Keld to Reeth

Last night I joined Annie and Lisa for supper at the Keld Lodge. They are two gregarious intelligent athletic free spirited Americans who have been doing the hike at the same rate as me but I haven't had time to talk yet but made up for it last night at supper. Annie this morning at breakfast told me she had read my blog so I thought that I should throw in some superlatives to describe them.

Day 9 of hiking. My room wasn't too hot last night. I cranked open the window and got a lighter blanket from the owner. The heat must have gone off in the drying room.The bed was short and built in between two walls so it wasn't the most comfortable bed. I have had better sleeps. I wonder if I had been with a booking agency whether I would've gotten a better room. On the other hand some people with booking agencies had to stay outside of Keld. Onward ever onward.

The debate at supper was what route to do. The upper route or the lower route. It seemed that people were going to do the lower route because they assumed it would be easier. A guided group was staying at the Keld Lodge, I think British Walks. I asked their guide which route to do and he said that his preference was to do the upper route. He thought the lower route was only a little easier but preferred the scenery of the upper route. There were ruins of various lead smelters along the upper route often in valleys. The ruins were quite beautiful however the whole lead mining industry in its day was probably a toxic unsafe industry to be working in. Pity those poor workers and their families suffering not only the dangers of mining but also the toxicity of a very dangerous heavy metal. There were also some very pretty waterfalls as all of the rain from the thunderstorm last night was running off the bogs.

There was a 300 metre climb out of Keld followed by a descent into a river valley with some ruins followed by another ascent of 300 metres before a more gradual descent. It took me about 6.5 hours with lunch and 2 breaks. The book keeps saying the days are getting easier but I seem to be just as tired at the end of each day. I was passed once by the British Walks group when I got lost for ten minutes. When I got my navigation act together -ie looked at the phone more often, I moved faster than the BW group and didn't see them for the rest of the day. It was be tough moving with a group of 9. In fact I didn't see anyone doing the C2C today just some day hikers coming my way. The GPS did let me down coming into Reeth. It took me through some farmers fields which wasn't right and I think the route has probably changed since the GPS map was set. I still made it into Reeth and I am staying at the Buck Inn.

The C2C trail is not well posted. Rarely there is a sign. There are so many hiking paths and bridle paths the C2C uses but none of them are marked C2C. Finally I saw a disc indicating the coast to coast today but it is the first one I have seenRead more