Richmond to Danby Wiske

We started the day being harrassed (in good humor) again by our host about being vegetarian. He had convinced us we must try his "special" omelet this morning and he plopped it down in front of us, saying "Here's your child's portion!"  We accused him of using bacon to fry it in just to show us, but he swore he didn't.  Very fun joking back and forth.

Yesterday we ran into our friends Jonathon and Barry in the marketplace.  It was like meeting old friends!  It's fascinating the way we are bonding with different people on this trip.  There's something about the experience itself that encourages this intimacy.  Anyway, Jonathon had developed tendonitis and couldn't walk the next day so we planned to pick Barry up and walk with him today.

So 9:00 we met him and started off out of town.  Shortly after we crossed the bridge and started climbing into the woods, all the bells in all the churches started ringing.  It was beautiful and went on for quite a while.  What a send-off.  Here's what it looked like looking back at Richmond:

We proceeded pretty much uneventfully following the Swale River until we happened upon a 69 year old gentleman from Toronto who became our pace car! We were so busy getting to know each other that the four of us missed one turn. With the help of some locals, who are always very kind and helpful, we found our way back to the trail without losing too much time. His name is Ian and he's done a lot of hiking:  El Camino de Santiago last year, then half again this year with his wife and now he's going to do the other half next month.  He's also climbed Kilimanjaro and up to the base camp of Everest, and a couple of treks in Nepal.  So you can imagine how we missed our sign.

One of the other fun things that happens on an adventure like this is that we hear stories about other trekkers as we go along.  Somehow they begin to jibe and the stories complete themselves.  We heard that on the section that we chose not to walk a woman was swept away when a valley they were in suddenly began to fill with water.  Her husband was able to grab her, but another man was swept away as well, managed to grab a tree limb, but everything he had was totally soaked.  Once again, I'm so glad we didn't try it.

The day is glorious.  Sunshine, a few puffy white clouds, a gentle cool breeze to keep us from overheating.  A perfect walking day.

We stopped in Bolton-on-Swale for a nice picnic lunch of cheese, bread and nectarines in the graveyard by St. Mary's church.  

There's a sweet tradition in that particular church where people leave canned drinks and ask that if you take a cold drink, simply replace it with one of the ones on the table in the back of the church.  Sometimes people leave energy bars, etc. too. A very kind local gentleman also offered for us to use his outdoor bathroom, which we accepted, and so we had an opportunity to visit his gorgeous 1/2 acre garden replete with fabulous koi pond, fruit trees, play house, etc.  This churchyard is famous for its monument to Henry Jenkins, a local man who lived an unremarkable life except that it was 122 years long!  He had claimed to be 169, but only 122 were verifiable.  Here's the monument:

Front

Back

The rest of the walk was fast and uneventful.  One beautiful landscape after another!  We were able to get up really close to cows today.  Love it.

And now we're in Danby Wiske in a very nice home, staying in what looks like a normal bedroom in which they have converted a closet into a bathroom. The host is very nice and we had some good laughs with him in the pub after dinner.  DInner was delicious:  tomato and red pepper soup, lots of steamed vegetables and a concoction of vegetables in a Stilton cream sauce with bread crumbs toasted on top.  Great conversations with two gentlemen from Atlanta who were at breakfast with us this morning.  Tales of their harrowing experiences on the trail.  Now Tara is watching Downton Abbey while I am writing this and fighting with the intermittent wi-fi signal.

We are both pretty pooped tonight.  Tomorrow is an easier day, thank Goodness, and the weather should be the same, only slightly warmer. Jonathon is going to nurse his leg one more day, so we'll be walking with Barry again.  BTW, Gary and Howard, Barry has the brand new Tesla!!!!  His anniversary present to his wife is to let her drive it.  What a guy!

Good night and love to you,

Mary