DAY ELEVEN

DAY ELEVEN

The alarm was set for 7am this morning. When it went off neither off us wanted to get up so Richard reset it for 7.30. I finally woke up at 7.45 and jumped out of bed to shower expecting breakfast to be at 8. I thought it was strange that Richard was still in his bed 10 minutes later but he was laughing from his bed as he told me that he ordered breakfast for 8.30 instead of 8. I was gutted to find I could have had another 15mins on bed.

Breakfast was one of the best yet with freshly made fruit smoothies, fruit salad, yoghurt and home made bread. We then had scrambled eggs on toast with fresh eggs from the hens that Ray kept in the garden. The eggs were bright yellow and were the best i've ever tasted. 

Before long we were on our way. It was a long climb up Old Knock Man, the first of four hills we had to climb today. Already it was quite a warm day so we took it quite slow and steady. At the top we didn't stop long, just enough to eat a banana to give us energy to tackle the other three summits. Next came Great Dun Fell with the radar station sitting on top. It looks like eggs sitting in an egg cup. At the top, again we kept marching on.  Next we climbed up Little Dun Fell which did not feel so little! Still marching on we reached the top of Cross Fell, the highest point of the Pennine Way. We were so excited we ran for the first time since Edale to the trig point to take a photo. The views had been fairly good until now but as we got here we were in the clouds and mist so could not see far. We decided as the rest of the day was going to be an easy downhill we would stop for lunch provided by the B&B consisting of cheese and pickle sandwiches in homemade bread and homemade fruitcake.  

After lunch we were quite giddy at the thought of an easy downhill & flat afternoon. Boy were we wrong! The path was made of 'death gravel'. It was the the hardest ankle twisting rubble going and the path was never ending. Imagine the longest time you have ever had to wait for anything and multiply it by a million. This path went on for that long and just as we thought it was over, there was a bit more.

2 1/2 hours later the path ended at the village of Garrigill. We were quite disheartened by now and the village depressed us more. Everything in the village had closed. The village shop was shut, the post office was boarded up and even the pub was boarded up. The only life in the whole village was a single lonely Romany caravan and two horses. 

We walked through Garrigill quickly and laughed at how our day started off so well and then turned to such a low day. We started talking about the remaining 5 miles and how it would probably be more death gravel and we would probably be staying at faulty towers. Well we were wrong again...  

Just outside Garrigill the footpath led us down the river South Tyne. The footpath was grassy and winded it's way along the river bank through lush buttercup meadows and cool woodland  bursting with wild flowers. Our moods suddenly lifted and the next 5 miles to Alston was a pleasure. We found our B&B in a quiet cul de sac on the edge of Alston. We crept up to the door hesitantly but we were instantly welcomed by a cheerful couple Pat and Les.

After a quick shower and change we headed into Alston for some tea. On the way in we were suprised to see a scarecrow with a paper mâché head sitting in a wheelbarrow of a garden with a sign saying 'Hurry up I'm Hungry'. Just around the corner outside the Alston House Hotel there were two scarecrows dressed as chefs with a sign saying 'homemade food'. As we walked through the village there were dozens of scarecrows dressed up, each telling a different story. We later found out there had been a village competition.

We stopped for tea at The Cumberland. We were now satisfied we were not staying at Faulty Towers but it turned out we were going there for dinner instead.... 

We were given the recomendation to eat at the Cumberland by a couple of girls who had wolf whistled at us as we walked down the street. We headed in and ordered a drink. The pub looked very homely and seeing our walking friends Anne and Geoff in there was good.. We took a table and a rather young waitress came to take our order. She must have been all of about seven and although very friendly, she struggled to understand just what we wanted to order and how to spell it. As a result result, Richard got the wrong meal. When it came one quarter of the plate had our main meal in and the rest of the plate was empty. We waited for the veg to arrive hoping it would fill the rest of the plate but we only got two half baby potatoes a few slices of carrot and one piece of brocolli each.  We laughed and watched as mistakes were made with the other orders and people were offered straws after they had spilt their drinks by accident. We didn't stop for dessert!

On the way home we passed the wolf whistling girls again (now a few Lambrini's drunker) and wished goodnight to the scarecrows before turning in ourselves.