Day Eight - Kirkby Stephen to Keld

Time Departed: 9.10am Time Arrived: 4:30pm Distance: 19.1 kms Cumulative Distance: 152.8 kms Percentage Completed: 48% Weather: Sunny at first, very cold, strong wings Accommodation: The Bunkhouse Although it was a shorter distance It was a particularly difficult day due to the mostly peat bog path along the way and the very strong winds. When we left Kirkby Stephen it was sunny although cold. The higher we climbed out of Kirkby Stephen to reach Nine Standards Rigg the stronger the winds hit us. They came from the north east and Ron remarked probably from Siberia! The climb wasn’t too difficult and as the weather was clear we could see the Nine Standards Rigg high up in the distance.

They looked like pimples on a mountain. At eleven o’clock we found a sheltered spot from the wind about a kilometre from the top and took the opportunity to have late morning tea/early lunch. We thought we would have another break when we reached the Nine Standards Rigg. When we reached them we could hardly stand up.

We tried to shelter behind them but the wind got the better of us. We were pleased we had a break earlier on as there was no chance of enjoying a break on the summit. The Nine Standards are a celebrated landmark but their origin is uncertain. Some claim they are boundary markers or they were a ‘stone army’ to deter the Scots a long ago. They lie on the watershed of England, sending waters one way to the Irish Sea and the other to the North Sea. We quickly attempted to take photos and moved on. The wind had got even stronger and as we left the Rigg it pushed us hard towards a view indicator cairn about fifty metres higher up the ridge. It was erected by the Kirkby Stephen Fell Rescue Team to celebrate the wedding of Charles and Diana. Despite the wind we did have extensive views. The path now was getting very ‘peat boggy’ and we had to make many diversions so we didn’t drop deep down into the peat.

We walked for a further hour and found the three Suffolk women hunkering down behind some rocks eating lunch. We found some rocks further along and sheltered to the best of our ability and had our second break. Henk and I enjoyed cold pork pies and Ron had a pasty. Thank goodness we are walking to work off what we are eating! We stayed for about twenty minutes and started to descend.

The path was not clear and several times we went off course. Henk didn’t load up his GPS for today’s walk but that was fine as Chris had his new map from Kirkby Stephen, Henk had his enlarged map of the route he put together from Australia and Henk and Neil had their phone apps. There was regular cross-checking during the day. We kept descending through remote farming communities to arrive at Ravenseat. As we turned right and climbed a little higher we could see the farm lady from Ravenseat on a quad bike with her two young children arriving to feed the hens. The little ones were obviously used to walkers as they waved as they fed the chooks. They feature on Julia Bradbury’s program on the coast to coast walk. From here we had very pleasant views over How Edge Scars and Oven Mouth where the stream has worn away the countryside.

We were pleased to reach our accommodation as it had been a hard day in the wind and we were feeling particularly windswept. We stayed at a bunkhouse about half a kilometre from Keld. Neil’s accommodation was at The Lodge, Keld. We will meet him tomorrow morning at Keld at nine o’clock. The bunkhouse is impressive. I thought it would be far more rustic to reflect the outside stone walls but it is very modern with a newly installed kitchen, dining and living area and the bedrooms. Ian, our host, is very friendly and supplied us with a hearty meal and drinks. We were really hungry.

Our accommodation sits above a waterfall which is impressive. A little lamb was caught under a ledge near the waterfall and Ian and his wife rescued it for the farmer. We watched the ordeal from the warmth of the bunkhouse.