Another Long Walk: Day 9: The Kirkby Stephens Zero

September 2, 2024: Because the weather forecast last night called for rain all day today, I had decided to take a zero day. I wanted to enjoy the hike, not walk through rain all day!

But when I woke up, there was no rain. At least it hadn't started yet, but the clouds certainly looked ugly, as if they could let loose a torrential downpour whenever they decided to wake up and get to work.

In the meantime, I decided to use the delay in the rain to explore the town a bit more. I headed over to the main church in town that appeared to be a tourist attraction in its own right, and was surprised when I bumped into John from "Seattle" who was also admiring the church.

He told me about his last couple of days on the trail, which included a taxi to shorten the days. "I just can't do those miles," he told me, "but then someone suggested a taxi and yes, of course!" He was very excited about this discovery, seemingly like he was the first person to ever discover it. It reminded me of when Amanda took a taxi on the Portuguese Camino. He was also starting to send his heavy pack ahead of him from day to day so he could carry a light day pack instead. He also took a detour or two off the main route along other trails that locals had suggested that were shorter or easier than the main trail.

Good for him. I was a little concerned that the last couple of days might have broken him and he'd quit the trail entirely, so I was glad to find that he was still on the trail and enjoying his time out here. In the end, that was the important thing.

But he had miles to do. He was hiking today, rain or not, because he had reservations for B&Bs and hotels along the entire trail and his schedule was set in stone. I wished him dry weather today, and perhaps I'd catch up again later.

This is an actual church--not the hostel! =)

I walked around the rest of the town, checking out some shops and statues and whatever interesting things that might be around, then eventually headed to the Mulberry Bush for lunch where I ordered a panini and a milkshake.

I headed back to the hostel for a bit to relax, and was a little annoyed that it still hadn't started raining yet. I could have gotten some quality miles in by now if I realized that it wasn't going to rain all morning!

By dinnertime, I decided to head out again and was positively angry that I wasted a day doing nothing when it turned out that it didn't rain at all. The weather forecast called for rain from sunrise to sunset. WTF?

Anyhow, I headed to a bar and restaurant, but was told that they couldn't accept food orders from walk-ins like me because they were too busy. I looked around the room and saw about 5 other tables with people among the dozens of empty tables. What, seriously? They didn't look that busy!

I told him I wasn't interested and went to walk back, and the guy said that he could still get me a drink. "I didn't come for a drink," I told him. "I wanted to eat." The menu they had posted outside looked good, but now I'll never know....

Dejected, I walked to the Spar market and picked up dinner there to take back to the hostel instead. While looking around at my options, I discovered a cheap umbrella. Woo-who! I could finally ditch my umbrella which had been utterly thrashed back on August 21st--nearly two weeks now!

A couple of other guys had also shown up at the hostel, so I no longer had the men's dormitory completely to myself anymore. That was fine, though. There was still plenty of room for all of us and it gave me some people to chat with for a bit.

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

That's another thru-hiker, but I don't know who he is.

Go on, smile! You can do it! =)

For some reason I could never find out, the distances on this sign were measured in furlongs. No idea why. Even the English don't really use furlongs anymore.