Our longest day of the trek is complete! It was an interesting day passing through many farms and a few small villages, which probably sounds a lot like the previous days in the dales, but at times if felt like we were in a completely different country.
We started with a delightful breakfast prepared by Sharon and Colin, our hosts at the Willance. Fresh fruit, yogurt, and Eggs Benedict were on the menu today.
As we departed Richmond, we bid farewell to the city's castle and the River Swale: we've been following this river since our time in the peat bogs, and it has been fun to watch it swell as we hiked downstream. We got to spend a few more miles on its shore later on in the trail before departing for good. Dad and I both agreed it would make an excellent river for kayaking: perhaps next time!
Almost as soon as our hike began, we noticed some stark differences in the local landscape and architecture. Stone walls have been replaced by hedges, and stone houses with slate roofs were largely replaced by stuccoed houses with red tile roofs.
One of the more interesting stops of the day was St. Mary's Church in Bolton-on-Swale. In addition to providing food and drinks for hikers (usually for a small fee or donation), this particular church is also home to the remains of Henry Jenkins, who was reportedly 169 years old when he died. I have...doubts. But it was fun to see none-the-less, and a neat old church to boot.
Later on in our hike, we traversed through the first fields that were not pasture or hayfields! My dad and I both exclaimed, "Corn!" when the first glimpse of the green tassled stalks came into view. It's funny to be so surprised by something you see every day back home, but the dales will do that to you! In addition to corn, we also saw some fall barley, wheat (already harvested), turnips or radishes (a cover crop in the wheat stubble).
Cover crops, fall barley (and rocks for John :) ) and corn!
We had some muddy parts of the trail, including a small section through a recently plowed clay-heavy field, and a muddy slanted section about 8" across on which our left was flanked by a 4-strand barbed wire fence, and our right by outrageous amounts of stinging nettle. Choosing nature over stitches, we're still a little prickly tonight, but I'm sure some antihistimines and sleep will put that right.
Fortunately the weather was mostly on our side: we did have to contend with a couple of short downpours, but we dried quickly in the wind. We saw many new breeds today, including some Scottish Highland cattle which I honestly thought I would have seen many more of by now. They are very popular in the US, but perhaps the same can not be said here. We also got to stop by Catterick Races, the local turf racetrack established in 1783, but unfortuantely there was no action today.
We arrived in Ingleby Cross before 4 pm, and were greeted by our most enthusiastic hostess, who presented us with a lovely cream tea (I forgot how good clotted cream is!) and regaled us about the wonderful adventure that awaits tomorrow. She also happens to have footspas in each room, and I took complete advantage as soon as I possibly could.
Dinner was a pickled egg and a burger as big as my head (fish and chips and a pint for dad). I couldn't quite conquer all of my burger, but I feel I've done enough to prepare for the elevation-heavy hike to come tomorrow.
Until then!
Kelsey and Brian
Step Count: 47,603
Miles Hiked Today: 22.87 miles
Elevation: 830 ft
Time Hiking: 7 hours 15 minutes
New UK Breeds Seen Today: Scottish Highland Cattle
Shropshire Sheep
Staffordshire Terriers
Lots of geese TBD
Eggs benedict! 🤤
Looks like it was a another wonderful day in the Dales!
That was quite a sloggy hike across the field, though. 😵💫
Footbaths, what a wonderful amenity!!
I’ve never seen such cute cows!