Day 8 - Shap to Newbiggin on Lune - Saturday 24th May 2025

This blogspot has been moved to my own personal domain. 

I have been finding this app quite tedious to use and so decided to give up on it 

and move everything to a new place.

 

www.lianesoutham.co.uk 

 

 

Well I finally managed to get back on the trail! I drove up to Chorley on Friday after work, and Mark very kindly offered to drive me to Shap so I could pick up where I left off back in April. 

 

I didn't weigh it when it was completely packed but it was somewhere in the region of 12kg. Yes! It was heavy! I'm going to weigh it all properly on the next section. Needless to say I did not wear fliip flops, I wore proper walking boots.

Mark dropped me off at the very spot where we zoomed off in an Uber when we were last here. On the way there, Mark came up with a brilliant suggestion. He said he would happily take my camping gear onto the next stop so that I didn't have to carry it. A quick swap over of packs, taking the bare minimum I needed for my day's hike, a decision made as to which campsite to go to, and off I went.

This landmark can be seen from the M6 at Shap. I walked fairly close past this. Not the prettiest of landmarks.

Crossing the M6, unbelievably noisy! This stayed with me for a few miles, the noise gradually diminishing and eventually it disappeared from sight.

 For this second section I was hoping to get from the M6 to the M1 and hopefully a bit further beyond. I had enough time to do this, but my worry was the weather forecast for the next few days. It didn't look too promising. 

 

The landscape was so totally different to the Lakeland section. Well it would be, it was the Yorkshire Dales National Park and I was into it pretty much straightaway after leaving Shap. 

 

 

  

This was Robin Hood's Grave, very appropriate considering that is my final destination on the East Coast. 

Lots of interesting rocks, mile upon mile of paths, which after about two and a half hours of walking, led me to a road. As I came down towards the road, I saw a white car parked a little way along in a layby. I thought to myself how lovely it would be to have been Mark, just popped along to catch up with me to say hello. He did of course know exactly where I would be, because I was sharing my location with him on Google Maps for safety. Imagine my surprise when as I walked closer to the car I realised it was him! And not only that, he had brought along a nice cup of coffee for me. Top bloke! I was so surprised to see him. I propped my walking poles against the car and hopped in to drink my cofffee. Not only had he been along to the farm where I was planning on camping that night, he had put my tent up for me! He told me that the drive up to the farm was on a very rough farm track, and it was a bit of a task in his low slung car. I was missing having fruit in my pack, so we drove down to the nearby village of Orton so I could get some bananas and satsumas, and then back to a car park just a little way along from where he had picked me up, and it was at that point I realised I had left my walking poles behind. A quick drive along the road to the layby and thankfully they were still there. We said our farewells and off I went, back on the trail, but not before Mark presented me with another surprise, a bottle of beer for later!

Remains of old workings. This stuff fascinates me and I like to stop and ponder.

These buildings exist all over the Yorkshire Dales, holiday properties in the making, although getting utilities there could be challenging!

This is Monty, and he lives at Sunbiggin Farm, which is a popular camping stop on the C2C for many people. I still had a few miles left in me though, besides, Mark had already put my tent up for me at Bents Farm, so I had to keep going. There are so many photos of Monty on Facebook Coast To Coast groups, lots of people stop to give him a belly rub, he is a real character and I could not resist his charms.

Useful boardwalk! Saved having to walk in the boggy bit.

And this was it! I arrived at 6.20pm, and apart from Mark only saw one other person to stop and have a chat with whilst walking. The lady owner of the farm was very friendly and showed me where my tent was. There was one other pitched up, but as it was raining the occupant was not coming out, he paid the lady his camping fee and zipped his tent back up. The weather forecast was looking bad. I knew I was in for a rough night.

I have some video clips of how things were in the tent that night, but they are too large for Blogger. I will see if I can trim one down and upload it. It was scary! The wind blew and blew, and the rain poured down. It always sounds worse in a tent I guess. There was also a very strong smell of manure, well I was on a farm so it was to be expected. I couldn't really complain for a fiver a night. From arriving at my tent until I woke up in the morning, all I could do was just stay under cover and drink the welcome beer Mark had bought me earlier. I eventually nodded off and got a few hours sleep, although not as many as I would have liked.

 

Saturday 24th May - Shap to Bents Farm - 14.29 miles - 34,225 steps 

 

When I unzipped my tent I discovered that the only other tent in the orchard had been packed up and the occupant was gone already. I didn't hang around too long, grabbed the opportunity of a gap between the rain showers and got everything packed up. I didn't even make myself a cuppa and porridge, dining instead on fruit, a chorley cake and some trail mix. That would sort me until I could get to Kirkby Stephen, which was my next stop and I hoped to get there around lunchtime.

 

Next post - Day 8 - Shap to Kirkby Stephen