Pennine Way Day Eight - Hawes to Keld

Distance: 13.5 miles
Ascent: 750m
Weather: cloudy, bit wet above 600m
Highest flower: intrepid poppy at 710m

The first point of interest of the day was a visit to Hawdraw waterfall. Unsurprisingly, given the amount of rain there's been lately, water it was very impressive - much more so than when we visited in 2011 on our North of England Way walk when there was just a dribble.

We then set off proper, on the track up Bluebell Hill up the side of Wensleydale. The path heads up a wide ridge, over Hearn Top, Black Hill Moss and up to Great Shunner Fell, getting wetter and windier the higher we got into the clag and then better again as we dropped down the other side into the next valley. On Black Hill Moss we saw some fine examples of bogs and deer grass, and also fossilised trees which look like tyre tracks. We thought that the fossils would be tricky to spot, as there were quite a few actual tyre tracks on the route lower on the hill, but they were quite easily distinguishable.

We had lunch at the shelter on Great Shunner Fell and the clouds began to lift, soon there were views into Swaledale, over Thwaite and Mucker.

In Thwaite we called in at a coffee shop for cream teas (first of our holiday!) where Rob had a play with a boot cover dispenser and I just took my shoes off and left them by the door.

Just north of Thwaite is a place on the map called Dirty Piece. We didn't go there.

The Pennine Way goes out of the village up a little path - which Rob commented had something wrong with it, but normality resumed soon enough when water began gushing down it - that leads around into Swaledale. The grassy path levels out and gives spectacular views over the dale, which is stunningly beautiful. We met pheasants, swaledale sheep and lambs, bunnies (in a bunny castle)  and saw masses of primroses, bluebells, saxifrage, forget-me-not, and other flowers.

We turned off the Way into Keld by some waterfalls and walked through the village, which is very pretty and even has an old fashioned red telephone box, that apparently works.

We are staying at The Keld Lodge and have been very well fed indeed. We also bumped into the same German chap whom we met on Offa's Dyke two years ago. Small world.