Cheats Do Prosper

After struggling to finish the largest fried breakfast I have ever had,I squeezed into my 30 inch walking trousers and we set off on our 21 mile trek to Kirkby Stephen. Our mad landlady had told us a short cut to take which would get us back onto the trail without having to walk back through the v illage and before too long we arrived at the M6. The footbridge over the motorway is strangely one of the most well known landmarks of the C2C. It was strange seeing all of the cars rushing by,even at 9am, as there have been days where we have only seen stationery vehicles parked up at our destination village. The next few miles were spent chatting to various Coast to Coasters which helped the miles go by quite easily. We met up with Jill,Tim and Michael who we have got quite friendly with and Tim kindly lent Leonie an ankle support. The amount of Sterling Smooth Superkings in her day pack was finally taking its toll! We were making really good time and the sun had made what turned out to be more than a guest appearance. We arrived at Sunbiggin Tarn in the early afternoon and decided to head onto the road for the next 3 miles rather than taking the alternative route through the fields. We thought that this would be 'easy' miles under our belt but it was a dramatic change from the terrain we had been used to and I was glad to be back on the knee friendly surface of grass after an hour. The last few miles were tough,given the heat and distance and my frame of mind wasn't helped as we approached the B+B when I realised that we could have taken a short cut which would have saved us about 30 mins. We arrived at our B+B at 7pm and quickly showered before getting a taxi into the town centre for tea. Our aching limbs were soothed by winning a tenner on the pub quiz with Tim and Michael-by correctly answering that Salem was the location of the New England Pirate Museum. God bless internet availability on mobile phones!!! We retired to bed very much looking forward to our rest day.