From the Lakes to Yorkshire
The experience of the walk is coloured by the conviviality of the people you pass. There’s nothing like a friendly hello or a jolly, crinkle-eyed smile as you’re walking along, decrepit with weariness, to motivate you. There are also the wine-soaked conversations at the end of the evening with fellow trekkers. I’ve met people from all over the world – Holland, Germany, the US, Switzerland, Australia – some coming here for the second or third time. They all say there’s something unique about this walk, landscapes you won’t find elsewhere, the contrasts and, of course, the country living. Just don’t do it with blisters.
As far as feet go, I think the worst is behind me because I’m now in God’s country, the Yorkshire Dales, where stony paths are replaced by heather and gorse. Sure, it misses some of the savagery of the Lakes but it most certainly has its own charm. The walk from Keld to Gunnerside is the most lovely stretch I’ve been through so far, bustling with wildlife, winding rivers and golden meadows.
But while the Dales is noted for its bucolic landscape it also has a dark underside – bogs. It gets tremendously muddy, I’m warned. Sure, I say. But at least it will be soft for the feet. I’m right. It’s soft. Very soft. Step after sinking soft step, in fact. The words: “If you’re going through hell keep going” repeat in my mind as I trudge through the muddy moor housing the Nine Standards prehistoric stones. At some point I plunge up to my waist. In a panic I wonder if I will end here, stuck in the mud like the Tollund Man, forever frozen.
I don’t die but manage to revive myself with a cream tea and orange juice at Ravenseat Farm a few hours later. On the subject of food, there’s some amazing stuff to be had on this walk. Visit the organic bakery in Reeth for exceptional coffee and cake. And whatever you do don’t miss Lord Stones, the only eating place on the way to Blakey Ridge in the moors. It has one of the nicest bacon sandwiches I’ve ever eaten in my life, dripping with butter, that will have you drooling, walk or no walk.
