The bells… the bells. The church bells that is. The church across the road had an automated chime on the clock, every 15 minutes. So it gradually woke us in the morning. Up at 7:30, breakfast at 8, and we left at just before 9. The Mitre and Crown in Brampton is to be recommended, lovely bed, spacious room. We left across a public footpath through the church and headed out to pick up the C2C trail, and then went on towards Shap.

The landscape was significantly different. The peaks of the Lake District clearly behind us. Rolling fields and moor in front, much flatter. We arrived at Shap Abbey… well, what is left of it after Henry VII had his way. Then onto Shap itself, a visit to the shop to pick up some drinks and fruit, and on our way again. We exited left at the bottom of the Main Street, across the railway, and then after a brief stop to take on water, up and over the M6. We were able to walk at a goodish pace, and as we went across the moor, we went off track for a while as we just followed a straight path. We got ourselves back on C2C trail, and stopped for lunch sat on some limestone.

Then it was back onto the moor, passing various boulders, as you do, and one of Robin Hood’s numerous graves. Clever man, he is buried in many places. The sun was now behind some dark cloud, and as we approached the final walk into Orton for the day, we even experienced rain! Not much, just a few drops, but yes, rain still exists.

We followed a stream down into Orton… what a lovely place! Beautiful. We stopped into a cafe, tea for Tricia, coffee for me. The lady seemed to be confused between a cappuccino and a latte.. I asked for the former, and got the latter. But I didn’t really care. There was even a piece of gluten free cake for me. We then checked into the George Hotel, our stop for the night, and enjoyed a good meal in the bar. 12 miles walked and pretty easy going. Tomorrow we go onto Kirkby Stephen.