Kirby Stephen to Dufton

3 July 2011 - Kirby Stephen to Dufton

Distance - 16.7 miles

Weather - Hot

We stayed at - Coney Garth, Dufton, Appleby, Cumbria CA16 6DA  Cost - £60.00

Today was originally planned to be a 19 mile walk, the first half of which involved wandering through fields etc. between several villages. Only one of the villages had a Public House which was, when last researched, open. I noticed that there was a serviceable B road which cut off 3 or 4 miles walk, and was probably quicker walking. It also cut off the PH which was reputedly open, so disappointment was less likely to be found too.

We took the B road, which turned out to be empty and made good time, getting to Great Ormside just in time for lunch. We made use of the village recreational facilities - a bench overlooking an empty swing and ate the pies we'd bought from the baker in Kirkby. I had commented to the girl serving that I was surprised it was open at 9 am on a Sunday. 'We have to,' she replied, 'for people like you.' Kirkby Stephen is one of the biggest towns on the Coast-to-Coast walking route so there are a lot of 'people like us' all wanting to buy lunch at 9 am.

So having eaten our pies we had a quick wander along the road on the off-chance that the local PH was in business. It wasn't. We have decided that PH actually stands for 'Probably House'

We toddled alongside the River Eden for a bit longer, the usual sometimes woodland, sometimes field kind of thing, for a couple of miles before reaching Appleby-in-Westmorland.

We found a PH that was prepared to sell us beer and ice-cream. Alistair was also able to nip half a mile down the road to the Co-Op to buy sweets, whilst I guarded the luggage at the PH. Alistair said that walking without 10kg of rucksack felt a strange experience, he felt like the bionic man.

Road after missed turning

The final leg to Dufton was only enlivened by Alistair missing a turning - he was enjoying walking along the road. We found another path, so he'd only added half a mile to the walk.

Pennine views

We also spent ages looking for the B&B in Dufton, eventually phoning and finding out it was half a mile outside of town. The funny thing was that, because it was a farm, it was actually marked on our map. Duhh!

The pub in the village is quite busy, because the Pennine Way comes through it, however we just had a pint at it, eating the remainder of our Kirkby Stephen food back at the B&B.