Day 9: Reeth to Richmond

The weather today was wonderful - around 24 degrees and sunny all day. It was hot in the sunshine - the mist and rain from earlier in the walk would have been welcome at the top of the hills. We walked up hill and down dale for around 17km, and then another kilometre or so into town. Note that I have expressed the distance in kilometres, a far more accurate measure than miles. The following applies to the mile signs in England (in real time walking):

• "1/4 mile" really means "1, 2 or 3 kilometres."
• "3/4 mile" really means "anything from 6 to 8 kilometres."

People we've met along the way...

Cyclists: 

We have passed a few cyclists on our route. The first was on day one (St Bees to Ennerdale) when a cyclist emerged from the mists carrying his bicycle on his shoulders. This was shortly after we had seen Heathcliff (of the windswept hair and open necked shirt). Being early in our adventurer we were not quick enough with our cameras. We're better prepared now - here is a shot taken yesterday.

Canadians:

We came across our friends, The Canadian Cavalry, at lunch time today. They had taken all the best seats at the side of the road, so we had to settle for a paddock close by. We squatted in a field (being careful to avoid the manure) only to be faced with a farmer in a tractor. He was fertilising his fields with cow excrement he'd saved from earlier. 

A Charge of Canadians

An Embarrassment of Navigators and a map

Other navigators:

The challenges of navigation referred to in previous posts are best illustrated by a visual representation of the difficulties. The first photo is of a crossroads encounter of navigator men (the women were well on their way when the photo was taken).

The second photo records a typical example of a guide book (Paul Hannon's Coast to Coast Walk, Hillside Publications, 2010, and Coast to Coast Walk A-Z, Geographer's Company Limited, 2013). We also have Wainwright's original book, and another guide book. As you will note, things can get complicated!

Quote of the Day

Lewis Carroll attended Richmond School. ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’ from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1872) has some amusing moments that resonate with our walk:

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little Oysters stood
And waited in a row.

 "The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

"But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,
"Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!"
"No hurry!" said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that.

Finally, another picture of the YorkshireDales.

Fat Yorkshire Dales Cows

Richmond:

We arrived in Richmond at 2.30pm. This busy town was founded in 1071 (but dates from much earlier) and it flourished in the Georgian era (the 1700s through to the early 1800s). There are some wonderful examples of Georgian architecture including The King's Head Hotel, the Town Hall, and the Theatre.We have a rest day tomorrow. In tomorrow's post I'll be commenting on our accommodation to date, 

Day 8: Keld to Reeth

We left Keld behind at 9am. As AW Wainwright said - at Keld, 'a sundial records the hours but time is measured in centuries.' Mr Wainwright could also have warned us that the first few hundred metres of our walk was a steep downhill track. The following comments were heard:

Coconut Milk: Are we there yet?
Butterscotch Keeper: Swing those poles!
Tea Bag: Ouch
The Water Tank: Stop complaining, my pack is heavier than yours
Sherbet Lemon: Things are looking up. At least I didn't fall down the stairs this morning.
Acid Drop: Hurry up, you are walking too slowly

We passed a guided group at morning tea time (more later on 'guided tours and getting stuck with Roma'). The guide had a dog called Woody. In his pack he carried water, poo bags, a spare lead, water proof trousers (for his owner), and food.

It was an 18km walk to Reeth, a town in the district of Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales. The sun was shining and there was a light breeze. The scenery was magnificent. The Brontë sisters lived south of the Yorkshire Dales, and they set many of their novels in this district. Who can resist an extract from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847)?

There are great moors behind and on each hand of me; there are waves of mountains far beyond that deep valley at my feet. The population here must be thin, and I see no passengers on these roads: they stretch out east, west, north, and south--white, broad, lonely; they are all cut in the moor, and the heather grows deep and wild to their very verge… Not a tie holds me to human society at this moment--not a charm or hope calls me where my fellow-creatures are—none that saw me would have a kind thought or a good wish for me.  I have no relative but the universal mother, Nature:  I will seek her breast and ask repose.

I struck straight into the heath; I held on to a hollow I saw deeply furrowing the brown moorside; I waded knee-deep in its dark growth; I turned with its turnings, and finding a moss-blackened granite crag in a hidden angle, I sat down under it.  High banks of moor were about me; the crag protected my head: the sky was over that.

I touched the heath, it was dry, and yet warm with the beat of the summer day.  I looked at the sky; it was pure: a kindly star twinkled just above the chasm ridge.  The dew fell, but with propitious softness; no breeze whispered.  Nature seemed to me benign and good; I thought she loved me, outcast as I was; and I, who from man could anticipate only mistrust, rejection, insult, clung to her with filial fondness. Tonight, at least, I would be her guest, as I was her child: my mother would lodge me without money and without price…

Beside the crag the heath was very deep: when I lay down my feet were buried in it; rising high on each side, it left only a narrow space for the night-air to invade.  I folded my shawl double, and spread it over me for a coverlet; a low, mossy swell was my pillow. Thus lodged, I was not, at least--at the commencement of the night, cold…

But next day, Want came to me pale and bare. Long after the little birds had left their nests; long after bees had come in the sweet prime of day to gather the heath honey before the dew was dried-- when the long morning shadows were curtailed, and the sun filled earth and sky--I got up, and I looked round me.

What a still, hot, perfect day!  What a golden desert this spreading moor!  Everywhere sunshine.  I wished I could live in it and on it. I saw a lizard run over the crag; I saw a bee busy among the sweet bilberries.  I would fain at the moment have become bee or lizard, that I might have found fitting nutriment, permanent shelter here. But I was a human being, and had a human being's wants: I must not linger where there was nothing to supply them.” (Chapter 28)

As you will see from this photo, the Yorkshire Dales are renowned for barns. They house cows, sheep, and hay, and there seems to be one in every paddock.

Breakfast

Some further advice for Coast to Coasters. Cooked breakfasts are all very well but now we are onto Day 8 the smell of bacon, eggs, baked beans, black pudding, sausage, warm tomatoes - and fried bread - are sometimes not as welcome as they were a few days ago. Coconut Milk, in particular, has expressed a recent wish for porridge in the mornings. We're not sure why this is, when she is looking so well.

Finally, a photo of a village we passed on our walk today. The cream rose climbing up the trellis is a Yorkshire Rose. This garden was erected to commemorate the marriage of Prince Charles to Lady Dianna Spencer. The union, as everyone knows, was not a success, but the flowers live on. Tomorrow a stroll of 18km into Richmond.

Day 7: Kirkby Stephen to Keld

Today we walked 19km to Keld, a village on the Yorkshire (eastern) side of the Pennines (a group of mountains known as the spine of England (they run down the middle). It was a beautiful day, sunshine with a brisk breeze, and we walked for around six hours. 

In the middle of the Pennine Way is an extended stretch of black and sticky bog. Stick to the grass and you may survive. If you miss the grass and land on the bright green moss, you may never be seen again. Some people, like Butterscotch Keeper, took the safer route over the bog, carefully feeling their way over the difficult terrain. Others, like The Water Tank, took the calculated risk (mud up to his thighs) alternative route. Sherbet Lemon simply followed a woman wearing Crocs. He had no hope of keeping up. She was fast and furious, a veritable Queen of the Bog. 

The Pennine Way, the moors between the Lake lands, and Yorkshire

Indecipherable yellow dot sign post

And now a few postscripts to yesterday's blog post.

Signs

I've included examples of signage for the Coast to Coast route. Sometimes the signs are (relatively) frequent and appear every mile or two. At other times there are 10 mile gaps between signs (or are we lost?) 

Coast to Coast sign post

 

Footpath sign post

 

Toilets

Forget it. Men wander slightly off track and show particular interest in the grey slate walls. Or limestone walls. Or sandstone walls. Or any walls at all. They return with a bounce in their steps. Women scamper into forests, potential victims of a) other walkers b) thistles c) grass ticks d) all of the above. Note women have to squat (not easy after many hours walking) and then, pulling up their trousers, return to their party. All of said party are either drinking gallons of fluids without fear of future complications, exclaiming loudly that "the hour is late and we'd better hurry up before the sun goes down,' or (for better or worse) tiny specks in the distance. 

Pharmaceuticals

Essential.

Just to wind up, it is lovely to be in the Yorkshire Dales, and we're looking forward to our walk to Reeth tomorrow. It is only seventeen kilometres so not too strenuous, and we'll see beautiful scenery along the way. We had a taster today as we walked into Keld..

Day 6: Shap to Kirkby Stephen

Kirkby Stephen, our destination of today, has a ‘Poetry Path’, containing a series of twelve poems by Meg Peacocke, the renowned English poet. Each poem represents a month in the farming year. July’s verse is a little uninspiring, but since we’ve walked 31km through farmland today, it may be totally appropriate. 

Silage. Tractor incises the first green furrow.
Skillful geometrician, the driver judges an arc of weather.

Tonight we are staying at the Black Bull Hotel (i.e. pub) at Kirkby Stephen. The internet is excellent, so I will tell you about some important matters that anyone contemplating the Coast to Coast route of AW Wainwright may wish to consider.

Are we there, yet?

It is actually quite difficult to walk many kilometres per day through long grassy fields, across bogs, up inclines that look okay from a distance but go on for miles (literally), down river courses, and over rocky mountains (and that's just the topography encountered before morning tea). We thought there may be 'boring lane ways of bitumen' from time to time, but in 5 days walking (over 100km) we have probably only walked on tarmac for around 3 km. And whenever it has happened (notwithstanding the need to dive into thistles so the cars don't run you down in the lane ways) we have been delighted. So flat! So smooth! So decisive in destination! Which brings me to another matter….

Field walking en route to Kirkby Stephen

Navigation

Mr. Wainwright wrote a lovely little book (A Coast to Coast Walk). He called it 'A' Coast to Coast rather than 'The' Coast to Coast because he was of the belief that there were many ways to cross England. This is all very well, but when it comes down to it, the walker has over 300km to traverse. Abseiling aside, if you want to get from one side of Kidsty Pike to the other (see yesterday's post) you have to climb up a mountain and scrabble down again - and for directions on how to achieve this you use Mr. Wainwright's book  (and a few spin off maps and other guides). Which leads me to...

Signage

There are two types of signs we have seen on the Coast to Coast walk. Firstly, there are finely engraved (aged and bleached) timber markers. Some are marked 'Coast to Coast' (in tiny letters). Some are so narrow that only a minimal number of letters can be included - they are marked 'C to C'. Since these posts are the same colour as the rock walls, the houses, the tree trunks and various other things they are often difficult to spot. Secondly, there are tiny yellow dots (that blend in nicely with the ten thousand buttercups found in every field). These tiny yellow dots have arrow indicators that point to a) the moon b) a stile c) a cow pat d) sheep. So…. one must rely on maps. Of our party we have Butterscotch Keeper (reputedly a surgeon of reasonable intelligence), Lemon Sherbet (reputedly a naval officer of senior rank), and The Water Tank (reputedly a lawyer with a modicum of sense). We also have Coconut Milk, Acid Drop, and Tea Bag (charged with spotting signs and yellow dots). Yet….. each day, we get lost at least twice. This is what is known on the Coast to Coast as 'A Navigational Embarrassment.' It is a common occurrence.

Weather

Variable. It is the middle of summer. The hottest day we have experienced is 22 degrees (in the sun), and the coolest around 13 degrees (at the warmest five minutes of the day). Luckily, we are sweating with exertion and/or trepidation whatever the weather.

Food and backpacks

Yes it is nice to eat and drink, but do remember that whatever you eat and drink will be carried on your back for the duration of the day. So while a tuna and cucumber sandwich, an apple, orange, punnet of juicy strawberries, digestive biscuits, wine gums, water, and a thermos of tea, may seem like a good idea while shopping at the co-op the night before, they are HEAVY. Also...

In view of possible inclement weather (i.e. daily inclement weather), it is also necessary to carry a waterproof jacket, waterproof trousers (though these are so uncomfortable to wear that they rarely make it out of the backpack), a jumper or fleece, and an umbrella (surprisingly useful). Other essential items (that sit at the bottom of the backpack and weigh a ton) are pen knife, medical kit, spare socks, and wallet. Wallet totally useless because...

Shops

There are no shops! Or very rarely is there a shop. And at best the shop is at end of the walk when feeling nauseous and/or footsore (see above - numerous causes) so it is impossible to stomach anything. Which brings to mind...

Accommodation 

We are staying in B&Bs, guesthouses, and pubs, and the occasional hostel. At best they have been sensational. At worst, a lively topic of conversation. And even then nothing is ever all bad - for example, good internet, excellent toilet flush, and interesting artwork will be juxtaposed with dirty sheets and eggs of dubious heritage. A lift to the pub and a happily situated house will be juxtaposed with dodgy directions and an inadequate flush in a shared toilet (yes, it was Acid Drop). Note (particularly to Butterscotch Keeper) lovely old houses have low door jams, and wall lights.

Stone walls….

A leg at each corner

Tomorrow I will take some photos of signage. We are walking (uphill) to Keld which is 23km away (not counting getting lost). By the way, todays walk was long at 31km, but easier than yesterday because we walked through the fields. It was quite chilly but rained rarely - excellent walking weather. We saw many cows, and even more sheep. There are many breeds of sheep. Most are charming, but we stumbled into a field late in the day and found Possibly The Ugliest Sheep in the World.

In my next post I will cover pharmaceuticals, field latrines (ha!), and what 3/4 of a mile really means. 

Finally, I'd like to know whether my newly activated comment button works, so any feedback (on the sheep or anything else) is welcome.

And an interesting face...

Day 5: Patterdale to Shap

Tarn on the way to Kidsky Pike from Patterdale

Today we walked 24km, much of it uphill. We scaled Kidsty Pike, the highest mountain on our route. It took three hours to get up there from Patterdale, and over an hour to climb down. Jelly legs for all of us so…. early to bed this evening in anticipation of our 32km hike tomorrow. Yes, yes… ridiculous. Shap is on the very fringe of the Lakes District, and we will venture into Yorkshire territory in the next few days. We got a taste of the 'up hill and down dales' today while walking through the meadows and woods in the 10km trek from the base of Kidsty Pike, to Shap.

Here is a Kelpie cross called Albie. No problem walking dogs in National Parks in England, so long as they are on the lead (though hardly any are!)

Haweswater was on today’s route. This lake (flooded in the 1900's to create a fresh water dam) is beautifully described in Anthony Trollope’s novel Can You Forgive Her? (1864-1865). Trollope's description is pertinent to many of the lakes (or tarns as the locals call them) that we saw today:

A lake should, I think, be small, and should be seen from above, to be seen in all its glory. The distance should be such that the shadows of the mountains on its surface may just be traced, and that some faint idea of the ripple on the waters may be present to the eye. And the form of the lake should be irregular, curving round from its base among the lower hills, deeper and still deeper into some close nook up among the mountains from which its head waters spring. It is thus that a lake should be seen, and it was thus that Hawes Water was seen by them from the flat stone on the side of Swindale Fell. The basin of the lake has formed itself into the shape of the figure of 3, and the top section of the figure lies embosomed among the very wildest of the Westmoreland mountains. Altogether it is not above three miles long, and every point of it was to be seen from the spot on which the girls sat themselves down. The water beneath was still as death, and as dark — and looked almost as cold. But the slow clouds were passing over it, and the shades of darkness on its surface changed themselves with gradual changes. And though no movement was visible, there was ever and again in places a slight sheen upon the lake, which indicated the ripple made by the breeze.

Angletarn

A couple of characters to add to my list. Two fell runners separately came into view. These athletes are hardy (some might say demented) people who specialise in running fells (in other words, up mountains). In Rossthwaite there was an honour board in the pub recording remarkable times for fell running.  Not sure the red and blue lycra clad men we saw training today will make it onto the board, though they did seem to take their running seriously.

Blue lycra Bill

Red Lycra Reginald

Day 4: Grasmere to Patterdale

We had a pleasant walk today (probably our easiest so far) from Grasmere (Wordsworth territory) to Patterdale. Tonight we are staying at Old Water View, an excellent guesthouse where AW Wainwright, who is credited with making the Coast to Coast walk a well loved adventure trail for hardy folk willing to tolerate blisters and stiff muscles (at best) lodged on many occasions.

On the road from Grasmere to Patterdale

William Wordsworth, in Extract from Poems on the Naming of Places: IV, wrote:

A narrow girdle of rough stones and crags,
A rude and natural causeway, interposed
Between the water and a winding slope
Of copse and thicket, leaves the eastern short
Of Grasmere safe in its own privacy:
And there my self and two beloved Friends
One calm September morning, ere the mist
Had altogether yielded to the sun,
Sauntered on this retired and difficult way.

The opening stanza of Sir Walter Scott’s poem ‘Helvellyn' is reproduced below. The tarn on one side of Hervellyn is portrayed in the photo.

At the base of Hervellyn

I climbed the dark brow of the mighty Helvellyn,
Lakes and mountains beneath me gleamed misty and wide;
All was still, save by fits, when the eagle was yelling,
And starting around me the echoes replied.
On the right, Striden-edge round the Red-tarn was bending,
And Catchedicam its left verge was defending,
One huge, nameless rock in the front was ascending,
When I marked the sad spot where the wanderer had died.

Thankfully, the dead wanderer was not one of our party!

And penultimately, a photo taken on our arrival at Patterdale. Tomorrow we embark on one of our most challenging walks, Patterdale to Shap.

Patterdale

Two of our party, The Lactic Acid Drop and Coconut Milk, are leaving at first light to travel upstream on a steamer, and then walking the next 16km to Shap. The rest of our party (Butterscotch Stayer, Lemon Sherbet, The Water Tank, and Tea Bag), are taking an alternative 23km route up a mountain (or two). 

Soon I will be letting you know about our accommodation (sheets, eggs, and advice on (non) realistic timeframes for walks) and people we have met along the way (Heathcliff, Mountain Man with mountain bike, The Canadians, the Viking, the Duke of Eds, and the Octogenarians).

Day 3: Rosthwaite to Grasmere

Too exhausted to type. Long walk. Lovely. Here are better words than mine…

Thomas Gray, ‘Journal in the Lakes’, 1769, October 8th said:

“…now begin to see Helm-crag distinguished from its rugged neighbours not so much by its height, as by the strange broken outline of its top, like some gigantic building demolished, and the stones that composed it flung across each other in wild confusion. Just beyond it opens one of the sweetest landscapes that art ever attempted to imitate.

The opening three stanzas of William Wordsworth’s, ‘Lines written at Grasmere On Tidings of the Approaching Death of Charles James Fox’ are also worth reciting:

LOUD is the Vale! the voice is up     

With which she speaks when storms are gone

A mighty unison of streams!  

Of all her Voices, One!          

Loud is the Vale;—this inland Depth     

In peace is roaring like the sea;         

Yon star upon the mountain-top         

Is listening quietly.     

 Sad was I, even to pain deprest,        

Importunate and heavy load!

The Comforter hath found me here,   

Upon this lonely road;           

Stonethwaite

Day 2: Ennerdale Bridge to Rosthwaite

Our journey was 23km today. The scenery was magnificent and varied. We walked many kilometres along the shores of Ennerdale Lake, and then through the fells to Moses Trod. Then we followed cairn upon cairn to Honister Pass, and walked down the hill to Seatoller. Longthwaite, Rossthwaite and Stonethwaite (where we are staying tonight – in a 500 year old house) are delightful. Tomorrow we walk to Grasmere.

There was a plinth made of Honister slate (at Honister Pass) on our route, which is inscribed with Rudyard Kipling’s ‘If’ (1910). This is an extract:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,  

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

This pretty much sums up Day 2. A difficult walk (partly because we were still recovering from the Day 1 effort) but the scenery was wonderful. Nothing tastes better than a cup of tea and a digestive biscuit on a stone bench when your feet are tired!

Day 1: St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge

We walked 22km today (egads!) plus another kilometre or so because we were staying slightly off route. Lovely countryside and challenging walking but delightful dinner and accommodation at the Shepherd Arm’s Hotel. A memorable moment (of many that will be recorded when the internet is more reliable) is the image of (as we called him) Heathcliff emerging from the mists. A young man, tall and well built with wild black hair, walked past us. We had been climbing up a fell for over an hour (through bog and low lying cloud) when Heathcliff emerged from the mists. He had no bag or hat. He was wearing a cotton shirt, rolled up to the elbows, jeans and leather shoes. He gave us a smile (unHeathcliff like, admittedly) so we assumed he was en route to see Cathy in the early stages of their relationship…..

Over the fells

Some thoughts from writers of the region are:

Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean!) Attended St Bees School. He said,

 The older you get, the more you realise how happenstance... has helped to determine your path through life.

We left the Irish Sea behind at Saint Bees’ Head. Here is an extract from William Wordsworth’s ‘Stanzas Suggested in a Steamboat off Saint Bees.’

…no one plucks the rose, 
Whose proffered beauty in safe shelter blows
'Mid a trim garden's summer luxuries, 
With joy like his who climbs, on hands and knees, 
For some rare plant, yon Headland of St. Bees. 

…Up, Spirit of the storm! 
That Courage may find something to perform; 
That Fortitude, whose blood disdains to freeze
At Danger's bidding, may confront the seas, 
Firm as the towering Headlands of St. Bees. 

At the base of the rise to the top of the fell

Shire horses in Ennerdale

A Coast to Coast walk...

I’ll post most days about the route and the adventures we have along the way. Some wonderful authors have lived, written about, or set novels in the districts we’re visiting, so I’ll draw on them for inspiration.

Firstly, some details about our walk!

Walking Days: 15 days walking, 16 nights accommodation.

Daily Commitment: Rise early each morning and have breakfast. Walk purposefully and jauntily, in an animated, determined, and energetic manner, to our destination.

Day 1 St Bees: Stay at Fairladies Barn; walk from St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge (22km)

Day 2 Ennerdale Bridge: Stay at Shepherd’s Arms; walk from Ennerdale Bridge to Rosthwaite (23km)

Day 3 Rosthwaite (Stonethwaite): Stay at Knotts View Guest House; walk from Rosthwaite to Grasmere (23km)

Day 4 Grasmere: Stay at Thorney How Independent Hostel; walk from Grasmere to Patterdale (12km)

Day 5 Patterdale: Stay at Old Water Inn Guest House; walk from Patterdale to Shap (24km)

Day 6 Shap: Stay at The Hermitage Guest House; walk from Shap to Kirkby Stephen (31km)

Day 7 Kirkby Stephen: Stay at Black Bull Hotel; walk from Kirkby Stephen to Keld (24km)

Day 8 Keld: Stay at Butt House Guest House; walk from Keld to Reeth (17km)

Day 9 Reeth: Stay at Hackney House B & B; walk from Reeth to Richmond (18km)

Day 10 Richmond; Stay at the King’s Head Pub (rest day)

Day 11 Richmond: walk from Richmond to Ingleby Arncliffe (32km)

Day 12 Ingleby Arncliffe: Stay at Somerset House Guest House; walk from Ingleby Arncliffe to Clay Bank Top (Chop Gate) (19km)

Day 13 Chop Gate: Stay at Buck Inn Guest House; walk from Chop Gate to Blakey Ridge (13km)

Day 14 Blakey Ridge: Stay at Lion Inn Pub; walk from Blakey Ridge to Grosmont (20km)

Day 15 Grosmont: Stay at The Gallery B&B; walk from Grosmont to Robin Hood’s Bay (25km)

Day 16 Robin Hood’s Bay: Stay at Victoria Hotel. Party party party….

I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.  Robert Louis Stevenson

What our six member travelling party hopes to do is to keep moving…. Here is our 16 day itinerary for the coast to coast walk from St Bees on the West Coast of England, to Robin Hood’s Bay in the East. We’re planning to walk from the Irish Sea to the North Sea.

A pathway at St Bees, our starting point on the irish sea

Plotting and Pantsing

The Scottish novelist and playwright, and creator of Peter Pan, JM Barrie wrote:

The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it.

This brings to mind writing generally. Some novelists are 'plotters' who plan (sometimes to the last detail!) what is going to happen in their stories. Others are 'pantsers' who 'fly by the seats of their pants.' They start with the characters in their novels, and a basic plot (if it is a romance the hero and heroine will enjoy a 'happily ever after'), but the journey the characters take will depend largely on them….

I am a panster. Which can lead to a certain amount of anxiety as the writing progresses. I want my characters to have a happily ever after, but sometimes I'm not sure how they are going to achieve this!

Todays pictures were taken at the Crinan Canal, a 10 mile stretch of canal on the West Coast of Scotland. Numerous photos were taken (not by me…) of the way the locks operated, and how the water levels changed as a boat moved from lock to lock in the canal. What did I find interesting? The houses along the way. I imagined who had lived there in the past. And who could live there in the future….. 

Is blogging the modern form of diarising?

Walter Scott, one of the great Scottish writers, said:

What is a diary as a rule? A document useful to the person who keeps it. Dull to the contemporary who reads it and invaluable to the student, centuries afterwards, who treasures it.

At the risk of sounding dull to the contemporary reader, this is what happened today….

We had a flat tyre, and it cost an exorbitant amount of money, time and effort to get it fixed.  We found out the hard way that Hertz doesn't provide spare tyres in many of its hire vehicles (who would have known?)

On a happier note, we stopped the car next to a paddock and a herd of curious cows joined us as we cursed. I spotted this calf just before we drove away. The calf's wonderful heart shaped marking just had to be recorded…. 

Croabh Haven

We're staying at a small villiage on Scotland's western seaboard. Croabh Haven is around three hours north of Glasgow. It has a marina (and its own pub - The Lord of the Isles). There are a multitude of islands with historical significance (not to mention amazing scenery) off the west coast. Mull and Iona are just two of many. Here are a couple of shots of Croabh….

On the road to Ardfern...

Lovely five kilometre walk to Ardfern today (actually four kilometres, but we got lost). Boots and rain jackets a must. Scenery beautiful.

Scotland

Oban, on Scotland's west coast, is grey and wet and beautiful. We'll be staying in the Argyll region for a few days before moving south, to the Lakes District in England. The scenery here is magnificent. Lochs and pastures and picturesque villages aplenty. 

England Walk

So I guess these are the essentials for walking 309km in fifteen days - from St Bees in the West of England, to Robin Hood's Bay in the East. Wordsworth to the Brontes and everything in between. Boots for walking. For the day pack there's a Guidebook, mug (I need tea), note book and pen. Plus something to sparkle for when I'm cold, wet and tired. Wet weather gear too but I'll work that out later…..

Blogging

So….last night I dreamed I was to teach a two hour blogging course to a group of students who wanted to improve their skills in blogging.  One of my biggest fears was that I had to connect to all these blogging people doing my course via Skype (or was it a conference call?). Whatever it was I didn't know the number/ address to connect with them, so I couldn't even get to the point of bluffing my way through two hours of telling them what to do in the blogosphere. This dream is obviously linked closely to my current state of mind.

But all is well because I have signed up for a two hour course on blogging. It will be held on Wednesday evening so I will report here. Or maybe I won't have to. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating…. 

Photo for today is of Daphne (and Donald Duck). Its only relevance to blogging is that it was taken at 5am this morning (after I awoke from my dream). Daphne represents my blogging students. I am Donald Duck, the blogging teacher.

Website Activation Day!

It's been a long weekend for the Queen's Birthday, but I haven't managed to do much writing. Then again, I have made a few useful notes. As Agatha Christie said, 'The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes…' I was driving to Woolies when I had my useful thought of the day. Can't wait to record it!

Pathway for today is from the Ku Ring Gai Chase National Park...

Pathways….

Characters in literature go on a journey… and it's often a turn in the road, or the selection of a particular pathway, that determines where their stories will lead them. I'm walking across England in a few weeks time, so I thought this journey of mine might be a good way to start my blog. I'll also share my writing news - I'm waiting for my edits on In at the Deep End now - and give you updates on how some of my writing friends are progressing on their own roads to publication. Many are already published, so I'll be able to share their exciting new book news too.

A Blue Mountains pathway...