Shap to Orton

Last night we stayed in a wonderful cattywampus stone inn called the Hermitage built in 1691, and now owned for 50 years and run by octogenarian Jean and her granddaughter. After a grueling 16 mile day yesterday up an down peaks, the uneven floors, ceilings, doors and even the bed propped on one side with a wooden block so we couldn’t roll out, was almost more than my vestibular system could handle. However, after consuming the giantest fish and chips serving on the menu from the famous Shap Chippy shop and soaking in a hot bath, I began to enjoy the wonky angles and short passageways rather than to ever so slightly fear them. In the morning we said a reluctant goodbye to our now dear friend and naturalist navigator, Rachel, who had accompanied us 4 full days. She has 14 days total to complete the C to C and needed to press on with a 20-mile day to Kirby Stephen rather than our short 8-mile day to Orton. “Well done, Rachel” were our parting words. We are excited to find out about her continued journey, and so thankful for her company! The walk today was a comparatively easy one, for which we were ever so grateful after yesterday’s killer. We traveled 8 miles over rolling limestone, heather-dotted grassland and pasture land. Spent the time leapfrogging with another Aussie couple (Di and John), Catrina (our new Scottish friend), two other women and another set of couples. Most of us headed to Orton, others to Kirkby Stephens. We have entered the Yorkshire Dales National Park, an vast mostly treeless area with wild grasses, heather, fields of low-cropped limestone and occasional creeks and valleys. An ancient stone circle was marked on our book, just off a main gravel road but a large number of us were stymied and couldn’t find it after rummaging around in the scrub grass for awhile. One said, “no matter, it’s just a bunch of rocks in a circle, and they don’t even know what they were for and when they were put there.” Another later said, “You know, they’re pretty low to the ground, not like STONEHENGE or anything.” Still, I was a bit disappointed. Another map alerted us to the location of Robin Hood’s Grave. Once again someone said, “They’re not even sure if Robin Hood existed, but if he did, they’re pretty sure he wasn’t buried HERE!” Way to pop my bubble. Oh well, funny thing is, when we got to the “site” there was only an unmarked spot with a pile of small rocks on the ground in a rectangular shape, roughly the size of a person. Anticlimactic indeed. The end of our walk took us to the top of a hill looking down at the little village of Orton at the bottom of a long, sweeping green slope, cross-crossed with a maze of stone fences gathering in groups of very loud and animated sheep. Locating our path through which pasture and over which stile or through which gate was a lot like playing that little hand-held game that has the small metal marble you have to get through the plastic maze. Somehow we made it to the edge of town and the very last stile beckoned us up and over the stone fence that led directly into the cemetery of the church built in 1295.. That can’t possibly be the way! Yep, it was! We hopped the fence, tiptoed through the graveyard, and out onto a road next to the church on the edge of the one-street town and found a nice bench to have our lunch on, while the church bells donged for about a half hour, practicing for King Charles’ coronation tomorrow. Shortly Tomas from the Czech Republic came by, with handfuls of food, about to head out of town to Kirby Stephen but we persuaded him to sit and eat with us. We peppered him with questions about where he is from and learned that Prague is beautiful and Czech people make good wine and drink a lot and that someday he wants to come to visit the Seattle area. Of course, we offered him a room at our house if he ever does. Waiting to check in at George’s Hotel, we enjoyed a stop at a robust local chocolate shop for coffee and crumpets, and, of course, a box of chocolates with our own hand-picked flavors. My favorites: dark chocolate apricot, dark chocolate rum and dark chocolate marzipan. I have no pictures because I ate them (too fast). The George seemed a bit sketchy when we entered the dark and musty/old smoke smelling pub but our room upstairs was fine and once the pub opened later, the pizza dinner was nice and the pub cosy, providing an atmosphere and venue perfect for working on my blog through the evening. The first picture of the map below shows us on the blue dot, in Orton, about 70 miles from our start on the west coast in St. Bees (green dot). We’ve come a long way! Headed to Robin Hood’s Bay on the east coast (black dot).