22km (280.92km) – Friday 15th July.
Despite a poor weather forecast, we set off in dry weather and made rapid progress along the river Tees, a beautifully wide and powerful river. We were on a stony track for a couple of miles, which was punishing on my tight calf ligaments. The terrain then became quite varied: duck boards, stone slabs and large rocks to clamber over, which varied the muscle groups we were using. We were walking upriver and eventually came to a dramatic waterfall called Cauldron Snout,; we had to climb up the side of it on big blocks , very satisfying 😊 Pulling uphill again, we met David, a walker moving from north to south. We gave him some dental advice (he had a loose crown) and compared people we had each met. He brought us up to date with Mel, a young woman who is walking LE2JOG, she has gone south to a wedding, but will be back on the track by Monday. We crossed the river higher up again and climbed up to High Cup Nick, a rocky cleft in a cliff. By this time there was driving rain as well as low cloud and we tentatively picked our way along the path right next to a huge drop. We were in good spirits, admiring the blue sheep and feeling happy to be heading downhill at last. An hour or so later we walked into the pretty village of Dufton, stopping in a cafe for coffee and toffee cake and receiving advice on not to buy a packed lunch from our B&B. We were pleased to see Connie and Chris stagger in ( a lovely, slightly older, American couple we’d met regularly for the previous few days.) After a bath and hanging up our wet clothes we returned to the village pub to meet Graham and Daniel. We spent a pleasant evening there having a tasty dinner and planning tomorrow’s walk and future adventures. Graham and Daniel enjoyed recalling earlier cycling adventures.
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