Richmond

Richmond

We had a little bit of a lazy start and went down for breakfast 8:00. We were delighted with the spread before us and both tucked into huge bowls of fresh fruit salad before having scrambled eggs and toast and jam.

We finished packing and sat on the bench outside the b&b to force our boots back onto what I'm not sure I would still call feet. Setting out was tough as we waited for our muscles to loosen up again. We made a quick trip into the centre of Richmond to support some local businesses with our sandwich purchases. I couldn't resist a sneaky Yorkshire curd tart for the journey.

A steep decent down and we were on the river out or Richmond. After about 40 minutes of walking and a slight navigational error we felt and saw the first signs of the impending doom of rain.

This wasn't the sort or rain that passed over and cleared. Oh no, this was rain set to be with us for the next twenty miles. There was some variety in the rain however to keep it exciting. Sometimes it was heavy, most of the time it was really heavy. Sometimes it ran down your face and into your coat and all of the time it ran into your legs and into your boots. Huge crashes of thunder scared us stupid as we counted them a mile closer each time until we were just on the edge of the storm. 

Infront of us the roads and fields were relentless. A Wainright describes the miles as 'tedious and dull'. We suspect like us he had some other choice words to describe exactly what he felt about what has been the only really horrible day on the trip. 

The only higlights were a woman taking pitty on us offering to make us a cuppa which warmed our hearts. The second upon arriving at the village of barrow on Swale, where someone had set an honesty table beside the road with a selection of cakes. Having both opted for the honey and almond cake behind us a friendly farm lady asked if we would like a cup of tea with that. Yum yes please. We sat and talked with her for about twenty minutes and learnt lots about farming and Colin played with her sheep dogs.

At about 4:30 we arrived in the village of Danby Wilke. Still raining we stopped in the pub for a cup of tea and to essentially wring out our socks and drip all over their floor. The place was full of drowned coast to coasters who all shared in each others pain. Eventually we decided we had to move on. With nine miles still to go we were pushing our luck to arrive by 7pm. We did have a brain wave however. We were due to be camping but decided wet tent and wet walkers was a bad idea so we called ahead to ingleby cross and booked into a bed and breakfast. 

We were saved as there was one spare room in a guest house in the village so we were delighted when we arrived at 7pm (an impressively fast pace considering the way we were feeling and the distance).

A tray of warm scones & a pot of tea were presented to us in the conservatory along with a towel to dry ourselves off. Although all were appreciated the rather lengthy 'induction' did become tedious as we sat shivering in damp clothing dripping onto her furniture...she seemed unconcerned at our plight & that of her seats sadly.

Once in the room damp clothes were hung in every available space, boots were shoved full of newspaper & bodies were warmed & cleaned in the shower. Another trip to the local pub for food & a lemonade with a quick return to our room ended what has sadly been the worst day of our trip :-(