Day 6:: Shap to Kirkby Stephen

We left Shap with 2 of us not feeling refreshed having slept in a Lake district bed (ie one full of peaks and hollows with a few springs thrown in for good measure! ) The weather was wet,wet,wet and cooler. Indeed it rained steadily all day. We had lunch huddled behind a drystone wall and didnt linger over it! It was a day of endurance more than enjoyment as we pushed one squelchy foot ahead of the other over the moors. Very bleak they were indeed today and Jen and I were reminded of fictional characters associated with windy moorland. We felt Jane Eyre could have collapsed on just such a moor when fleeing from Thornfield! ( no sound of nightingales for your information, Tom, Edward and Sarah)
However there was little conversation or photography  as conditions were not conducive for either. We just wanted to get here and arrived absolutely sodden. Our wet weather gear didn't quite cope. Poor Jen especially found her shoes and jacket not at all waterproof! Our kind hosts have relieved us of all the wet clothes and have hung them in the kitchen. We even wore gaiters and as we were putting them on were passed by the army lads going at a cracking pace. Putting on gaiters and waterproof trousers while trying to balance on wet grass with rain pouring down,is a tricky  operation and there were some minor tumbles.

We found the long walk over Ravenstone Dale moor particularly tedious, boggy and muddy , and discovered only tonight that it is a key site for ancient monuments and stone age villages. But we had our hoods up, visibility was poor and we were focused on getting to Kirkby Stephen so we missed all the interesting archaeology. It was an 8 hour day and we walked 22 miles in all. How wonderful to have hot water and a bath and dinner IN the BandB tonight. Very friendly , warm hospitality and a few good laughs  have revived our much dampened spirits.