Monday 8 August 2011

Day 41- Keld to Hawes

Waking up knowing you don't have to pack away your life and heave a hideous bag across England is actually quite a nice feeling! Mum had been way to prepared and had made us banana bread and scones for breakfast (cooked before leaving Devon)  and cups of tea as we had more gas than you could shake a stick at! Tea bags and milk galore, it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day and we were feeling fit :)

I think today's walk was around 13 miles, 13 joyous miles carrying a day sack (Mick and Gayle would not have approved of a 42L daysack!) Looking at the map, the first half a day was a climb up to the summit of Great Shunner Fell, and the second half was walking down in to Hawes, we were absolute sweaty messes walking up, it was such a hot day! It was a day Becks would have been thankful for eyebrows, and i would have been thankful for a monobrow!

Halfway up GSF we decided to treat ourselves to a sunbathing break, the babes with bellies were out and the bellies were diminishing at a fast rate! Luckily the path up to GSF was flagstonned as I think there may have been a few accidents looking at the bog, the views were amazing at the top and we got a real feel for the Yorkshire Dales, we could look down all the way to Hawes, walking down required minimumeffort, our bags were putting no pressure on us and we had our trustie Lekis, people must have been walking past us thinking 'They don't need those poles' and they were right, we didn't really, but we might as well had taken them! Whenever we walked past people carrying large rucksacks, i felt their pain! They probably had bag envy.

Walking to the bottom of GSF we recognised a man walking up towards us, he was the guy from Lancaster we had briefly met yesterday, he was walking the Pennine Way but very confusingly in little sections doing bits he felt like and leaving the rest for another day! It was only 2 o clock and we had nearly finished an entire days walking and we didn't start until nearly 10am, not bad! Mum and Julian had told us they were waiting for us in Hawes at the Wensleydale Creamery, next to the rope makers, we had no idea where this was, so used our most powerful tool - asking a local! Unfortunately, i had asked the village idiot. Apparently the creamery was 17 miles away in Leadburn, and as it was a Sunday, we wouldn't be able to get there until tomorrow via bus, i tried to explain that she was wrong and the creamery was in town but she was having non of it! I tried to terminate the conversation by saying thankyou and trying to leave but she kept on going about how it was so far away!

Luckily about 20m down the road i asked a family and they pointed us in the right direction, it was about 100m away from the village idiot. Mum, Julian and Cole were there waiting for us and we had walked to the campsite, it was luxury getting to a campsite with the tent already up! We had showers and lefarged around for the afternoon, then we had a much deserved BBQ! Hawes was hayfever city and me and especially mum were really suffering, she was in bed by 7pm, however i think it was something to do with the liquorish all sort stuck to her head!

Mum manned up and we were sat in the tent playing the alphabet game naming towns and cities in the UK beginning with A - C, I was the clear winner with no points, then mum, Becks then Julain as he kept making places up, luckily the ones i made up were real! Big thankyou to Margret as i used Byker for B and Becks couldn't think of another one so she lost!

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