Coast to Coast - Day Nine

Day Nine: Reeth to Richmond (11 miles)

Steps Wood - those steps need looking after

Not too hard a day today - a few climbs, but generally easy walking in easy countryside. We did add a couple of extra miles by missing a turn-off and then found our B&B in Richmond was half a mile from the town centre, so probably ended up walking 14 miles (ho, hum).

I learned a couple of new farming sayings from David. There had been a running joke about non-standard gate fastenings (too long to explain, but it involves an engineer friend of ours, whose talents might be well employed in sorting out designs for kissing gates, et al).

After half a dozen farm gates had been opened and closed, David said to Sue: "This is one of those Armstrong gates, they're used on a lot of farms."

"What's that?" said Sue (with an interest in gates that only a farmer could display). "An Armstrong gate you say."

"Yes," said David. "You need a strong arm to lift it."

An Armstrong gate is one where it's fallen on its hinges and won't open unless you lift and push. There are lots of Armstrong gates on the Coast to Coast, you'd almost think farmers built them like that.

I also learned about Cuckoo Barley. There was a field where the crop was just through. It was some kind of cereal and when I remarked to David that it was a bit late, he said it was Cuckoo Barley. This is barley sown a bit late and it comes through when the cuckoo is heard. "Never does any good, waste of time," says David. The field behind our house is sown with barley this year and it's now at the stage where the grain has set and the long hairs are a greenish yellow. It looks beautiful in the setting sun or if the wind moves across it.

From Reeth, we followed the widening and slowing Swale downstream for a few miles before cutting across through a village called Marrick. Marrick's claim to fame is its ruined Benedictine priory (seized by Henry VIII in 1540). The ruins are now combined into an outdoor education centre and are not open to the public, although we walked down the drive a little way to get a look at them.

Sue and David in Steps Wood

From the ruined priory, the path goes up to the village through Steps Wood. Here, the nuns had a long run of 375 steps built (I didn't count) to make access between the village and the priory easier. Steps Wood is dense, shady woodland, but the steps, although still mainly in place, really need some sympathetic renovation. Constructions such as these are just as important to our landscape (perhaps more so) as grand stately homes. Why are they not properly preserved and cared for? Steps Wood was cool and full of wild flowers, especially wild garlic.

A little way past Marrick, you come to Nun Cote Nook Farm, which is the last hill farm on the route. There's a sign on the path pointing to Elaine's Farmhouse Kitchen offering snacks, cakes and tea. It was a shade early for lunch, but fine for elevenses, so we back-tracked off the path for a few hundred yards to Elaine's.

Elaine is a farmer's wife, one of a number of enterprising people (I'm surprised there aren't more) who are taking advantage of a steady stream of walkers passing by. Walkers find tea and cake magnetic; our compass needles turn in its direction whenever near. The farmhouse kitchen is actually a conservatory and terrace on the back of the farmhouse and Elaine is friendly and very chatty. She gave us a rundown on what was happening on the farm (they just now had enough grass to turn the cattle out); she wanted to know if we'd stopped at Amanda's (the Yorkshire Shepherdess) and told us she was about to give birth to child No 9 ("she must be mad," was Elaine's view) and told us that she'd done the Coast to Coast walk herself last year as she had her big five-0 birthday. She'd done it in 12 days with a guided party and it had been hard work - I’ll bet! It’s hard enough in 14 days.

After Nun Cote Nook, the landscape does soften and the grass in the meadows becomes more lush. Instead of dodging sheep shit, we were avoiding cow pats for a few miles. I've grumbled about poor signs on the route and, as we were coming down into a village called Marske, we went wrong by going straight on instead of turning left. The map is a little misleading, but it was our error and we'd walked a mile before we realised (it’s always a worry when the river that should be on your right is on your left). There was no choice but to go back and, ironically, when we got to the correct turn, there was a clear Coast to Coast sign which somehow we hadn't seen.

From Marske, the path climbs up to the side of Applegarth Scar and Whitcliffe Scar and you get some splendid views. We came across the party of Australians sitting having their picnic lunch and we stopped a little further on to eat where the view had opened up still more. While we were snacking, they came past and we criss-crossed for the rest of the day. It was the last we’d see of them as they were having a rest/sightseeing day in Richmond.

I was glad to see Richmond, if a little grumpy that our B&B was half a mile out of town. It was a very good place however. There was another landlady relatively new to the profession. She and her husband (keen walkers and collie owners) had both been made redundant and I guess that had funded this business. She had a large, old former farmhouse, now surrounded by suburban Richmond, with rooms in the house and in some outbuildings.

We were welcomed with tea and also fruit cake and cheese - big tick for that. We met Sue in town and then went to a rather tacky Italian restaurant. The landlady had tried to steer us towards another place and I think she may have been right. David's meal was delicious, one of his favourites, so there was at least one happy camper.

Approaching Richmond on the Coast to Coast path. In the distance are the North York
Moors, where we will be heading to the next day.