Day 18: Taking It Easy....

August 13, 2024:  I decided to sleep in especially late today, mostly because I had an extraordinarily short day of hiking planned--less than 5 miles in total! Karolina was scheduled to fly out early in the morning in just four days, and I figured the easiest and quickest place for her to exit the trail was along Hadrian's Wall, which was less than 20 miles away. Which meant I needed to do some shorter days!

The midges in the morning were absolutely horrendous as well, and the idea of going outside my tent wasn't especially appealing.

However, rain was in the forecast in the afternoon, so ideally I'd do all of my hiking before the rain hit.

I eventually got up and moving. The terrain was mostly rolling hills. I was worried about it being especially boggy since that's what the guidebook warned about, and while there were definitely boggy areas, it was nowhere near as bad as I feared. A few days earlier going over Cross Fell it was certainly much worse.

There's not much to report about the day's hike, in any case. A short day of rolling hills with some occasional boggy areas.

Knowing I had such a short day of hiking and wanting a little comfort out of the afternoon rains, I had booked a B&B that was about a half-mile off trail. Since I had less than 5 miles to hike today, it wasn't a huge burden to hike a half-mile off trail.

I arrived at the B&B at about 1:00pm, a full two hours before check-in time. I figured even if the room wasn't ready, perhaps I could still sit inside somewhere and out of any potential rain, but Leslie had no problem with checking me in early.

The B&B seemed like it was located in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farms and otherwise empty countryside, but my guidebook said that it was possible to have pizza delivered so a town must not have been particularly far away. And I really liked that idea rather than depending on the food in my pack. Pizza sounded much better! I also ordered some garlic bread and sodas to be delivered, which arrived about an hour later. It was delicious! A nice treat in the middle of nowhere. Had my guidebook not mentioned the possibility of getting food delivered, it would have never even occurred to me that that was an option.

I ordered pizza to be delivered for dinner. Tonight, we'd feast like kings!

It did start raining in the afternoon, but that was no longer a concern for me. For the rest of the evening, I watched Netflix and did some work on my laptop, but basically I just relaxed and rested, a sort of strange mini-vacation from the trail.

Karolina spent the evening planning out her exit from the trail. She had figured out where she would get off the trail at, and knew she was planning to fly out from Edinburgh very early on the morning of the 17th, which meant she had to make sure she was in Edinburgh by the 16th--but she hadn't made any plans about where she was going to spend the night or what she would do in town. So for her, she spent a great deal of time figuring out those sorts of details and making a reservation for a hostel in the city.

And thus ended another day on the trail.....

Normally I see signs pointing out the Pennine Way. It's pretty unusual to see a sign telling me a direction is NOT the Pennine Way!

Kellah Farm B&B was a wonderful little spot to spend a night. =)

Day 17: The Knarsdale Detour

August 12, 2024: It rained a bit in the morning, and I even heard thunder, but I was safe and dry in the hostel so it was of no concern for me.

After figuring out my plans for the next few days the night before, I decided that I needed food to last for the next four days--the next time that I'd be near a real grocery store. I woke up early and headed down to the Spar market just down the road.

Heading out of Alston

I had a relatively short day today, less than 10 miles, so I took my time leaving town. The afternoon weather was expected to be nice, while the morning weather would be less than pleasant so there was no reason to rush, and I didn't actually leave town until nearly 11:00am.

Except for a few threatening clouds in the early afternoon, the weather generally cooperated and the rain stayed away. A little bit of that fat fog that can get stuff wet, but no actual rain.

A few hours into the hike, I took a break near an old railroad trestle when a southbounder on the trail arrived. A SOBOer! It was a surprise because almost everyone hikes this trail northbound, and I hadn't seen a single southbounder the entire time.

Even more surprising, it was someone I recognized! It was the same guy I met on the fourth day on the trail at May's shop--the one that seemed to suggest that I wasn't really a Pennine Way hiker unless I joined the 12,000-member Pennine Way Facebook group. He almost seemed surprised to see me when he recognized me, as if he had expected that I would have quit the trail by now. Like I said then, I don't think he had a very high opinion of my hiking abilities.

Anyhow, he explained that after he reached the end of the trail, he decided to turn around and hike it again southbound which explained our crossing paths again. We only talked for a minute or two before he continued on his way, never to be seen again. Unless, of course, he reached the end of the trail and decided to hike northbound again, I supposed. He was certainly hiking much faster and further than I was every day!

I took a break by this railroad trestle. I didn't realize it at the time, but there was actually another trail that followed on top the old railroad line, and it probably would have been shorter and easier to follow than the Pennine Way which was under it. Had I realized it was a trail, I would have preferred the views from the top! Plus a flat, easy trail would have been much easier on my ankle.

 

Eventually, I continued my own hike as well, and several hours later, the weather had cleared up nicely and I took another break, this time at Knarsdale. While lounging around on the grass enjoying the views, Karolina noticed in the guidebook that the Kirksytle Inn was located 200 meters off trail and she wanted to go, since it also served drinks and--if we were really lucky--even food.

"But it's 200 meters off trail!" I said, not really wanting to limp 200 meters out of my way. My ankle was still in quite a bit of pain. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as those first few days since twisting it, but it was still very tender and sensitive. I didn't take any extra steps that I didn't have to.

But she persisted. I connected to the Internet with a data connection on my phone to at least check if the place was supposed to be open, and it had just opened mere minutes earlier. The route to the inn looked like it was just a simple, flat road walk, and I did have plenty of time to kill, so eventually I caved and agreed to go to the inn in search of drinks.

The inn, as promised, was open, but they didn't serve food on Mondays and being a Monday, that meant no food. I didn't really need food, however, so that was fine. We did order drinks, however. Karolina ordered a local beer while I ordered the pint of Coca-cola, and we sat at a table reading our Kindles. 

I took a 1.5-hour break at the Kirkstyle Inn. =)

When we arrived, there was nobody else there, but soon an older couple with a dog named Pepper came in and sat nearby.

After lingering around the inn for an hour and a half, it was finally time to go. I returned to the trail, then  headed another couple of miles down the trail where I set up camp on a small, uneven lumpy space next to a beautiful tree on a hillside.

Thus ended another day on the trail.....

Irony....

Trailside art

These are the ruins of Epiacum, an old Roman Fort popularly known as Whitley Castle.

The fort is unexcavated, but it used to house 500 Roman solders back in the day.

This slope was so steep, they even provided a rope for hikers to hold onto so they didn't fall off to the right!

A tunnel! I get to go through an old railroad tunnel!