Day 9

Day 9 Tan Hill Inn to Middleton in Teesdale 17 miles

Today was probably the most uneventful, and to be honest, most boring for me so far. When I woke this morning the moors surrounding Tan Hill Inn were covered in mist. Visibility was down to 100 to 200 metres, not enough to make navigating hard, just enough to block any views there may be.It was like this also when I set off, making my way across Sleightholme Moor for about 3 miles. This is described in the guide books as being very boggy, they describe it incorrectly. It should say, this is a bog that masquerades as a moor, once and only once though did I go in ankle deep. I consider myself very lucky indeed, although my boots and socks were soaked, I had to change my socks shortly afterwards to try and prevent any chaffing causing blisters. I left the bog across a footbridge then took a farm track for a few miles.

Leaving the Bog behind clouded in mist

It was then fields and rough grassland down to cross underneath the A66 road, just before the A66 there is a nice little spot known as Gods Bridge, its a natural layering of rock across a stream acting as a bridge.

Gods Bridge

Gods Bridge

There was then a boring uphill stretch of moorland, made worse because it was still misty you couldn't get any views, saying that I don't think there was much to see anyway. It got so bad for me that when I reached three "reservoirs" I was rather pleased, it was that bad. To be fair the reservoirs did show more appeal than many I have passed this last week.

Grassholme res.

At this stage I knew it wasn't going to get any better, and I was right, the mist never cleared entirely for the rest of the day. I was getting mentally tired by the minute, my brain then decided to make my legs take a bit of the stress also, they started tiring also. Eventually you drop down from the hillside into Middleton, another monotonous descent that then got my feet aching as well. Its late in the evening now writing this, me and Liz went into the pub bar in our accommodation, Forresters Hotel, had dinner a few drinks and I watched the England v Russia match on the TV, still feeling a bit down but, as in "Gone with the Wind" you know what is said "Tomorrow is another day".