Richmond and Clean Socks

Days 11 & 12: Reeth to Richmond + rest day (easy walking through fields and forests, one short easy ascent)

After ten days and about 130 miles, we rambled into Richmond in North Yorkshire early Tuesday

First view of Ricmond from the hills above

afternoon.  It was our earliest arrival day yet, not at all coincidental to the two-day break Richmond promises.  Even without a calendar, I would have known we'd reach Richmond today as I unrolled my last pairs of clean socks and liners in Reeth.  While we do most of our trail washing in sinks, tubs and showers en route, the business of cleaning and drying woolen socks and liners overnight is nearly impossible.  At our B&B in Richmond, laundry service is available for a very reasonable 7 pounds!  So, as our socks dry, we're resting our feet at the Willance House in the village center.

The Willance House is the oldest remaining house in Richmond, known for the adventures of its first owner, Robert Willance, apparently remembered for having survived a cliff leap atop his horse (which, sadly, died).  The house is charming, the hosts delightful and the breakfast perhaps the best of the trek so far (how lucky are we to be able to enjoy it twice?).

Emerald C2C path through a pasture

Yesterday's eleven-mile path that brought us to Richmond was marked quite clearly and traversed easy walking terrain through a couple of lovely forests and many miles of farmer's fields.  Again I marveled at the emerald paths years of C2Cers have grooved into the fields -- encouraging drainage and keeping the path better watered than the rest of the field.  Throughout the fields the wooly Swaledale sheep continued to be our nearly constant company, now along with a hardier (noticeably stockier) breed, which has been introduced to fortify the stock.

It seems our rest timing may be quite lucky as it is raining out today.  Yesterday we experienced several showers heavy enough to cause us to take cover.  While I donned my rain jacket repeatedly, Cliff employed his trekking umbrella with ease and no small measure of flourish.  For the record, I did use my umbrella on the streets of Glasgow before leaving Scotland, but it now is nestled deep in my duffle (just feels a little awkward to me).

As you may imagine, Cliff has taken hundreds of photos at this point.  And while I've not been able to preview all of them, he does put a goodly number on a card for immediate use in the blog.  This photo of blue doors on an old farm we passed yesterday in Higher Applegarth is one of my very favorites.

For today, we're bootloose and fancy free.  More from the trail soon!