Day 10: Richmond to Danby Wiske, 10 miles (Lisa’s Version)

Photos

The walk to Danby Wiske was flat, unshaded, and mostly on the road. I think Gordon, especially, like Mr. Wainwright, was feeling uninspired by our walk today. We played some alphabet games to pass the time and waited for hours for a shady place to take a break. We found a stream lined with trees and sat on the bridge for a moment to rest and eat snacks. By now, we were a stone’s throw away from Danby Wiske. We made our way through the very small town to the Manor House, which, according to our hosts, Mike and Jan, was Lord Baltimore’s house. Mike, a pencil of a man, smiled when he greeted us at the door and said, “This house is older than your country!”

After showering, we went to the only pub in town, the White Swan, to watch England play Portugal in the semi-finals. We were sharing the pub with a wedding party, our California friends, and two other walking companions, Paula and Hilary from London. We moved half-eaten pieces of chocolate cake in napkins from chair tops, brushed off some crumbs, rearranged stools, ordered some beer, dodged the cue sticks from the kids who were playing snooker, watched as the World Cup game was projected on a sheet on a wall, and witnessed England’s loss to Portugal in the last penalty kick of the shoot-out. It was a tragic way to lose, but quite a fun atmosphere.

For dinner, since the pub wasn’t serving food tonight, Mike flew us into the nearest town. We were gliding over that windy country road like a silent rollercoaster while the calm classical music played on and in five minutes we had arrived in Northallerton. We had some pizza and the Road Runner was there to pick us up by the time Gordon was stepping out of the phone booth. MEEP! MEEP!

In the morning Gordon was looking for his sock. I just looked at him and smiled at first because I thought he was playing a trick on me. He does that, you know. It was sticking to the velcro on the back of his pants, but it looked like he had tucked it into his pocket. He was turning in circles and picking things up to peer underneath, “Where’s my sock?” That’s when I realized it was the velcro.