Lamb Hill to Byrness 

What a grotty night’s sleep. Grotty. That’s a 70’s word, maybe slipping into the 80’s. Anyway the bench was hard, it was cold, empty refuges in the middle of nowhere are spooky and I kept waking up every 15 minutes on the narrow, hard, wooden slab. I also thought I heard people outside in the dark. As if. It rained a lot and the morning brought a cloudy but dry start. Weather forecaster? Cloudy but dry start.

Breakfast was my second can of cold beans and a swig of water. Then getting my wet boots on before pushing off. Grim. Nothing spectacular on this nine mile stretch. I set off at 08.30.

Rolling hills and deteriorating weather, without the very strong wind from yesterday. The army has training in this area and three lads with a trainer ran past me carrying heavy packs and machine guns. They must have been on officer training because they all said good morning. They also use this area as a firing range and they leave the empties lying about.

The mound in the near distance is an extensive Roman camp that must have been the worst posting for a Centurion. Cold and miserable. And that’s just the locals.

Over the last ridge the Way began to descend, with decent views; but by this time it was raining hard again. 

Dropping further down the path becomes a climb down a rock edge. Part way down I came face to face with a patch of ripe bilberries. Sheltered from cold winds and facing south they were ripe very early, and I stained my fingers collecting and eating them. Fantastic.

The path dropped further and became one long mud bath. There were sections where people had slipped and slid down in the mud. Wish I’d seen it. In two spots I slipped but on both occasions got my hand firmly down and pushed meself back upright before going a mucky pisser in the mud. 

Eventually in very heavy rain I got to the Inn where my tent pitch was booked. The camping area was flooded. Boo! But there was a bed available in a dormitory. Hooray! But three other people turned up. Boo! But they were in another room and I have a room to myself. Hooray!!!

Night night.