The average Yorkshireman tends to refer to Yorkshire as 'God's Own County' and after today I can understand why. Today, we walked along the Swaledale Valley and boy........was it beautiful?! Peace and tranquility reigned, the weather was pretty good and apart from a tricky start and a couple of mile, hard, uphill section in the middle, the going underfoot was quite gentle on the feet. In fact, at one point, as we tracked across some open moorland, I mentioned that it was as if 'Mother Nature was caressing our feet!



However, behind this beauty and tranquility lay a dark and menacing side. A side that made you wonder what dangers might lurk around the next corner. I managed to get a few pictures to evidence these strange phenomena and, dear reader, see what you think! First, there was the strange case of the two headed lamb; cute and scary at the same time. Then, there was the mystery tree standing tall BUT without any roots in the ground! Clearly, some pagan magic. But, scariest of all was the image that kept appearing to me round every corner........an image to set your heart a quiver.............the image of Jim, relaxing at home while we trudged the miles away, sitting in his armchair, scoffing a cream tea. The mind can play such terrible tricks!!

 

Before we started today, we saw Jane safely on to the Packhorse van and she would probably be in Reeth before we had managed to walk too far out of Keld! But this was not before we had another delicious breakfast......Keld Lodge really did us proud. So then it was just Steve, Tina and I - Three Caballeros - setting off on the 13 mile leg to Reeth, through the Swaledale valley.

 
















I was phaffing about with the Gizmo trying to get the GPS signal, Tina was studying the map and Steve was engrossed in the guide book and before we knew it, we had walked down into the tiny hamlet of Keld before we remembered the group photo! We hadn't taken it! So today's is a little different with Keld Lodge up on the hill in the background.

The guide book promised a beautiful walk today, and although the first part was very pretty, it was a stiff walk up and down over rocky terrain. However it soon eased up and we were almost strolling along by the riverside, the River Swale.....the river that dominates this valley and gives it it's name, of course. The river that, in fact, has its source at Nine Standards, the place where we struggled across the peat bogs yesterday.

 

As we walked along the valley, the views just got better and better, very beautiful and very English. This really was a lovely day and a complete contrast to the rigours of yesterday. One of the features of this leg are the stiles built into the dry stone walling....basically, just gaps in the walls with a gate attached. Now, we had seen these types of stile many times before, but the difference here is how narrow they are! If you happen to be, shall we say, a person of the slightly larger variety, you simply wouldn't be able to get through.......it was even a struggle for us 'racing snakes'!

 













 
Another feature of the entire C2C has been Tina's efforts to point out different types of flowers to me. As anyone who knows me well will testify, this was always doomed to failure, but Tina hasn't given up so far! Here's another yellow one and a white one Tina!!

 
 

But the abiding memories of this leg, will be the beautiful Swaledale valley, the views of which just got better and better the closer we got to Reeth. Don't get me wrong, the Lake District was absolutely majestic, but somehow, the Swaledale valley does it for me. And for a Lancashire County Cricket supporter, believe me, it comes hard to praise anything Yorkshire!!

   

We made pretty good time and rolled into Reeth around 3pm and there to meet us was Steve's wife Lily, his daughters Rowena and Sarah, son in law Mark and granddaughter Maddie, a right Forbes Family outing. It was great to catch up with them and to see some 'non-C2C' faces.........it is very easy to get stuck in the bubble of this adventure and forget about the outside world.

Reeth is a lovely village which classes itself as the 'capital' of Swaledale. Amongst other things it is famous for being the village backdrop for All Creatures Great and Small and with the real life James Herriot living just down the road in the hamlet of Muker. After eating with Steve's family and saying our goodbyes, we strolled up to our accommodation for the night at a place called The Manse, an absolutely beautiful property - calling it simply a B&B really doesn't do it justice! Jonathan and Judy have decorated the place immaculately and nothing is too much trouble.......and as for the showers, definitely the best on the walk so far!


















 All in all, a swell day in Swaledale and with leg 10 over and 113 miles walked to date. Tomorrow we move on to a real big town in Richmond, with shops and stuff!!

Your QI facts for today are:

* All Creatures Great and Small ran for 90 episodes over 22 years;
* The River Swale is over 73 miles long and flows into the River Ure, near Myton-on-Swale;
* The narrow stiles are actually called Squeeze Stiles;