Orton to kirkby stephen

Made our way out of town on a meandering rural road then cut up a path that supposedly once again promised an ancient stone circle. And….delivered! Popped through a gate into a manicured green sheep pasture and there, about 30 yards in diameter were rocks of completely varied shapes, that, if they were not generally placed in a circle, would never be mistaken for anything but….rocks. The smallest was the size of my backpack and largest the size of a bed. A sheep family had made their home on one of the beds (see third picture below) completely unaware of the sacred history of the stones. As were we. There was no information about the site posted and we were left to make up our own story. As we carried on with our walk, the sheep, in all their varieties and quirkiness, continued to charm us. At one point we spied the shaggy ewe below, and even were able to give this little lamby a pat on the head and a scratch behind the ears through a gate at a farm house. So soft! We were also delighted to spy a little snack shack based on the honor system that was used as a fundraiser for two young sisters to pursue their dreams of horse competitions. We enjoyed walking and talking with Catrina as we caught up with her (or her with us, I can’t remember which). Then later we invited the Aussies Di and John to sit with us and lunch on a hillside in pasture and mostly continued to walk with them until we reached Kirkby Stephen at the end of our 12-mile journey. At the town we parted ways and we found our hotel, Fletcher House right on the main street, so close to everything. Got in to our room, opened our bags, showered, flopped on the bed and flipped on the TV, just in time pre-recorded BBC highlights of King Charles’ coronation- I’m sure the same ones you saw on the other side of the world. I had this grand plan to do video interviews of a select group of random people to get their opinions on the grand event but, alas, not to be. I suggested that the people working in the chocolate shop in Orton might want to do a parade down their Main Street but that didn’t go over so well. “There are only old people who live here, they’re not able to do parades.” Most of the coast to coast travelers were quite disinterested in the whole affair and some of the locals we met, especially the elderly, were thrilled with the magnificent pomp and ceremony of it all. The most common celebratory reminder we see is the Union Jack bunting on many buildings. We celebrated Coronation Day, and our long walk, with a very satisfying dinner at Mango Tree Indian Restaurant.