Handbag walking gets serious - Part 1

We’ve completed our trial walking weekend. As I’ve said, our plan is to work up to the Dales Way, so we planned a two day walking excursion. We did two walks, so 11 miles over the two days*, one six mile walk round Bolton Abbey, and a five mile one round Malham and I was remarkably pain free.

As always, the first walk turned into a bit of an adventure. While we walked through the Strid woods there was police helicopter circling above looking for someone who had gone missing. We had to walk before we ate (but only because the first tea shop was full!) When we got to Barden Tower, we found a fab little restaurant, where we ate tea and cakes with some South Africans who were touring the UK, and who couldn’t understand why anyone would walk in this weather. We also got the business history of the place from the woman who runs it.

Walking back, we had time to call in at the shop, before heading through Skipton to our hotel, which we’d booked through late rooms. We knew it specialised in walking holidays. What we didn’t know was that we were booked in with the Cheshire County WI, and the Dudley Ramblers!

As it turned out, it was great fun, (possibly aided by the wine we consumed before dinner). They were very friendly and really wanted to look after us and include us. We’d booked dinner, as we didn’t want the hassle of going out and trying to find somewhere. As the tables were large, everyone had to join in, and they all seemed quite impressed that we were doing this independently (which isn’t difficult if you have a book, and can read a map.)

The funniest moment came after dinner, when they had a quiz. The first round was close up photos of 20 essential things to take with you on a walk. How many did we have? One – the mobile phone!

I think our team mates were a little bemused by our style of walking. Alas, we didn’t win, but our team of 5 came second to a team of 9, who had seen the answers of one round before we started, so once again, we had the moral victory!

* This may not seem a lot, but then you have to factor in the coffee, lunch, and tea stops, and the shopping.