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Our B&B spot last night was great across the board. We were welcomed with tea and cakes then hooked up with a fab spot for dinner.

The Manor House B&B is a huge old two story house in the centre of Kirkby Stephen. Our room had a small ensuite power shower which rocked after a long day on the trails.

For dinner we went to The Croft House B&B and restaurant. Dinner was outstanding with lovely decor, service and food. The mushroom soup was the best I’ve ever tasted!

Our walk today was the easiest day so far with 17 miles along mostly flat trails. Unlike other days the views today were limited as our paths were surrounded by trees and hedgerows.

About 1/2 way through the hike we passed Warcop, a small village which hosts a British Army urban warfare training area. There were lots of machine gun sounds and the occasional BIG bang (with impressive smoke) as we hiked throught out afternoon.

As we entered woodland trails we were rewarded with beautiful fields of bluebells lining the trails.

The trails seemed long today so we entertained ourselves with our very own Olypic hurdle event over the many many stiles. For a foreigner Lynn showed good promise but lost out to the creative talents of yours truly with my signature ‘double hip rotation jump’.

The last few miles into Appleby followed the riverbank and we saw lots of large brown trout munching on bugs.

Tonight we’re staying in the Royaloak Hotel, a 16th century coaching house. We ate dinner here tonight and it was lovely washed down with local Blacksheep ale.

We took a short walk around Appleby – it’s a small town with a castle which is unfortunately closed to the public. The local architecture is old with lots of character.

Today’s mileage was 17 miles making a total of 81 miles. It was much cooler today with overcast skies and almost rain. The forecast for tomorrow looks dodgy with 60% chance of rain. That’s unfortunate but should be a good field test for our Paramor jackets.

Tomorrow is our last day with the longest mileage at 19 miles to round it out to an even 100 miles.