Nine Standards Rigg and a Cream Tea

What are the Nine Standards? A serious of beautifully built cairns of different shapes and sizes lined up along the ridge of the Pennines, the climb up there was our first goal for the day. They are supposed to be old boundary markers, but there could be other theories. It was windy and cold at the top, 661metres, so we didn’t hang around. At this point we crossed into Yorkshire. There are 3 routes through this area depending on the season, we took the red route, which is the designated route for May to July. This is a way of trying to manage the erosion caused by all the walkers.

Then the next highlight of the day, across the peat bogs! Actually we were lucky, the worst part has had some stones laid across it and it hasn’t been very wet lately. Our trusty guide found the route through for us and we came through with dry feet, although Julie’s new shoes are not as pristine any more. There were a lot of boggy patches all the way down.

Then it was down to Ravenseat. This seems to be a bit of an institution on the C2C route. Amanda Owen and her husband breed sheep and have 9 or 10 children and sell tea and scones to passing walkers. She has written a couple of books about life as a Yorkshire farmer. Apparently she is quite a character. She wasn’t there today so the tea and scones were served by Mr Owen and the farm helper in their muddy gum boots and dirty jeans. Most of the kids were at school but there were a couple of little girls playing around. Great scones and a strong brew of tea.

From there it was an easy stroll down to the valley of the Upper Swale River and into Keld. About 20 kilometres for the day.

We have crossed the Pennines and we are now about half way!!

Just a bit of information about cream teas. This is basically a Devonshire tea, but of course you can’t call it that in Yorkshire. Apparently Devon is having jam first with cream on top of your scone and Cornwall has cream first with jam on top. Yorkshire just has cream tea.Read more