In the town of Bowes, Will’s grandma and grandpa picked us up in their motor home! They had been touring some of Scotland for around 3 weeks, and stopped on their way back south to see Will. They grabbed us, we made a quick stop for vittles, and they had a campground site reserved for the night just outside of town. We enjoyed some chicken and carrot stew, snacks & drinks, and chatted. Will and I even got a shower! Bringing the total up to 4 for the trip. It was a lovely overnight break from the trail, and man do I appreciate their hospitality.
Hiking along the River Tees.
High Force, a 70 foot waterfall.
Had a few hours of this one morning.
Then the weather cleared a bit just as we reached High Cup Nick! A very impressive glacially carved valley. We sat for a few minutes to admire it, but the cold wind insisted we keep moving.
Intersection with the Coast to Coast path.
Afternoon stop for snacking inside Greg’s Hut. Very thankful to get out of the wind for a short spell.
Ramparts of a Roman fort. Some of the best preserved ramparts outside of Rome, according
to the informational sign.
Hadrian’s Wall!
Lots of ups and downs right along the wall. The Roman’s sought to make good use of the natural escarpment in this area.
Hadrian’s Sheep.
So this is Stormin’ Norman. He thruhiked the PCT in 2007 with his wife, Hell on Wheels. We had a wonderful sit down at his farm on the Pennine Way! He offers snacks, coffee, showers, laundry, etc. to hikers on the trail. It was the only kind of place like this we have seen so far. ’07 was a different world on the PCT compared to ’14. His class was only about 70 people, of which 15 or 20 finished. We had well over a thousand permits in 2014.
C.Las 