August 9, 2024: By morning, my ankle was still badly swollen and quite tender, but I had to suck it up and push onward. If I waited until it felt normal again, I'd probably have to quit the trail and return a month or two later! However, I will note that the ankle did seem slightly less painful than in previous days. It did seem to be feeling better, but I wasn't sure if that was because it really did feel better or if it was because my body had become numb to the constant pain.
In any case, I packed up my belongings. Just as I was ready to walk out the door, I realized that my Fitbit was missing, and I couldn't find it anymore. It wasn't under the bed, or behind the counter, or in the bathroom. I knew it was nearby, however, since I could still sync it on my phone, and I wondered if it somehow got mixed up and ended up in my pack. Rather than unpacking to look for it, I set my backpack on the bed and bounced it up and down for 10-15 seconds, then synced the Fitbit to see if it recorded any steps. It did! After carefully checking the bed and sheets to make sure my Fitbit wasn't mixed up in that and not finding it, I assumed it must have been somewhere in my pack.
With that taken care of, it was time to leave Middleton-in-Teesdale.
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| Goodbye, Middleton-in-Teesdale! |
The weather looked gorgeous--sunny with a few, puffy white clouds to give the sky a little texture. However, the word of the day was windy! Good grief! The wind was strong and relentless, all day long. The fact that I was walking into it just made it worse. It was positively exhausting.
But other than the wind, it was absolutely beautiful weather. I also passed a multitude of scenic waterfalls that were swarming with day hikers. There was Low Force, and--not surprisingly--a High Force not far beyond it. Other waterfalls didn't have any name that I could find--or at least had not been mentioned in the guidebook. High Force apparently isn't the highest waterfall, or the biggest--but they claim it's the "highest unbroken fall of water in England." It seems carefully worded to be technically correct. But in any case the drop is 70 feet (21 meters), which does make it a relatively big waterfall and a nice sight to watch.
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| High Force |
I actually enjoyed Low Force more since the viewing area for that was closer and it seemed to be a few waterfalls giving it more depth. Plus, the sunlight on it was considerably better. Both waterfalls (i.e. "forces") were nice, however, and both of them had day hikers crawling around them like ants on a piece of chocolate on a hot summer day.
After getting away from the hoards of people, the trail passed by a quarry, then alongside a very rocky shore of the river that was murder on my ankle. The rocky section wasn't long, but it felt like it lasted forever trying to get through. Then the trail followed up the side of another waterfall (unknown name) and past a dam before finally leaving the water and heading into hillier terrain.
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| Some sort of quarry |
This late in the day, it was time to keep an eye open for a place to camp. The thunderous wind was a problem, however. The land was badly exposed and there seemed nowhere to get away from it. Even tents can be damaged in such strong winds, so I pushed onward looking for potential places to camp that might be protected from the brutal beating of the wind.
Ahead, in the guidebook, I saw a bridge that crossed a river, and thought maybe the bottom of that valley would provide a sheltered place from the wind (assuming, of course, it wasn't a wind funnel and the wind would be even worse!), but before I reached that point, there was a small fold in the ground. It was just a slight dip in the terrain where the wind miraculous dropped to a fraction of what it had been.
"Here," I said. "Let's camp here."
It wasn't completely protected from the wind, but at least it wasn't so strong that it would cause any trouble. The campsite wasn't ideal--a bit small and filled with sheep poop--but it was the least windy space I had seen in hours. Maybe there was something better ahead, but I didn't want to risk it. A bird in the hand and all....
So I set up camp and called it a day. After unpacking my backpack, I also found my missing Fitbit. Hurray! =D
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| I took a break at every bench so I could to rest my ankle! |
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| This rocky shoreline was murder on my ankle! |
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| Low Force |
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| Low Force |
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| Low Force |
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| High Force |
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| If this waterfall has a name, I don't know it! |
2 comments:
What happened to Karolina? You haven't mentioned her since buying her a cider in Middleton. I suspect foul play!
Karolina is there in several photos, and any photos of me are ones that she took. She just had no antics worth mentioning today! =)
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