some chocolate for energy and again later took shelter behind a hunting shelter (locked, of course) to eat a sandwich. But mostly we just kept walking, singing songs to keep our spirits up and our pace quick.

"Father Abraham, had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham, I am one of them and so are you, so let's just praise the Lord. Right arm. Father Abraham, had many sons..."

The railbed, heading off into the mist

At one point we could hear people behind us but the fog was so dense that we couldn't see them--we couldn't see virtually anything, really, is was so thick. We followed an abandoned railway track for much of the day, and passed by many tomb-stone looking obelisks, including one very eery one with a face carved into it.

We walked by a pub at about halfway but thought that we were better off getting to our B&B than stopping and then having trouble motivating ourselves to get started again. Close to our destination we passed four hikers going the other way including two ladies who told us they were doing the C2C the other direction. We hoped that they got as nice weather as we had all trip.

An ominous warning for the sheep

We got into the town of Glaisdale just before three and had to trudge all the way through town and up a hill on the other side to get to our place. The lady kindly let us in though we were early and we put our boots and coast to dry in the laundry room. Then Brent took a shower and I took a bath and we had a cup of tea and an hour long nap.

the kitchen at Red House Farm, which I really liked

Red House Farm was a very pretty house, with a big lawn and garden and a cobblestone backyard with a well-maintained barn. The inside of the house was full of antiques which, although quite lovely, were not conducive to us awkward hikers with our backpacks. The hostess asked us to kindly not set our wet things "on the textiles" which we took to mean the bed, any of the chairs or couches or the carpet, leaving us with only the bathroom floor. Even then, she gave us garbage bags to spread on the tiled floor before putting our stuff down. A little paranoid perhaps? We were a little frustrated because seeing as Glaisdale was right on the C2C path, you would think the lady would be used to soggy wet hikers and would know how to deal with our wet things. Brent's boots never did get dry, much to his chagrin.

Our room, with a very saggy bed
Our room, looking towards the bathroom
The lovely lovely window seat
The view out our window
Barns and cobblestone

We walked down to the Arncliffe Arms, the nearby pub, for supper. It was still humid and misty outside but thankfully not raining. We met the two lovely English ladies there (they were staying there that night). We had supper with the two of them, Gwen and Barbara, two farm widows in their early seventies (we guessed at their ages) out taking over the world--or at least England, one walk at a time. We had a wonderful meal with them. I had the best seafood spaghetti I've ever had. The shellfish were still in their shells and it was spicy and hot and yummy. Brent had a big home made burger. We had a really good bitter beer and a wonderful sticky toffee pudding for dessert. It was a really great evening visiting. I love that we have had a chance with so many of our fellow hikers to get to know them and eat and visit. We truly have made some wonderful memories here and met some really neat people.

The Glaisdale pub: taken the next day, hence the sunshine