Daily Information
Distance: 30.2 Kms [287.3 Kms]
Walking time: 5h 44m [66h 48m]
Avg walking speed: 5.2 Kms/hr [4.3 Kms/hr]
Elevation G/L meters: 284:(513) [7,326;(7,308)]
Total Daily Steps: 38,503 [399,847]
A very strong walking day in the moors…cloudy, cool, no rain. Very quiet day…resulting in a lot of day dreaming 😴 time where my mind goes absolutely everywhere 😊. We had a bit of a climb early then mostly flat for the rest of the day with a fair amount of road walking past the mid point at Blakey Ridge.
Back to last evening had another fun meal this time with Mark and Kevin.
Kevin is a Program Manager for a Pharmaceutical developer in New Jersey US. I think we first came across Kevin on the Green route through the bogs…as I recall he was laughing about what we were doing. Interesting career involving NASA and various other projects. Kevin says his current job isn’t as I interesting but it 💰 well…a $40k unsolicited pay raise last year 🥹.
Program Managers are a different breed…they have a very rough job corralling IT folks…Business folks are generally pretty undemanding and easy to get along with though 😇. Kevin professes to have no people skills 😂…however one can tell just listening to him that he gets at the root of issues pretty quickly.
Example - he just found out about the rail strike on Sep 30th therefore his travel plans are toast. On the phone he quickly finds out Uber may be an option…hang the cost…he will determine today if it’s an option. We described our upcoming journey…ordeal on the bus…and he simply says “you guys are welcome to join me…no cost as I am doing this!”. Hmmm if that is possible we could keep our Sep 29th B&B reservation 😊. So TBD…bus tickets non refundable…I am sure we would offer Kevin some 💰.
Kevin also skydives…that got me thinking about my skydiving 🪂 observation day years ago with a friend. I went up in a small plane with a parachute on my back and watched two guys jump out of the plane.
As I was walking today I thought about what would have happened in an emergency had I been required to jump. 100% certain 1) I would not have paid attention or understood pre flight instructions and 2) I would have panicked 😱
In my panic I expect I would have pulled the chute deployment cord while still in the plane with the door open. Three likely scenarios:
1) Parachute paraphernalia gets tangled in plane and I am left dangling in the air…not good for landing ☠️
2) Parachute paraphernalia gets caught around my neck and I am dangling in the air…☠️
3) Parachute paraphernalia snaps and I plummet in a field and go splat ☠️
Never, never, never would I jump however I did ford freezing cold downstream rushing streams to the knees for 15-20 feet 😅🤔 That was a little dicey!
Supper was again superb…
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| Beef stroganoff |
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| I think it was rice pudding or maybe jello? |
Had a great night’s sleep from 9:30pm…woke up at 5:15am…that NEVER happens. Usually wake up a time or two to you know look at pictures on the wall, tidy up…😂
Had another superb English Breakfast…a quick shuttle to where we finished walking yesterday and we were off!
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| Suspect Greg had something to do with this sign |
Before we knew it we were half way done for the day and stopped at Lions Inn for a coke to maintain energies! Low and behold some friends were there. This has always been a long walk highlight for me…essentially knowing people for hours over several days and all of all sudden we are old friends!
We needle each other (my specialty 😂), encourage each other and swap war type stories which grow and grow with each passing hour!
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Mark - UK Had great fun meeting Mark!
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| Ben (L) Jason (R) |
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| Kevin - US |
Ben and Jason are doing a charity walk we understand…saw them later and donated a few quid. For you non UK folks that’s a few pounds.
Guy is a name many have trouble with - “Guy Fawkes pronunciation” would be typical in UK…so often I just say it rhymes with “pee” and this seems to stick 😊.
Not sure if I have mentioned this in an earlier blogpost…if so please accept my sincerest apologies. Mac’s GPS files are great but you have to keep looking at your phone to see if on route. I have a separate GPS route in Wikilocs and it beeps if you go off route. Very handy feature and today it saved us at least once…will recommend to Mac’s Adventures that they pursue this change.
We checked into our accommodation…hmmm we have been very fortunate so far however this one leaves a fair amount to be desired and neither Greg and I have super high standards. This is what is outside the entrance of the Inn which was likely built in early Roman times…we think it has to do with pest control?
Another of my walking ponders today while walking on the right side of the road facing traffic was how neat this was. You can hear traffic coming from behind you and when it passes it is in the far left lane…safe!
Maybe 🤔 5 minutes later it dawned on me that in Canada we walk on the left side of the road facing traffic and you can hear traffic coming from behind you and when it passes it is the far right lane…safe!
Another few minutes pass and bingo…there really isn’t any difference! Life truly is amazing!
Maybe 4 kms from the end Greg hands me some M&M’s. « Greg…why…not even a whisper of complaint from me today…really 99.51% of the time I am good! »
Greg answers « That’s for good behaviour » That was quick and man it’s my style of humour!
Ok here is what we have done Green bubble to blue dot…here is what we have left blue dot to Red bubble!
One more day…will be a little more challenging than today however the weather should be good. I foresee climbing a hill later in the day…gazing at the North Sea and shouting « OMG 😆…We did it!!! » Then walking a little further and pitching that rock carried from the Irish Sea in the North Sea…goodbye with a tear in the eye!
Finally a few pictures from a nondescript day scenery wise for many…for me it was superb!
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| Hellar - Hunter blind for shooting pheasants…hardly seems fair 🤔 |
