Saturday 24 July - 19kms Orton to Kirby Stephen - Buggered and Blistered

Well you might guess from the headline that we're feeling it a bit. Been out for an indian at the Mango Tree in Kirby Stephen (if you're ever in Kirby Stephen you know where to eat) and a couple of bottles of South African Chenin Blanc later we are gaining a sense of perspective - I re-discovered my backhand pour. The day was really just slogging through the English countryside over the moors. We were fast on our feet early but slowed as the day rolled.

Peter here.

You may have noticed that we always state the distance walked in kilometres. To me there is only a thin veil of adherence to metrics in the UK (perhaps because it was invented across the Channel). The signposts are in miles. The speed signs are in miles per hour. The Pub glasses are in pints and half pints. Although I'm of a generation that learnt both (80 chains to a mile ...) I can say that a mile is much much longer than I remember especially the mile we refer to as the ''last mile'' - this mile is extraordinary long - I am also convinced that the longest distance between two points is not an ACTION bus route but a Wainwright route ! (with the additional pleasure that it must go over the highest point/hill/mountain :-))

Al here -

The sheer agony of the walk today was only matched by the enormity of the bulls testicles that we encountered on the path, they were simply ginormous!!! And then we were nearly the victims of a stampede of cows being herded towards us at great speed, deliberately I reckon, by the farm types on quad bikes. But we fooled them cos' the cows bolted off down the path and not through the gate intended so the farm boys had to go and herd them all the way back up the hill, suck eggs farm boys!! Other than that the blisters are getting bigger.

JR here (again) -

The views expressed above are not necessarily representative of the SwaBS/Loafers as a whole.

Al here (again) -

I don't care, some of the farmers have been very cold towards us.

Col Here:-

Not much to add other than to agree pretty much with the other lads assessment of the day. We may have made too good a time early on as we were fairly bowling along at about 5 klms an hour so we had covered half the distance in 2 hours. I think we might need to pace ourselves a bit better as the last couple of hours are always pretty tough. But that said we have now covered 90 miles (144 klms). Really enjoyed the Indian we had for dinner last night (surprise surprise).