Day 11: Danby Wiske to Osmotherley, 12 miles (Gordon’s Version)

Photos

After waking up today and realizing we still have 12 more miles of flat, road walking to go, we both could understand why some people just toughen up and do 21ish miles from Richmond to Ingleby Cross in one go. But we enjoyed our leisurely stroll through the flat, hot countryside as much as one can who is going through mountain withdrawal. The most interesting part of the day was when we followed the public footpath into a field filled with cows. Our recent experiences with the bovine species had comforted us, allowing us to see that all cows are not killers, and that that experience of the charging momma cow outside of Shap was a fluke, nothing by which you could rightfully judge all cows. Yet horrid flashbacks began to occur when we crossed a stile and entered into their territory. Immediately 20 or 30 chunky heads turned our way and just stared. That long, uncomfortable stare as if there was bit of food in our teeth and they just couldn’t keep from looking. As we approached, the cows started moving. Not away from us. No, that would be too courteous of them. Instead they all started moving directly at us. We inhaled deeply, and pressed on. Hoping that they would see our determination and relent. We weren’t sure whether they could smell fear or not, but we sure hoped not. As we got closer and closer, we realized that the cows started heading not toward us, but toward an empty feeding bin in the middle of the field. These weren’t demented beasts after all, they just though we were bringing them a little bit of hay for them to eat…and then spit out…..and then eat again.

We headed out from the pasture and on towards the glorious hills that lay before us. We stopped at a major highway and ate some ice cream with our California dudes while resting in the shade. There was no bridge over this road as there was on the way to Shap, so we needed refreshment and rest in order to summon the strenth to scamper across this unpedestrianized motorway. With courage and fortitude we all made it, empathizing with rabbits, opossums, deer and armadillos along the way. It was a bit like the game Frogger, and fortunately we successfully made it to level 2. We passed through the twin towns of Ingleby Cross and Ingleby Arcliffe, before climbing a forest road, and heading off the main trail for mile to the town of Osmotherly, our place of rest for the night. The hostel wasnot open when we arrived so we dropped our bags, washed ourselves a bit in kitchen, and headed back into town frozen treats, dinner, and then more frozen treats. We slept well and headed off in the morning on a shortcut that got us back on the trail without descending and then reascending. Only 3 more days to go!