Breakfast at the Jolly Farmer’s was a rowdy affair. I’d asked for 8am and wished I’d asked for 7.30 – there were 12 other people in the dining room by 8.10 and they all seemed to know each other, which did at least mean they weren’t talking to me, so...
Today I walked from Appleby station to Kirkby Stephen. It rained all day, snowed for a while in the middle and I was buffeted by wind for the whole route. I wasn’t at all grumpy, except when I got my hood stuck in a thorn bush and ripped it. I...
A quick update from last night. I had an excellent Steak and Ale pie for tea, with lovely, rich gravy and some excellent hand cut chips. It was almost as good as the double steak burger I’d had the night before in the F&P, that came with some super sized...
Breakfast was a bit disorganised, with a young chef running around like a headless chicken, but it was tasty enough. I was joined by a couple of American ladies who were walking the Carlisle to Settle path. I say walking, they were getting the train today as one of them...
I patched the biggest and most painful blister with one of my 2 Compeed and left the others to their own devices – it would have to do. I limped my way down to breakfast at 7.30 only to be told that they didn’t start serving until 8am. I did...
I slept well and never had recourse to use the ear plugs. The Cartref (odd name eh?) is a proper business B&B, it must have about 10 rooms over 2 upper floors, which is sometimes better than the places where you’re sleeping in Johnny’s room now that he’s gone off...
My wife dropped me off at the train station just in time to pop into the first class lounge and pick up a banana and a couple of flapjacks for lunch. The train was almost completely empty when I joined it at Crewe, and only a couple more people joined...
I’m always wary of publishing my plans for the year ahead, just look back over my previous posts and see how many plans I’ve made and then abandoned or failed to follow through on. However, as Winston Churchill once said, “Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential” and...
My small portfolio of written work has increased gradually over the past few years, with two new guide books added last year, and plans to add another two this year. Until now, I’ve created and managed a website for each new publication, which was fine when there was only a...
Hard on the heels of my previous guide book, I’ve just published my fifth guide book; The Yoredale Way. This is the second in a series of three guides, following the rivers that rise on the ridge above the Mallerstang valley on the border of Cumbria and North Yorkshire. You can...
A couple of months ago I finished writing my fourth guide book; The Swale Way. This is the first in a series of three guides, following the rivers that rise on the ridge above the Mallerstang valley on the border of Cumbria and North Yorkshire. You can buy the book from...
This walk report was first published on the Swale Way website. If you’ve already walked Wainwright’s legendary Coast to Coast path, from one side of England to the other, you could be forgiven for thinking the Swale Way is something you’ve already mostly done. Admittedly the C2C and the Swale...
