My alarm went off at 3.45am. Far too early but I got up knowing that snoozing would result in me falling asleep again and I could not afford to do this. Chris and Tom woke up at around 4. We had our cereal and packed our tents and clothes that we'd left out the previous evening and managed to set off at around our 5am target time. It was absolutely pitch black and freezing cold with only one bright headtorch between us (we had adapted the route the previous evening so that we would be walking on roads for the first few darkness hours of the day). Despite these conditions it was lovely to walk under the moon and stars with no light pollution and with nobody/nothing around. Pretty soon however I had to take a wild dump with a headtorch at the side of the road (I did try and get this out the way before we left but my metabolism wasn't having it. Horrible. When the first sign of light greeted us at what must have been about 6.15 it was epic, made even better by the fact we had now past the trees we were walking under for the majority of the morning so far and we were now walking along a road overlooking a large expanse of moorland and a small lake. By around 7 or 7.30 we left the road and crossed some moorland. We soon saw Bents Farm and realised it was a good call to stay in Orton as this would have been too far the previous day. After maybe an hour of walking over the moorland we came across an obstacle - a massive deep puddle where the gate we needed to go through was with no alternative way. So I had the idea of chucking rocks from the wall next to the gate into the puddle to act as stepping stones. The result was mud splashing on my clothes and face and Chris and Tom still managing to get sodden feet - funny times. The rest of the way to today's pit stop of Kirkby Stephen was nice walking with some hilly (not too hilly) fields and moorland. At one point we were walking along our path and saw a MASSIVE cow in front where we were meant to be walking, and as we got closer it looked menacingly at us. Tom told us about him getting chased by a herd of cows when he was younger and none of us were up for getting any closer to it so we stood behind a gate for about 5 minutes until the cow had moved a safe distance away. And an hour or so after this we had to walk through a small enclosed area with what must have been at least 30 sheep in. We walked slowly together passing as far away from the sheep as we could. This caused them to run frantically to the other side of the enclosure but no harm done. Anyway we made it to Kirkby Stephen at probably about 11.30. This place was even bigger than Shap and although the temptation was there I didn't buy any food as already had the apricot jam sandwiches and bourbons to eat. I couldn't resist a hot chocolate though and we spent a little while in a cafe enjoying hot drinks. We then ate our food on a bench outside before embarking on our modified neverending road route to our destination of Keld. We were soon presented with a massively long hill which involved a few breaks and taking the jackets off. Then when we got to the top it remained relatively flat for AGES and was colder too with a noticeable wind chill. We were all aching/starting to ache by this point as walking on the roads although was much quicker and involved far less navigating, was a much harsher impact on our feet and legs than walking on grass or moorland. After maybe a few hours we had a downhill stretch and Chris in particular was finding this excruciatingly painful on his knees. Thankfully we weren't too far from Keld and it was still relatively early so we took our time and went at an easier pace. Eventually we reached the youth hostel just before Keld where we were planning on staying. However the place was deserted so much to our frustration we pushed on to Keld in search of somewhere else to stay. We found a pub/hotel but this was closed so we tried the only other place offering accommodation - a B&B called 'The Butt House'. We were quoted £38 per person so decided to try and find another alternative. The only other option was camping. I defiantly refused to camp as it was freezing and suggested we should just bite the bullet and pay the £38 per person at The Butt House. Tom wanted to camp as he didn't want to fork out £38. After a lot of deliberation and speaking to a nice man in the camp shop Chris agreed that it would be too cold for camping to we bought yet more snacky foods from the camp shop before going back to The Butt House. Our room was small but most importantly warm and the beds were nice. The shower however was crap and Tom likened it to 'a little boy pissing' so we had to make do with a bath. Morale especially in Chris's case was at an all time low (He had been looking forward to Keld as it marked the halfway point of the walk but he was really suffering with his knees, was fed up with walking and not happy (as none of us were) with the extortionate price of the B&B. The situation was made slightly better when Tom brought us up our 'packed lunch' alternative to breakfast as there was a lot there. I put 'Take Me Out' on on the TV whilst eating my snacky dinner which cheered me up a bit whilst Chris and Tom had a beer each after their dinner. Shortly later we went to bed.
Ratings
Pub/B&B in Orton: 9.5/10 - Great value, helpful owners, HUGE room, nice beds, great shower.
Lessons Learned
Dont throw rocks into puddles to make stepping stones, place them in to avoid splashing. Also we should have bought food in Kirkby Stephen for the evening meal as the Keld camp shop was very limited. Finally Don't stay in Keld!!!
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