Miles walked today: 15

Total trip miles: 140

Elevation gain today: 447 ft.

Accommodation: Ashfield House

Last night we told our host at Nuns Cottage that we wanted breakfast at 7:45 so we could get started a little earlier than usual since we had 14 miles to go today. We have been getting on the walk by about 8:30. Despite wanting to leave early today, we didn’t leave until 9:30 since we got involved in a conversation with our host that touched on her history as a B&B operator, what she likes about Yorkshire, COVID, and finally politics. So much for starting early!

We left Richmond by going over the bridge and through a long park along the River Swale. After we left the park, it soon was raining the hardest it has rained our whole trip, although it wasn’t what we could call a downpour. We stopped under a tree to put on our rain pants and pack covers. When we were ready to go, we realized a herd of sheep was covering the path ahead. We walked on through like a couple of seasoned shepherdesses. Sheep don’t intimidate us, but cows now…

Before completely leaving the river, we passed through a wood where the path was once again lined with wild garlic. I really enjoyed walking through there, smelling the garlic and listening to all the birds singing. (I didn’t enjoy the sounds of the guns from the military base so much. We heard them off and on all morning and into the early afternoon!)

As we moved deeper into farmland, the rain continued and I was so thankful I had my waterproof socks on. I didn’t bring leather boots this trip; I’m wearing my mid-rise and low-rise Altra boots/shoes. While they are all-weather, they aren’t completely water resistant, but my waterproof socks are really doing the trick. My feet are holding up much better this time and while I have had a couple of small blisters, I’m not plagued with big ones like in 2015. The fields we passed through today were more pastures than meadowlands and we started seeing more cows. As we were crossing diagonally across one field, we realized there was a bunch of cows and calves around our exit. The only other way out was a gate marked “Private” but we just said too bad, we are going out that way! We were even more glad we had when we passed the cows and realized there was also a bull in there!

We passed through our first barley fields today. It’s not quite golden yet, but it was still very pretty. In one field, the wind was whipping around and the swaying of the tops was mesmerizing, although at one point it made me a little dizzy.

We held off on having our lunch until the rain stopped, but then we had a hard time finding a lunch spot because we were walking for a long time between two wire fences marked with Private signs. We were back along the river and there was a moss-covered wall along the bank and lots of wildflowers in the fenced off plot. I was feeling rather resentful of the owners of that property but I forgave them a little when we came upon three young Highland cattle and realized that idyllic area was their pasture.

Nancy and I have been doing a good job finding our way, but we came upon one area today that had us stumped a bit. Two men wearing shorts and evidence of stinging nettles and thistles on their legs caught up and were confused as well. We all conferred and they decided to take the route that showed up on the GPS but not our guidebook. We were still debating when another couple that we have passed but not really talked to came up. They were planning to take the route in the guidebook even though it was mostly on quiet backroads rather than paths. We decided to tag along with them and the afternoon went very quickly. Well, sort of. We were about 4 1/2 miles out and the first part went quickly. We were tiring, though, when we took the footpath that said Danby Wiske 1 1/2 miles. When we came to a sign that said Danby Wiske 1/2 mile and I remarked that that was one long mile, Adrian said it was a “Yorkshire” mile. That must explain why so many of our days have turned out to be longer than what the guidebook says!

Anyway, we arrived in Danby Wiske before 4:30, so our late start didn’t make any difference. What makes a difference is not to be doing so much climbing! Danby Wiske is looking festive with decorations for the Queen’s Jubilee. We ate an excellent dinner at the White Swan Pub, the only place to eat in town. Adrian and Bonnie, and another British couple—Chris and Diane, and Nancy and I were the only ones eating there this evening so it was another pleasant evening with other walkers.