Dales High Way - Day 7, Newbiggin-on-Lune to Appleby

We bade a sad farewell to landlady Brenda, and to fellow walkers Mike and Brian, and set out under cloudy skies. Not the best start to the day, but considering our track record on this hike, pretty good: at least it was 'only' grey and overcast - there did not appear to be any great prospect of rain.

Soon we were heading over grassy moorland, picking up the Coast-to-Coast path for a mile or so. (Strange that we remembered some of this stretch, but not all - I imagine we must have been on auto-pilot (or more likely too busy nattering ?) first time around.) The moorland was very open with few photo opportunities or obvious landmarks - I imagine it would be dire in inclement weather - but it made for very pleasant walking, giving one a satisfying sense of being part of 'the great outdoors'.

We dropped down to Great Asby through fields of long grass and wildflowers (beautiful !), along a quiet green lane bordered by more wildflowers (gorgeous !) ... before encountering Clockeld - a "busy working farm" (distinctly grotty). Beyond Howe Slacks we walked through field after field of buttercup meadows as we followed the course of Scale Beck and Hoff Beck.

As we reached Rutter Gill and it's picturesque waterfall the sun came out and we were at last able to remove fleeces. We stopped for a quick snack, bathing in the heat of the sun and enjoying, at last, the opportunity to be in shirt sleeves.

Beyond, there were more vibrant buttercup meadows, and beautiful river views stretching almost all the way to Appleby ... but not quite...

Occasionally, as we pass through life, one's spirit can be lifted immeasurably by the serendipity of being in the right place at the right time: Beautiful riverside meadows, glorious sunshine, strolling along hand-in-hand with the one you love ... but of course we should know by now that situations like that are only fleeting ...

Just past 'Cuddling Hole' (yes, we did. How could you just walk past something called 'Cuddling Hole' ?) we came across a couple of branches laid across the path as if to block the way forward. Strange, we thought. This is a public footpath - and a recognised long-distance walk to boot. We continued ... to find that there had been a major landslide - or more to the point a major mudslide - that had completely obliterated the path for about fifty metres or so.

We could quite clearly see the route continuing beyond the mud, and not wishing to back-track (we had a train to catch, after all, and had no idea how far we would have to detour), we decided to continue. After all, we reasoned, there hadn't been any significant rain last night, and although there obviously was a lot of mud on the track, and the whole bank had collapsed, weren't we experienced walkers? We had been hiking in the deepest, wildest depths of remote countries halfway round the world: climbed mountains in Peru, trekked through the wilderness in Ethiopia. We had walked the Coast-to Coast, and that was bl**dy boggy in places! Carolyn pushed me ahead: "You go first - it doesn't look too ... "

By this time my right boot is twelve inches below where I expect it to be, and I can feel a cold, clammy sensation as the bright orange, slimy mud oozes through my trousers up to my knee ....

Beyond the detour (!) we crossed open fields to finally drop down to a pretty, but overgrown, green lane that energed on the outskirts of Appleby. A five-minute walk uphill to the castle gates and we were at High Cross looking down on the town. After a brief sit on the bench here we headed down to Lower Cross and the obligatory 'official end of walk' photos.

We had made really good time, so we took the oppotunity to have a light lunch (followed by an icecream) in the town before heading up to the railway station. Here Carolyn bought a couple of Settle to Carlisle momentoes for her Dad .. and Steve bought more chocolate !

THE END.

Early purple orchid