Yorkshire Walking Trip – Tapering

Right, so we left off on the way from Kirkby-Stephen to Brough, and touristing at Brough castle, that was Thursday. It was the first day we shortened by changing a taxi ride (well not counting our turned around day Wednesday), by not getting driven back to Pendragon Castle and just walking straight to Brough. We got to Brough earlier than check-in time at the place we were staying, the Wilding Hotel, which had just been redone and nicely for the most part, but was strangely empty. More on that in a minute. Since we had time, after we visited Brough Castle (see previous post), we walked into town and walked the main street – also kind of empty – and got a coffee for Mark and a half pint for me and some flapjacks from a place across the street from the Hotel, The Outfitters Cafe Bar. In retrospect it was much jollier than the hotel.

On the way from Kirkby-Stephen to Brough, almost there

When the time came we crossed the street to check in at the hotel. The public spaces were really pretty, nice floor tile in the lobby and high ceilings and nice wood and there was a spacious reception area and a pub that was emptier at 4:00PM than any other small town pub we’d been in the whole trip, although there were a few people at the bar and an older couple relaxing with their dog and reading their books in the reception area. We got shown up to our room and there some of the finishes of the remodel job started showing some poor choices. Like the desk chair which was the same chair they were using in the dining room didn’t actually fit under the desk. And the plastic gaskets on the outside of the shower enclosure were just kind of flapping – they didn’t leak but they didn’t fit right either. And the recessed lighting in the room ceiling was all halogen so they got really hot. We thought the warmth was nice at first but it got too much even for us. I took a shower and washed my hair and we just relaxed until it was time to go down to dinner.

We were one of two couples at first and then a third joined us. There was one server trying to do mostly everything, including bar tending. I had cheese and onion pie and Mark had steak and chips, and we split a salad. All perfectly adequate, but not as good as some other pubs and the music was a playlist of ’80s & ’90s & early 2000s pop love songs that was a little hard to take by the end of dinner.

Wilding Hotel cheese & onion pie with seasonal veg – lacinto and curly kale – and mash

Things were a little livelier in the morning. We went down to breakfast and there were a few more staff on and the server was more chatty. I had brought my somewhat muddy walking boots down to put on in the lobby where there was a hard floor instead of in the room where there was carpet and a couple of the staff were talking and I could tell they’d seen the Northern Lights the night before. Megan even posted a picture of the lights over Chicago. So I asked about it and we started talking and they showed us their pictures. It was such a good display that you could get a photo with a phone, no special equipment required. I’m just grateful to everyone who did take pics and post them because we saw nothing IRL. Conked out too early after walking. Breakfast did have roughly the playlist as the night before, different songs but the same feeling.

Northern lights back in WI over Blue Mounds, Susan Smith’s photo

Friday was another day we were supposed to overshoot our sleeping spot, Appleby-in-Westmorland, and get taxied back from a place farther on called Long Marton. We were supposed to wait at a pub called the Masons Arms, that looks quite nice, but we still canceled that taxi and we simply walked to Appleby. The walking was a little easier because we were in the Edens Valley so not as steep. But muddy. We started off going past Brough’s playing fields walking over frosty grass. There was a lot of cutting across fields, but usually we could see the stile on the other side. Mark wanted a picture of an especially fancy wooden stile, which unbeknownst to him, had a pretty sharp little drop off on the other side. So he fell but fortunately going towards the path and not into the river that was off to one side. I’ll get a copy of his pic of the fancy stile and you can decide if it was worth it. We also had to go through a bunch of fields with cows and sheep and in one field a largish group of cows followed us. We were hugging the fence line but at one point I’m pretty sure one was sniffing, maybe even nibbling, my back pack. I didn’t want to turn around, afraid it’d encourage them, and I wasn’t going to run, either, so we just kept going steady pace and got away. After the fields we were on twisty trails through woods above the water with roots and rocks and mud, that seemed like home, like Wisconsin, but had some scary moments, going a little sideways with water below. I had my muddy fall at a slippery place but neither of us went into the river so we got past all of that OK.

Then all of a sudden we were almost in Appleby. We came to Appleby Castle first, but stopped by the sign that said the grounds were not free to wander and scan this barcode and pay £10 pounds to get in. The sign that was right by where a lot of people were going in and out with their dogs, but we thought maybe there were resident passes. Mark was getting a bit desperate for caffeine so we left the castle and walked into town. The first coffee place we Google mapped seemed to have gone out of business, despite their sign that said “we moved 50 yards this way” – we couldn’t find them. We went to another place that seemed to be a combination home decor store, doing flowers, and a few women’s clothes, too, as well as the coffee. Which was OK, instant I think, steamed milk and mix, and we got a scone and a slice of Victoria sponge (much less light and spongy than mine, almost like pound cake, but it tasted OK). Then we went to visit Lady Anne’s tomb in St Lawrence Church. Her mum and a pipe organ were in there, too.

We walked up a steep hill to our BnB for the night, Bongate House. The landlady was willing to wash our muddy clothes and said she could have them ready by morning, one load, 2 jackets, 2 pairs of pants, and 3 pairs of socks, for £5. Our room there was one of the nicest ones, graciously laid out, with big windows onto a pretty garden. There was a stone deck where we thought we’d look for Northern Lights, but again we didn’t see anything except our landlady’s pictures from the night before, that she’d taken from across the street. We had dinner at a place called the Royal Oak, where there were more drinkers than eaters. We had burgers, mine vegetarian, toasted haloumi, and a very wilted salad. Really good chips, and some vintage hair styles on the servers, although one of them looked scarily botoxed. Huge false eyelashes and big fat lips.

In the morning, our last day walking, it was sunny but supposed to rain by noon. We had a cab coming to get us and at first we were going to get taken to Cliburn, which would’ve been something like 9 miles into Penrith, the end of the walk. Instead, we were really lazy for our last day and instead got the cab all the way to Brougham Hall and Castle, another of Lady Anne’s haunts only about a mile and half from Penrith on a bike route. The Hall had lots of local artisan’s studios but wasn’t very open when we got there, so we went to the Castle, and after sight seeing, walked the rest of the way to Penrith as it clouded over and started to rain, and spent the rest of our afternoon in cafes and the library, till BnB check-in time.

We were advised by the person at the ticket desk to climb the spiral stairs for the views, and though the stairs were pretty steep and dark it was good advice. The overleaf is looking at a modern development right across from the castle that we went past to get to the bike path.