Orton to Kirkby Stephen - August 8th

Today’s route was very similar to yesterday’s, mainly through pastures and fields, trying to dodge the sheep dung and cow pies as best we could. The landscape is starting to change. We still have views of green fields divided by stone dry walls, but we’re also starting to see (and walk through) the brown grasses of the moors. We’re also still getting a bit of elevation (1,361 ft.), but nothing like what we encountered in the Lake District. And, instead of ankle-twisting rocky paths, the paths through the fields can be very uneven and at times, riddled with tractor tire ruts. It seemed like we climbed over more stone dry walls today than we have in all the previous days put together. Total mileage (which included a bit of inadvertent off-trail travel) was 13 miles. Tomorrow’s destination is the village of Keld, which marks the halfway point on the Coast to Coast route. Hard to believe we’re almost halfway through this journey!

A view of the moors we're starting to encounter








Smardale Bridge in the distance

We're seeing more C2C signposts since
leaving the Lake District


View of blooming heather and the valley below










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