Day 8 - Orton to Kirkby Stephen.

The Scar Side Farm provides dinner and I came down at the appointed time to find the six Wyoming people who I had met numerous times along the trail. You could buy wine and beer and they were all sipping glasses of red wine. Most of us then tucked into a delicious steak pie and the others enjoyed what looked like a mix of couscous, potato, carrot and cheese which they said was delicious. It has been wonderful to meet up with your fellow travelers at various times.

A touch of colour to start the blog and as usual, here is the link to the map.

It was a cold, windy, miserable day as we set off. It did not improve too much. It was not raining but the odd few spots of moisture came down.

The B and B.

Wainwright thought these looked like elephants lying down.

The Wyoming hikers walk faster than I do and so I let them go ahead. Oddly enough, I usually catch up to them after a while as they check for directions or have to climb a fence.

Yet another way of getting over a stone wall.

Miserable weather. It was very windy and cold. Somewhere along the way I passed a recently deceased lamb that no doubt died of the cold.

Since there was a practice yard for horse jumping, I presume this circular structure is a horse barn.

The trail follows a road for a little. It makes a change from the dirt or stone path.

It can be so beautiful up here but you don't linger on a day like this other than to take the photo.

A disused train viaduct.

Something to do with the disused train line I presume.

We all huddled beside the wall to eat lunch. The wind was coming from the north east and it was very strong up in these unprotected areas. I did not sit down since I thought I would stiffen up.

My GPS suddenly ran out of power so I connected it to my backup power unit and it quickly recharged. Unfortunately I did not start up the mapping app (Every Trail) so the record of my walk on the map stops here. I was still able to find my way with the View Ranger app.

A car tunnel under the famous train line from Settle to Carlisle. We did not go through this tunnel but another tunnel for pedestrians a bit further south.

The tunnel. There was not much distance now to Kirkby Stephen.  

The group decided not to take the Wainright route into KS since they wanted to stop at the closest pub for a break and a beer. So we took an alternate path that ended on the busy road leading south from KS. There was very little room beside the road so I don't think they will make that mistake again. The Wainright track keeps you away from roads like that.

The pub they were aiming at was closed so we continued on into the town where we all had a drink at the Black Bull pub. Fort a change I tried this cider which was excellent.

So I said farewell to the Wyoming group. They were staying in a different B and B and were leaving the next day. They were a terrific group to walk with.