Offf to 7:45 start after good breakfast at Cotherstone Cottag - that was an excellent b sn d.
My route varied agai from my gpx route. I continued on the Tees Railway path to its end then did some precision navigation through a series of fields and footpaths to pick up the Teeside Way to Barnard Castle. I then followed the long long climb over The Stang in bright sunshine with a welcome wind even though it was blowing against me. Halfway up I stopped for a rest and I saw a large 4x4go past slowly. After a few minutes they returned saying they were concerned if I was alright. I must have looked half dead on the side of the road.
There was a long descent into Arkengathdale where I stopped and asked for a water refil at a house. The lady was very pleasant and in addition to filling my bottle gave me a n unopened bottle of Buxton water.
Another energy sapping climb out of Arkengarthdale WA tough going, but all the heather is in bloom and there were expansive views in all directions The Dales in general are for me the best parto of England for wild unspoilt (depending how you define that) scenery.
I had phoned ahead to Vivienne, my B and B at Gunnerside with a very rough eta. The last two and a half miles were hard going, not for terrain but because of my tiredness and I was so pleased. To fund Vivienne at the end of road waiting to guide me in.
I've just had very good fish and chip etc (skin removed) at the Kings Head. There is a big party going on and this pub in such a remorse area appears to be thriving. - good news.
Looking back down the Strang road - gives some idea of height gained.
Late afternoon sun across Swaledale
Apologies for any typos. It is not easy doing corrections and very time consuming postin including photos.
Please click to enlarge photos. Blogger is chopping them.
ReplyDeletePeople are very hospitable in that area.
ReplyDeleteDrop your mileage if you can Conrad, that's me lecturing!
Worry not about the typos - it's easy enough (so far!) to work out what you meant.
ReplyDeleteWe opened Bertie's door and offered a cup of tea to a cycle tourist today, who was about to set up his tent in the rain, and were most surprised when he accepted in an English accent. Of all the cyclist's in all of Germany (i.e. a very big number) we happened to find ourselves a Brit!
BC - after tomorrow and maybe the day after.yes. 14/15 would beal.
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Gsyle - good. Keep the flag flying. I managed to scrounge a bottle of water today.
What Bowlandclimber said - added to which it will allow you to better savour the wonderful area.
ReplyDeleteAs Gayle says - don't worry about the typos or the cropped photos for that matter. Just keep enjoying the walk.
ReplyDeleteI feel guilty (Actually I don't in the slightest, it's just a form of words) trawling through all your struggles including being passed by as a corpse, while I have languished in the Languedoc. Temperatures during the first week were routinely in the high thirties. Apart from the predictable disadvantages this had a deleterious effect on my creative spirit: a 2500-word short story I wrote there needed serious rewriting back in temperate Herefordshire. Removing the side-effects of sweat
ReplyDeleteYour world is ever further from mine. What can I do with a pleasant view? Nothing. But I wonder at Arkengarthdale. What linguistic processes brought about such a cumbersome name? Local residents would need to use the word regularly and yet it lacks good ergonomics. The most likely answer is that they would have informally shortened it, perhaps still do. But why not make it shorter in the first place? Rural folk are traditionally folk of few words and yet somewhere, down the tracks of history, they imposed this clunky burden on themselves. Ah, but you'll say, it captures the spirit of the place. In which case that spirit is one of bad planning and even worse communication. La-di-dah words, they'll say, leaning on drystone walls, looking out with glazed eyes and thinking about (their own judgment) "maistly nowt".
And then along comes a staggering townie wearing a deliberately funny hat, owner of several others including one lost in tragic circumstances in the Bay of Biscay. Lo, they'll say, he's struggled to get to Ar-ken-garth-dale, separating out the syllables to make the utterance last longer. We at least didn't need to do that. This passes for wisdom and all is silent.
Strange that you should have made that 'semantic' comment as I had been musing on commenting that when I lived In and around Darlington in the 60's and 70's , Swaledale, and Arkengarthdale in particular, were my favourites over Tees, Wensley or Wear dales - think it was the combination of rocky scarps and steepness without the grimness of Weardale that appealed and reminded me of my Westmerian roots - but perhaps the main draw was the still extant but utterly changed Kearton (of Cherry-Kearton connection) tearoom in Thwaite - and another in Langthwaite whose name I never knew - this latter was more 'remote' and with intensely personal service from the archetypal 'farmers wife/housekeeper' and that drew me/us time and again, summer or winter - table groaning with huge ham and egg and chips, pork pies, apple and blackberry pies, sponge cakes, sandwiches - on and on they came - I could go on - they did - huge pots of proper tea - and that was just for high tea - supper was another matter entirely - warm fires in cold weather - real 'Yorkshire' (or Northern , perhaps) hospitality: and for very little money . Never found it anywhere else quite like that - once even drove from Bradford on a New Year's Day just for tea.
ReplyDeleteSo Arken's garth and its eponymous dale will have a special chapter in my hagiography.
John j, afoot and others - I vowed tomorrow, Sunday would be shorter but only accommodation I could fin after ages on Internet was at Barnoldswick - 16 miles.
ReplyDelete-------------RR - I enjoyed your dissertation. You almost make it seem I am responsible for the quirky names. There are plenty more - vsee the next post.
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Wow! I've got you going this time. Thanks for you reminiscence.