Day 8: Keld to Reeth

A much gentler day today: 12 miles along the River Swale in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. In fact, we covered a significant part of Swaledale today (and will walk though much of the rest tomorrow), and apart from a single very light shower, we had great weather to do so.

This was the alternative version of the route, one that Wainwright recommends as a change to the hill climbs of earlier in the week - and we are all very glad we did it this way. The trees that line the river complement the lush green hillsides perfectly, and the sound of running water through the stony river really added to it. As seen in the picture, we also found a place to play in the middle of the river - or at least at the mouth of Barney Beck as it departs from the Swale.

Another landmark passed today was the 100 mile mark - we have now completed just over 108 of them, and are still largely in good health (barring the occasional dodgy ankle or blistered heel) and spirit!

On arriving in Reeth (a beautiful village - the so-called "capital of Swaledale") we played outside an ice cream parlour for about half an hour and attracted a good audience - hopefully our rendition of "O Sole Mio" attracted people to the idea of ice cream, rather than leaving them disappointed that they didn't sell Cornettos!

Apologies, by the way, for the lack of updates to our location today - I have had no phone reception since the middle of yesterday (Friday), so unless I strike lucky with wi-fi thus evening you won't be reading this until a good way through Sunday anyway!

Quote of the day: "I think that cello's going to have to sit on the loo overnight" (due to lack of room in the B&B)