Miles walked today: 12.9

Total trip miles: 186

Elevation gain: 635 ft.

Accommodation: The Horseshoe Hotel

Today we had the worst weather of our trip! Cold, windy, rain. The forecast for the whole morning was like that so we didn’t wait around. No dawdling, taking a lot of photos, or stopping to watch the birds today—except once when Nancy spotted a grouse hen not two feet from the edge of the path. As we watched, she moved and all her little chicks ran out and after her. I think the rain motivated us because we didn’t take a break until we came down off the moors at Glaisdale 9 1/2 miles later. The rain let up a little just then so when we found a bench out of the wind, we stopped and ate part of our lunch. We then moved on to a pub that thankfully was open because it had started raining again. We hung out there for an hour to get warm and have a cup of tea and dessert.

After getting warmed up, we set out again but this time at a leisurely pace. The rain had mostly stopped and we enjoyed walking through a woods along the river. When we left the river, we were back in the familiar company of green pastures, although today we were walking on a road.

We arrived at The Horseshoe Hotel just after three. Nancy and I both are feeling very tired, but when I looked out the window just after five and realized it was the best weather all day, I went out for a little stroll.

It’s hard to believe but we have only two days of walking left. Instead of one long last day, Nancy and I will only be walking six miles tomorrow and about 11 the following day.