Day 7 Kirkby Stephen to Keld 12 miles
We don’t often consider it, but sleep is a powerful healer. Despite going to bed shattered and aching, this morning I woke up feeling renewed, the throbbing legs were feeling better and I was ready to get moving along the trail again. Like yesterday, we had breakfast with Bob and Alan who had also spent the night in the hostel. Apart from the four of us, there were only two other guests, two lads who I heard coming in in the early hours, drunk, loud and laughing. Denise the warden said they went around the country dressed as Spiderman but their car had broken down so they were stuck in Kirkby Stephen! Sounds like the plot of a road movie to me.
Sad to see the old hostel practically empty and looking a little tired, we’ve passed a lot of what were, years ago, YHA hostels but now seem to be either hotels or independent hostels. After breakfast and a chat with Bob and Alan, day six starts bright and sunny and we set off with a spring in our step, partly due to the sunny weather and partly due to the fact that today is a short day, only 12 miles to Keld.
The way leads down the High Street for a short while before crossing over the River Eden at Franks bridge and soon Kirkby Stephen and it’s busy High Street is left behind. A bit of lovely lane walking follows and a short while later the pretty village of Hartley is reached. After this, the ‘main event’ of the day starts. The highlight of the walk from Kirkby Stephen to Keld is the crossing of Nine Standards Rigg, 2000ft high with, as its name suggests, nine standards or large cairns sitting on its top. The origin of, and reason for, these large cairns is a mystery and is much debated in the walking literature so there is no point me adding to it here. More significantly perhaps for walkers like us who are travelling from the Irish Sea to the North Sea is that Nine Standards Rigg also marks the watershed of England, that invisible divide that dictates whether water will flow West into the Irish Sea, or East into the North Sea. So after crossing it Gwen and I are looking forward to walking downhill all the way to Robin Hoods Bay! The ascent starts not long after leaving Hartley and maintains a steady incline all the way up a quiet lane that gradually gets more exposed. About half way up, the lane is left behind and we continue our ascent across the open moorland of Hartley Fell on a good, well worn and signposted footpath.
On the way we pass a large snow bank on the North side of a wall, a reminder that Spring has not quite sprung yet. After a while, the Nine Standards come into view and they provide a useful marker for us to aim for although the path is evident. We slowly make our way upwards, the path getting boggier and the incline steeper as height is gained and eventually we find ourselves standing by the nine large cairns on top of Nine Standards Rigg and the watershed of England.
The top is windy but the views are extensive and we take the opportunity to stop for a while and take it all in. Looking back, we can see the Lake District where our journey had begun a week ago. Looking forwards, across the seemingly endless wild moorland, we can see the Yorkshire Dales, which will be our walking home for the next few days. After a drink and a bite to eat we set off, following the path that leads South from the summit.
To protect the delicate biodiversity from thousands of walking boots there are seasonal variations to the trail ahead. I decide to follow the traditional route down into Whitsundale, along Whitsundale Beck and then onto the isolated farm at Ravenseat. Unfortunately, because of the wet weather of the last few weeks this led to several hours ‘bog hopping’ and occasionally ‘bog sinking’, oh the joys of moorland walking! The path, what there was of it quickly became indistinct and could only really be made out by the large poles that are set at regular intervals to mark the way. It was a real quagmire and at one point Gwen literally sank up to her thigh in a peat bog and was unable to get out. I had to physically pull her out and thankfully her boot was still on the end of her foot.
For what seemed like hours we followed the marker poles across the moor and eventually, after thrashing around in our very own ‘slough of despond’ we were relieved to arrive at Ravenseat farm and stand on some solid ground. Although the cafe wasn’t open we were happy just to sit on one of the picnic benches, have a rest and something to eat and drink. Covered in peat from the knees down and with soaking wet feet (again!) it was a welcome break from our exertions. Despite what the moor had done to us, sitting there, with just the wind and the occasional ‘baa’ to break the silence we couldn’t help but admire the isolation and beauty of our surroundings. I didn’t realise until later but Ravenseat Farm happens to be the home of Amanda Owen, author of ‘The Yorkshire Shepherdess’. Whitsundale is also the source of the River Swale, a river that we will be following for the next three days of our journey. There is something satisfying about following a river, especially from its source and I have been particularly looking forward to this section, where we will follow the Swale from her birth in the peat bogs of Whitsundale until her adolescence just beyond Richmond. After rest and recuperation at Ravenseat we follow the footpath which initially heads up the fell but then follows the contours around West Stonesdale pasture until it drops to meet the main road to Keld at Wain Wath Force.
We stop for a while, lost in thought, staring at the constant, steady flow of water, glistening in the sun and sliding like sheets over the wide but modest drop of the falls. The path follows the river all the way down to Keld and we follow it, albeit at a slower pace, our feet drying out and our bodies warming nicely in the afternoon sunshine.
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