Askham

Day 6 of the coast to coast trail. We have left the Lake District and are now in the Yorkshire Dales. No more steep climbs like in the lake district but more undulating landscape. It was a good day of hiking covering 18.5 km. I was tired by the end of the day getting in around 3:30 pm.

This morning I met Debbie and Ginny from Colorado at breakfast who are also doing the C2C trail and we're staying at the Mardale in Bampton. I had met them on the first day. Debbie has gained some notoriety with the hikers on the trail as she broke her wrist on Day 3 of the C2C. She had to have it reduced but has decided to carry on. What a trooper.

I got off to a slightly later start at 8:45. I was off the official trail but I had figured out how to get back to the C2C trail without having to back track. I walked to Bampton Grange and visited their beautiful church before doing some meadow walking back to the main trail. It took me a good 45 minutes to make it back to the C2C trail.

Without the Acock brothers to guide me things were more challenging and I had to keep checking my phone. I felt like I was playing Pokemon. Within the first 15 minutes I had become off track. To get back on track, I scaled a small wall beside a locked fence with my phone in one hand. With my boots wet from the dew, I slipped getting off the wall falling on my back and left hip. I was shocked but fortunately didn't hurt myself too badly other than having a sore hip afterwards. This is probably a great way to break one's hip. I was lucky as I landed on some nice moist grass.

Fortunately the rest of the hike was uneventful. The rest of the hike turned into a mini pilgrimage. I visited the ruins of the Shap Abbey. The monastery had existed for 500 years before it was partially disassembled and destroyed by Henry 8 in the 15 century. These old monastery sites are so beautiful and serene. The monks really had a knack for choosing their sites. After hiking through Shap and crossing over the M6, one of UKs busiest highways, I returned to the solitude of the countryside. My guide book had indicated that past a farm/village of Oddendale in a field there was neolithic stone circle. Like we are talking about a mini Stonehenge. How cool is that. I just had to find it. I wandered around the field for about 15 minutes before I found it and soaked all of the cosmic energy of the universe. I continued onwards after lunching. Other than when I walked through Shap I hadn't seen any other hikers all day. It was a little eerie. Around 1:30 in the afternoon I came across 4 hikers having a break all with their boots off and lying on mats. It was like a yoga retreat. Why hadn't they done this at the stone circles. I stopped and chatted a little bit and they gave me a very wonderful Belgium chocolate. Just as I was getting ready to leave Debbie and Ginny rolled up. They were making a good time. I was just heading to find Robin Hood's grave which was off the trail 300 metres and they agreed to come looking for it. I envisioned a Viking mount but instead it was a pile of stones making a cairn. We continued onto Orton and found the George Hotel which is pretty well the only place to stay in town. Before supper I checked out the town and bought myself some lunch for tomorrow and visited the church. I have been saying a prayer for our friend Kevin who passed away last week at all of the religious sites I visit. Yes I said a prayer for him at the stone circle. After a mediocre curry supper at the George Hotel I walked back up to the church and joined the Orton bell ringers in their Friday night bell ringing session. What a way to end the day.Read more