Previous: C2C Day 8 – Keld to Grinton
A complete breakfast
Breakfast at the Bridge Inn was good. But it didn’t start until 8:30, which makes the day start late. Especially when the birds were singing right outside the window at 4am, waking you up early. You must have your luggage packed by 8:30 for the Sherpa Van to pick it up, which means making sure everything is ready before heading down to breakfast. Some places we stayed started breakfast at 7am, many start at 7:30.
The Swale seen from Grinton Bridge
For some reason, we emerged in a large bubble of walkers, both in front of and behind us. Maybe because of our late breakfast all the people who stayed in Reeth were already on the road? Or perhaps some were staying down the road from the Bridge Inn at the Grinton Lodge YHA?
We didn’t have far to go today, but we were hoping to hit the Sunday Carvery on our next stop. And the Sunday Carvery ended at 5 pm. So, with a later start, we didn’t feel like there was much time today.
The swamp
It was a lovely walk today along the River Swale. The rolling pastures, the quaint towns of Marske and Colburn and for a change it was a mostly sunny day. He was even wearing shorts!
Today there seemed to be a series of abrupt turns along the way, some of which we initially missed. There were also many day walkers today. We passed our continental couple from last week, the doctor who examined my knee when I fell. And by the way, this was the first day my knee felt normal since I fell.
Bird of the day: The Chiffchaff, for its loud, cheerful song at the transition between riparian woodland and field along the Swale.
Richmond
Richmond is a beautiful city. And today was full of activity! People were sitting outside in cafes, cars were milling about looking for parking, and luckily the co-op in the center of town was open. We got provisions for lunch and some food for the next few days, then sat on a bench to eat and watch what was happening in Richmond.
The C2C crosses the Swale at Richmond and then continues along the opposite side of the river from Richmond. This gives you great views of the city and its old castle. There is also a nice ash forest along it. As usual, many of our hiking companions were stopping in Richmond for the night, but we were going another 5 miles.
And we arrived at the Farmers Arms in Catterick Bridge (which actually looked like Brompton-on-Swale) in time for our only Sunday roast of the trip. What a party! No freeze-dried backpacking dinners allowed on this trip!
20,000′
Today’s milestone was reaching 20,000′ of positive slope. 20,399′ (6,217 m) to be specific. Even today, which seemed fairly flat, involved a positive elevation gain of over 1,600′ (487 m).
Next: C2C Day 10 – Catterick Bridge to Osmotherly
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