Middleton in Teesdale Wednesday 27 May 2015
Start: Keld
Finish: Middleton in Teesdale
Miles walked today: 23
Total miles: 568
My alarm is set for seven and I creep out of the room trying not to disturb Stephen or David. Downstairs I make a coffee and breakfast arrives in the form of a bacon and egg baguette. Mmmmm. How very civilised.
I'm walking at 8.00. The weather is fine, with occasional sun. Four miles in I get to the Tan Hill Inn (Britain's Highest Pub!!) and duck in for a coffee. Sleightholme Moor is a boggy seven or eight miles of flat, high wilderness, where I meet Stuart. He too is walking LEJOG! We swap stories and it turns out he's walked the Pacific Crest Trail - last year. It makes LEJOG look puny and took Stuart almost six months. You may have read Cheryl Strayed's book Wild or seen the subsequent film.
Later it's reservoir land, serving lots of northern cities, I presume. (Typical pub loo graffiti: don't flush the toilet, Leeds needs the water!). One last up and down, which includes a chat to a very pleasant farmer, a little rain, and I'm in the huge metropolis of Middleton in Teesdale. The Teesdale Hotel www.teesdalehotel.co.uk/ has a room and I settle in for a night of luxury and catching up with this humble missive from the great outdoors. Night night...
