Day 10

Day 10:  Reeth to Richmond.  About 18km.  A new arrival record - in town by about 4 and to the hotel by about 4:30.

We were living on the edge early this morning.  Three of us broke with the tradition of the "full English breakfast" and went for the omelette.  Huge - there must have been at least 4 eggs in each one.  Once out of the hotel we took about another hour before we actually left town.  Reeth was a very happening little burg today - both a cycle race and a running race.  Not sure exactly where they were going, but one local told us the running race was a 24-mile fell race up and through the boggy section that we traversed a few days ago.  We all had trouble believing that.  Who would enter??  And - way too much damage to the land.  Speaking of the bog....  forgot to mention that that was about the only section of our walk so far that we were sheep-free for a short period of time.  Guess they don't like the stuff either!  We did a bit of shopping for Tour de France swag (I bought a postcard and a magazine - woohoo!), a stop at the bakery, a visit to the tourist info/national park/library/municipal/etc. office and had a lovely chat with the lady there.  By the time we were ready to hit the road, we could see the runners way up on the hillside, so we had to stare at them in disbelief for a bit.  Many times this trip we have had to comment on how tough they make them in this region!  Apparently Reeth markets itself as a "green gym".

At long last - on the trail.  The day was warm and humid, verging on mist/drizzle.  The rain never did materialize, though, so the weather gods were with us again today.  We followed the River Swale again for a bit in the morning and then on the road as far as the old Marrick Priory, which is now a residential outdoor education centre.  Lots of kids milling about getting ready for an outing.  We went up the Nun's Steps - 375 steps of huge flat rocks said to have been placed there by nuns several centuries ago.  I can't imagine the amount of work required for that!  To me, it seemed clear that they were not built by men.  The vertical rise between steps was quite small and not tiring on the legs at all.  

Today's scenery was pleasant.  Not particularly stunning, but nice and gentle.  Rolling hills and perhaps a few more trees than we've seen for a while.  Still some lovely paddocks to travel through.  We stopped at a bench in the village of Marske to eat our lunch.   The skies cleared a bit in the afternoon and we even saw the sun a few times.  It was an uneventful trip into Richmond - a beautiful little town established around a castle built in the 11th century.  We didn't take the time to see the castle on the way in to town; maybe tomorrow.  Happy hour was calling, so we stopped for a bottle of wine and some nibblies and proceeded to find our lodging.  It's a lovely old building with a little balcony off one of the rooms - perfect for our purposes.  Richmond is the largest settlement on the C2C trail.  We had a great Italian dinner, but we're just not used to the noise and bustle of a busy restaurant.  We were happy to return to our quarters at the Old Brewery Guesthouse.