Today's walk was hard, long, and mostly not pretty. Left Reeth at 5:30, arrived Aysgarth at 1:30. In a way, the route was like yesterday's Walk One only with an added factor difficulty to about 10. But first an exciting flower whose yellow is the counterpart, so to speak, of yesterday's purple.
Yes, I loved that bit!
A few vistas:
For sure there used to be industry here. The rent would have been cheap:
Lead mining?
In a few places, the very first bits of heather were in bloom, but its time for glory is about a month from now:
Even up here sheep find what to eat!
A mountain mivah?
This I can do:
But there was one stream crossing that unnerved me. It was not difficult to cross, it was knowing whether to cross. (The blue line indicating the route obscured the skinny blue line indicating stream.) A while back, the route had veered off the stony track to a narrow dirt path, which was a welcome relief in one way, but a difficulty in another. Those paths are often not very clear, and YOU DO NOT WANT TO GET LOST ON THE MOORS!! Anyway, I could not see a continuation of the path on either side of the stream, but I decided to cross it, and baruch haShem, it was the right call.
Eventually, the moors were left behind. What a relief! Then it seemed that many people were coming from the opposite direction. "Gee, a lot of people are out jogging and walking today," I thought. But, no! It was an an event a 50 mile course for which, this year, 150 people signed up to complete! And let me tell, you, they had plenty and I mean plenty of steep ups and downs to navigate.
I am going to bet that a goodly number will not finish.
Bolton Castle is en route, about four miles from Aysgarth, but I did not have the energy to stop in. It did look promising, though, so I will make that my excursion for tomorrow. I think it will be more worthwhile than Newcastle castle!
Sign on a stile that leads to a field (as most stiles do):
En route from the castle to Aysgarth, I saw more dead animals on the path than I have ever seen anywhere! Euuuh.
Aysgarth is famous for its falls. These are the lower falls:
And these are the middle falls:
They are less than spectacular right now because there has not been any rain for a while. I have been here before and remember the roar of the water and the dramatic sight, but not this time!
We'll see about he upper falls tomorrow!
Reeth is a sweet little village built around the Green. From what I can tell, Aysgarth is a big road. I was not expecting much in the way of amenities, but from my grocery store research, I had learned that there was a shop attached to the gas station:
I was expecting the usual 7/11 sort of affair, but this is a full service grocery store! That made me very happy! And I am staying at a simple, but cheerful place that uses Starlink, and has excellent hot water, and a community frig....since there in only one other person here tonight, I won't have to fight for space. After a very demanding walk, it feels good just to sit! I should add that the weather was fine, so at least I was lucky in that way! It might be a good idea to take a break every now and then, but I rarely do. Some rethinking required there.
My watch just ent me a message telling me that there had been a change in my average walking heart rate! I am going to pay attention to that? Apple is also telling me that I am not burning up very many calories. It consistently gets the distance wrong, but it does have some good features like telling the time and the date! And, when I reverse the route, it does not stop telling me, "You are headed in the wrong direction. You are back on the track," which repeats over and over, but the super annoying thing is that even though the track has been edited to go in the reverse direction, the verbal instructions are for the original direction. I am telling you, you have to be on your toes all the time!
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