Kirkby Stephen to Keld 19.4km Hard – total climbing 831m longest climb 363m longest descent 209m. The longest haul felt like the leg up out of Kirkby Stephen towards the Nine Standard Rigs. The origin of these stone stacks is not known but no prizes for guessing that there are nine of them. We walked that section with a group of five English ladies who were doing the Coast to Coast in four sections, each four years apart.
Just as we were leaving Kirkby Stephen we had cross a bridge called Frank’s Bridge. It was named in dedication to the manager of the local brewery in the 17th century – seems appropriate really.
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It was another big day but at the end of it we were halfway there! Stedman said this can be a boggy section, and suggests taking the Blue route unless weather is really bad then take the green route. We did take the Blue route but it was still pretty boggy! In fact today was named a B&B day – bogs and bites as not only did we had to negotiate a lot of boggy ground but we had to fight of an unbelievable number of biting insects – the midges were unbelievable.
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We stopped at Ravenseat Farm for afternoon tea, a welcome respite from all the biting insects. We saw this farm and the lady who runs it on the Julia Bradbury special on the Coast to Coast walk. She said that Julia Bradbury was very nice and was reluctant to admit that she (Julia) hadn’t walked the entire walk while making the TV show. Another of our hosts was concerned that Julia had made the walk look too easy and that some of his next year’s bookings might not actually make it that far!
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We stayed the night at Keld Lodge run by a very jovial ex-policeman called Tony. Keld Lodge will eventually be a microbrewery but for now he has beers on tap and serves meals – luck really as he is the only accommodation in Keld.
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UK Coast to Coast - Kirkby Stephen to Keld (Day 8)
Today’s Gurning Photo – at Nine Rigs
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