Several days of walking and fatigue and not so much time to blog. The most exciting time has been the march through the bogs. After climbing for about two miles out of Kirkby Stephen, we entered a fog bank en route to The Nine Standards. They are piles of stones at the top of the watershed divide in the center of the country, completely enshrouded in fog, with wet underfoot everywhere. From there, our only friend was the compass across the bog--leaping from dry spot to dry spot, usually successfully, sometimes not. It was a challenge to figure out which plant would provide solid footing, and which was basically growing in a pool of water. Neither of us landed on our backsides or got really muddy, so all in all, our march through about two miles of bog was a success. One of our B&B hosts had told us about an American girl, traveling by herself across the boggy area, got stuck up to her waist, couldn't move, and was lucky enough to be found by some other walkers. We are about 50% convinced that this was a story she told to all tourists... In the last couple of days we have seen gorgeous skies, huge farms, a B1 bomber taking off, and a rushing river growing larger by the hour. Last night in Richmond, we had our first change from pub grub with a *great* birthday meal in an Indian restaurant, we are probably headed back there tonight if we can get in. Kirkby Stephen to Gunnerside was a long haul at 16 miles, including the bog leaping, but Gunnerside-Reeth and Reeth-Richmond were easy stretches which allowed our legs and feet to recover a bit.
