Day Seven - Kirkby Stephen - 30 April

We all had a lovely rest day starting off with a relaxing breakfast at our B&B. It was good to know that we didn’t have to rush off from the table and get ready for a day of walking.

By nine thirty we were all heading off to the laundrette to give our walking clothes a decent wash. Neil, Henk and I put all our clothes together in one wash but Chris and Ron being proper English gentlemen kept their clothes separate! We spent the time reading the paper whilst the clothes went around.

Morning tea was at the Mulberry Bush Café where they served our favourite cakes of Coffee and Walnut and Victoria Sponge. Between morning tea and lunch we all went our separate ways having a look around the lovely little town of Kirkby Stephen. It promotes itself as “A Walkers are Welcome Town” and is an ancient market town between the Lake District and Yorkshire National Parks. Monday was a good day to visit as it was Market Day and the Auction Mart which was selling cows.

Chris and Ron went to the auction and recommended it so Henk and I ventured into the cattle and sheep yard hall to watch the auction after lunch. It was a noisy and busy auction with many farmers bidding on the cows. The cows all seemed to sell between eight hundred to a thousand pounds. I took some photos from the stalls but no-one noticed as they were too intent on the auction.

We visited the Parish Church which is known locally as the “Cathedral of the Dales” and it was looking particularly lovely on this sunny day with daffodils growing in the grounds.

It has an attractive sandstone cloister entrance which was built in 1810 to provide shelter for churchgoers and market people. We regrouped at six thirty and walked the one block back into Market Street and High Street for dinner. We had drinks at the White Lion but there were no ferrets!