Day 8 arrived and we were looking forward to a good pub breakfast. Shifty and Hayley had come to meet us this morning - Shifty was walking with us, Hayley offering the support vehicle for the day. We had filled our breakfast menu in the previous night and were on our way down. Only problem was the door to the dining area was locked. Hmmm, we had a walk out for a bit, came back and it was still locked. It was a little after the agreed time of 7:30am when the cleaner arrived. She had the look of despair on her face but at least she opened the door so we could get our seats. Joining us was an already irate Scotsman who needed to get to Barnsley, he clearly was in no mood for hanging around. The poor cleaner was apologising and offered to make us tea after inviting us to help ourselves to the cereals. As the Scotsman took the cornflakes they dropped all over the floor, that didn't help. By now it was 8:00am, and we had decided to go to the Wetherspoons pub over the road for breakfast. I was squaring up for the stay with the cleaner (in the absence of anyone else - don't worry I got a receipt), less a £15 discount for breakfasts when the owner stuck his head through the door "sorry gents", then disappeared again. It was a shoddy performance, the owner who was obviously the chef as well, was blearly eyed after a heavy session the night before, and I got the impression it wasn't the first time the cleaner had to run the show. Nevertheless we went to Wetherspoons, had a great breakfast, which I managed to slop down my shirt (but we won't talk about that).
OK, back to the walk. One of the options for today was Richmond to Osmotherley, but having walked that before I vowed never to do it again, so I opted for Richmond to Danby Wiske. Having left the pub we seemed to go entirely the wrong way around the market square before coming out about 10 metres on the other side of the pub. Nevermind.
We had a good pace going, and as always, it was nice to have somebody else walking with us, Shifty this time (who incidentally enjoyed it so much he came back for another day later on!). Within an hour we were at Brompton-on-Swale and we decided to treat ourselves to a lottery ticket. We never won.
We pushed on from Brompton-on-Swale to a little village called Bolton-on-Swale. It was a nice little place with an old water pump in the middle. We veered left into the churchyard in search of the legendary Henry Jenkins tombstone. It wasn't too hard to find, it was the biggest there. Apparently he lived to be 169 years old...honestly! There were a couple of benches there so we decided to stop off and have our lunch, yes, in the graveyard.
After lunch we moved on and passed through Catterick and into a series of fields, where I was fortunate enough to put my hand in birdmuck while crossing a stile (and we still didn't win the lottery!). We later encountered what could only be described as 'THE BEAST', that's Shifty's words not mine. As we walked along a country path we seen something in the distance hurtling towards us, ok, at that point you could have been forgiven for thinking it was a pitbull terrier running at us. Naturally, we assumed the 'shitting yourself' position - that is Dr Dolittle (Ged) at the front with me, Dad and Shifty cowering behind. To be fair, Ged stood his ground and as this creature came closer Shifty shreiked out "It's a beast!". Well, it was still approaching but didn't seem to have blood dripping from it's fangs like we expected, and it finally came to about 10 foot away and turned out to be not so much a beast as some kind of pathetic terrier. It actually took one look at us and started to retreat, hell I even got close enough to take a photo!
We survived the beast experience and marched on into Danby Wiske. Having witnessed the depressing landlord once before at the White Swan, I was fully expecting the same, but it wasn't quite so bad, and his business partner was working, who actually was very pleasant! We sat down and I tasted my first, and by no means my last, pint of Wainwright Ale, very tasty. It was also our first encounter with Mark & Felicia, a couple from Chicago who were also walking the C2C but in more days than us, and a large gang of walkers from Wyoming.
Fr Damian from Osmotherley had very kindly allowed us to stay for two nights in the Lady Chapel there, this being our first of them, so Nat picked us up from Danby Wiske and took us to Osmotherley where we would meet up with Mam and Hayley too. We got our gear set up in the Chapel, and, after a song from the Three Tenors, we headed to the Queen Catherine for a couple of drinks and a bite to eat.
The pub was a great choice - more Wainwright Ale, and everybody had something to nibble, the highlight being Col's Steak & Ale Pie, which was more like one of Desperate Dan's famous cow pies - it even had the horns I think. Ged was in for a treat too as Trish, Emily, Jack and Cameron had come over on a surprise visit to see him.
We were closer to home now than we would be when we finished! Day 8 out of the way, we were two thirds done, only 4 days to go. Nearly 15 miles added to the clock.
OK, back to the walk. One of the options for today was Richmond to Osmotherley, but having walked that before I vowed never to do it again, so I opted for Richmond to Danby Wiske. Having left the pub we seemed to go entirely the wrong way around the market square before coming out about 10 metres on the other side of the pub. Nevermind.
We had a good pace going, and as always, it was nice to have somebody else walking with us, Shifty this time (who incidentally enjoyed it so much he came back for another day later on!). Within an hour we were at Brompton-on-Swale and we decided to treat ourselves to a lottery ticket. We never won.
We pushed on from Brompton-on-Swale to a little village called Bolton-on-Swale. It was a nice little place with an old water pump in the middle. We veered left into the churchyard in search of the legendary Henry Jenkins tombstone. It wasn't too hard to find, it was the biggest there. Apparently he lived to be 169 years old...honestly! There were a couple of benches there so we decided to stop off and have our lunch, yes, in the graveyard.
After lunch we moved on and passed through Catterick and into a series of fields, where I was fortunate enough to put my hand in birdmuck while crossing a stile (and we still didn't win the lottery!). We later encountered what could only be described as 'THE BEAST', that's Shifty's words not mine. As we walked along a country path we seen something in the distance hurtling towards us, ok, at that point you could have been forgiven for thinking it was a pitbull terrier running at us. Naturally, we assumed the 'shitting yourself' position - that is Dr Dolittle (Ged) at the front with me, Dad and Shifty cowering behind. To be fair, Ged stood his ground and as this creature came closer Shifty shreiked out "It's a beast!". Well, it was still approaching but didn't seem to have blood dripping from it's fangs like we expected, and it finally came to about 10 foot away and turned out to be not so much a beast as some kind of pathetic terrier. It actually took one look at us and started to retreat, hell I even got close enough to take a photo!
We survived the beast experience and marched on into Danby Wiske. Having witnessed the depressing landlord once before at the White Swan, I was fully expecting the same, but it wasn't quite so bad, and his business partner was working, who actually was very pleasant! We sat down and I tasted my first, and by no means my last, pint of Wainwright Ale, very tasty. It was also our first encounter with Mark & Felicia, a couple from Chicago who were also walking the C2C but in more days than us, and a large gang of walkers from Wyoming.
Fr Damian from Osmotherley had very kindly allowed us to stay for two nights in the Lady Chapel there, this being our first of them, so Nat picked us up from Danby Wiske and took us to Osmotherley where we would meet up with Mam and Hayley too. We got our gear set up in the Chapel, and, after a song from the Three Tenors, we headed to the Queen Catherine for a couple of drinks and a bite to eat.
The pub was a great choice - more Wainwright Ale, and everybody had something to nibble, the highlight being Col's Steak & Ale Pie, which was more like one of Desperate Dan's famous cow pies - it even had the horns I think. Ged was in for a treat too as Trish, Emily, Jack and Cameron had come over on a surprise visit to see him.
We were closer to home now than we would be when we finished! Day 8 out of the way, we were two thirds done, only 4 days to go. Nearly 15 miles added to the clock.
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