Day 13- Richmond-Danby Wiske (15 miles)

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We actually managed to find our way out of town today without getting lost! In fact, we didn't get lost at all today which was a good thing since the walk was already 15+ miles.

This was the first day where the walk was rather tedious and somewhat boring. It was mostly flat with most of the walking through farmland as well as a number of miles along roads. I have enjoyed the farms and pastures on previous days because I loved seeing the sheep and cows, but today was primarily through fields of grain...wheat, barley, poppy, hay. When I complained at one point about the monotony of the scenery, Pat reminded me that the barley growing was mostly going to the wonderful beer we have been drinking!

We did walk through one small hamlet (Bolton on Swale) which was very interesting and fun. There was a church from the early 1700's which left coffee, tea and sodas in the church for hikers to take with a suggestion that a donation be left. There was a monument to a man who purportedly died at age 169 and also a sign noting that a former rector of the church was the founder of Maryland!

We arrived in the small village of Danby Wiske by 4...one of our earliest arrival times. We are getting better at navigating but it's also faster hiking when we don't have any elevation to deal with. Danby Wiske is definitely small....We are staying in the White Swan which is the only pub/store in the village. There are a couple of other small B&B's and that is the extent of the town.

We hiked again today with the Dutch sisters and will probably hike with them tomorrow. After that, they will be ahead of us. We have bern on the same schedule as a Dutch couple and have crossed paths with a group of Australians, but other than these people we haven't seen anyone regularly.

One of our group has taken the Packhorse van (the van transporting our luggage) a couple of days due to a muscle injury which she had before she left, but everyone else is still holding up.

There may not be any pictures today....the Internet is slow and pictures are not downloading.

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Photos

Nine Standards (8/5)
Huddling together in the gale force winds