The lone hiker from SE England caught up with us around mile 8 and stayed with us, encouraging us, all day. We ate lunch on the trail just beyond a mucky sheep farm. New use for your backpack rain cover: picnic blanket to keep your seat dry. Best almond tart ever (thanks to Margaret); so good in fact Kay asked both of us if we'd like her to eat ours so we wouldn't have to suffer through.
After miles and miles and hours and hours of sheep farms and drystone walls, not to mention the detour to avoid the cows and new calves, we closed in on Kirkby Stephen by slogging through a very messy cow-pied dairy farm. As we wandered the back alley entrance defined on the trail, a little old lady came out in her stocking feet to guide us into town. She keeps watch through her picture window for stray coast-to-coasters! She claimed it was just 10 minutes up the road (as every local giving us directions has said). 20 minutes later we arrived at the Castle View B&B, newly remodeled and staffed by the owners sister as the owner was "in hospital" giving birth to her first -Tommy.
We closed the evening out at the Black Bull and ran into the California tour group of 8 plus a guide and his wife who 'worry' about us every day. They're on the luxury tour with a private van that whisks them from trail's end to accommodation and dinner each night then back to the trail the next morning. They've dubbed us the MN Girls and claim they know where we are each day because they can hear us laughing & giggling. Our British and Aussie friends have also told us how happy we are and how much fun we seem to be having. They call us the MN Maids which is a bit more palatable for us middle agers than 'girls'.
Themes for the day:
- Just a half mile more
- Every stile or gate is a muddy, mucky ****ty mess
- Remember to be MN nice to everyone!
- Over every hill lies another hill, sheep pasture, and drystone wall to climb over
- Speaking of sheep pasture, we've developed an aversion to black beans.
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