England Coast to Coast: Parris Two Britian: Day 7: Bampton To Scar Side

Subtitle: Abbey Road

Today started off sunny and bright at the Crown and Mitre. Paul and I were both pretty tired after yesterday’s efforts on Kidsty Pike and along Haweswater Lake. We found out from a fellow traveler that three groups of folks that left St. Bees with us were throwing in the towel. According to Stuart, the friendly South of England walker we met up with today, about 30% of people who start the Coast to Coast do not finish it. We have the distinct advantage of having all our hotels already booked, being exceedingly hard-headed and having nowhere else to go. I told Paul I am walking across England, I don’t care how I do it—across hill and vale or on a city street but I am doing it. GRRRRRRRRRR! Today was a massive terrain change from what we have had since Seatoller. We have walked up one hill and down the next valley all day. No real prolonged climbs and treacherous descents. We met Stuart who helped us navigate out of Bampton with his copied detailed instructions (He’s in I.T, of course.) and he was a great guy who spent about 4 years in the US working as an independent contractor. A headhunter asked him if he wanted to live in New York – which he interpreted as “New York City” -- and then promptly sent him to Rochester. We ran into him numerous times during the day and enjoyed our walks and talks. Today we were treated to quite a few historical interludes. First off, we saw the ruins of Shap Abbey. This was a premonasterial abbey in which the monks had an outward focus helping their community. It was built in the 12th century and did quite well until Henry the 8th wanted a divorce. At that point, he ran the monks off, gave the farm to a dick (or was it a guy named Richard?) and never looked back. The ruins are very well preserved especially the nave and altar area. And of course, the latrine.
It was very nice to see it and we would recommend it to other visitors to Northern England. 60 miles of walking not required. You can drive right up to the car park. From the Abbey, we wandered into the modern village of Shap. It’s your typical English hamlet: a school, a church, a post office, a store or two, a pub and a coffee shop. We stopped at the coffee shop and had a scone and ordered our lunch for later in the day. Next we navigated and crossed the M-6 (the equivalent of Interstate 75) on a bridge. Stuart was particularly looking forward to the event as he has taken the M-6 to Scotland repeatedly.
From here we entered the grounds of a limestone quarry, passed the ancient Roman city of Oddendale and then meandered through a huge sheep farm (of course!), past a stone circle, and eventually over an old Roman road made of limestone. It was pretty impressive that the cobblestones are still in place. Then we continued into a ravine where the grave of Robin Hood stands. Not that anyone can actually identify it, mind you. It’s a couple of stands of rock. Albert Wainwright remarked that the structure could be anything in the world EXCEPT Robin Hood’s grave. We are pretty sure Robin Hood is mythical and that he is the coalescence of several people, so we aren’t placing much stock in the claim!
From this point, it was a relatively easy downhill amble past an old lime kiln and finally down to Scar Side Farm where we are staying the night. The farm is nice with lots of chickens, sheep and even some small horses down the way. We have a beautiful large room overlooking the wheat fields …and a most picturesque trampoline. We had a nice dinner in the nearby town of Orton and now we are getting ready to REST!
Oh yeah. One more day to Kirkby Stephen and a one day break. All who encounter us will be ecstatic that we plan to do our laundry there.

Paul’s Ponderings: After the first few days, today was a welcome respite from the mountains, even though it was 13 miles distance. And we added two to that walking into the village. We enjoyed the up and down in rolling hills and the starkness of the moors. Our nemesis, Kidsty Pike, was often seen in the distance. We even arrived at our destination about 4 pm, including multiple stops! What a change. In theory the Yorkshire Dales are going to be much easier going overall, although it will not be hill free. Shap Abbey was another example of very impressive engineering, done during the 12th century. They said when Henry the 8th shut it down, the locals raided the stone for reuse. But, what’s left is interesting, including the main tower.