Day 9 - Orton to Nateby

Woke this morning to sunshine.  Sunshine on the Coast-to-Coast; is this real or did I drink too much scrumpy last night?  We set off at a gentle pace again.  My knees are only just managing to stay in the game after their bruising on day six; and I'm far from the worst in our Coast-to-Coast cohort - one of the Americans can only make it across the floor of the restaurant each night with the aid of a Clydesdale.

The vast majority of the Coast-to-Coast is through farmland.  Even the land inside the national parks is grazed.  The grass is so green and lush that Fiona and I cannot understand why it is so lightly stocked.  It seems that each fat sheep or cow has vast areas of pasture on which to feed.  This rural British landscape is extremely varied, regularly interspersed with dry-stone walls, country lanes lined with wild flowers, tree lined streams and ancient arched bridges; although there are quite a few boggy cattle races and silage pits as well.

We are told that a skilled artisan can build 2m of dry-stone wall on a good day, and that approximately one tonne of stone is required for each metre of wall. It must have taken many generations to build what we see today.

Two consecutive days in dry boots.  I don't know whether I can take much more of this level of comfort.  We end the day at Nateby (a kilometre south of Kirkby Stephen) with another stay in a very pleasant English country pub.  It takes me over an hour to get the wifi to work, but we've come to expect this, and everything else is lovely. 

Distance Walked Today: 21km