Lost in the moors.

Happy to get out of London. Too much big city for a country boy from NH and mercer island.

Made nice train/bus connections to Robin's Hood Bay. Actually we rushed to thye tube stop so quickly that we ended up getting on the 9:30 train instead of the 10:30 train. We didn't really realize we were on th wrong train until it had left. And by that time we had kicked some people out of our resreved seats (even tho we didn't have them reserved for that departure time). ha-ha.

So we get to Robins Hood's bay, which is a tiny town perched in a tiny cove. used to do alot of smuggling out of here (tea and gin). Also part of the story is Robin Hood himseld used this place as his summer cottage/hideout when the heat was after him. Got a nice hand-pulled beer then walked to the beach for April to put her feet in the water and carry a pebble to the west coast (traditional start for the C-C hike).

Some info on this hike. It's a 192 miles hike from the North Sea to the irish sea that we're doing in 14 hiking days, longest day is 22 miles. We doing it self-guided, but a company moves our duffles from inn to inn. We just carry day-packs. It's awesome that we get to the end of a long day and have showers/beds and great beers and the same old crappy food each day, etc. Most hikes go west to east, but we're doing the opposite. We figured the hardest and most spectacular part is on the west side (Lakes region), so we'll be in shape by then. The route includes 3 national parks.

So we spent the night in RHB, then left this mroning for our hike. Breakfast was the standard: scrambled eggs, beans, bangers, toast, and that freakin grilled tomato they love so much. I can tell we're really going to get sick of this meal.

Now it turns out it's already autumn here. I was expecting hot summer weather but it's been nice and cold. Everything is still green, not brown/yellow, cause they've had so much rain.

We started hiking along these cliffs/fields along the ocean. then cut inland and climbed up thru these awesome moors covered with purple heather. Hundreds of acres of purple heather, all blooming now.

Then of course we got minorly lost. We crossed this sheep field, then stepped over a fence into a huge swath of heather that had 3 paths leading away. We took the middle one, then we saw a road we thought we were supposed to go to, so we headed directly for it. But then we realized we got to the road too fast, then we determined it was the wrong road. peter thought he had it figured out and was showing lots of cofidence as to where we were so we started walking on the busy road, which sucked, then April followed her instinct and headed back into the heather field. It turned out not only we were not supposed to be on a road, and we were even on the wrong road kind of headed in the wrong direction! So April got a little pissed at pete. pete had to remind her of cravings and aversions (his Buddhist learnings), we found the path again in the heather and met up with some people so we were sure it was correct. And we were frustrated enough that we forgot to take any pictures of the heather fields. No skillz.

Just to make it clear, this isn't really a marked trail. The route links together small trails, roads, crosses public/private spaces, goes thru towns, you name it. Everyone hikes with trheir maps and books out. It's really tricky but we're getting better at it just on one day.

So after the moors we dropped into a beautiful woods with a stream thru it. I was expecting to see Robin Hood himself jump out in green tights! thne we had lunch by the Falling Foss waterfall. Then made our way into the tiny village of Littlebeck. Hiked up a hill to our B+B and we were greeted with hot tea and choc cake! And they had wifi, hence this blog. Had hot showers, some Downward Dog and other misc stretches from my friends the Baron and Ellen Barnett.

Now April seems to have fallen asleep. have to wake her for the lamb stew! yea baby.

Scenery was so pretty today. It looks like Vermont out our window. Green rolling hills, interspersed with woodlands, sheep, cows everywhere. Some drizzles. Nice and cold. Life is good.

-peter

ps - They have "step-over" wooden stairs across all the barbed wire fences. In the US you could never cross so much private property easily. Everyone would worry about getting sued.