Day 9 Sat. Aug. 24, Fletcher House Kirkby Stephen

Hiked 12.75 miles, 84 miles down, 108 to go

It rained most of last night so that made for very boggy trails. It was raining when we started out this morning and we missed our first turn.

We ended up walking 2 extra miles in the rain and lost about 75 minutes of hiking time as we were looking at maps and our GPS. We were with a British man who is about 40, and we finally got back the right path. I figured that the mistake would be harder to take at the end to the day when we were very tired.

I was right. Our feet were sore and we were a bit discouraged. We had hiked over lots of bogs and it seemed that half of our hiking time was trying to find a trail where you didn't sink into the mud over your boot tops. The Brits used the term that today was a "slog." That it was. At the end of the day we again lost the trail for a bit but at least we could see the town and knew we were close. We were trying to figure out how to get over stone walls and barbed wire fences when we saw small sign that said "public footpath".

We followed it a bit and saw a woman walking her dog and she got us headed in the right direction to our B&B. Showers and dinner revived us. Our daily schedule is into a routine. We get up and have breakfast at 7:30 or 8. We pack up our suitcases and haul them downstairs where Packhorse, the agency we are using, collects them to take to the next B&B. They provide luggage tags for each day that we stick on our bags so they get the right location. I doctor up my feet to prevent blisters and care for the two blisters that I do have. Kathy has had fewer blister issues. We collect our packed lunches and head out to the trail. We hike and hike. Take some breaks but this depends on the weather. We meet other hikers who pass us on the trail. We are the tortoises of the trail. We try to enjoy the views on the way and take some pictures.

We arrive at our B&B around 4:30 or 5. We drag our suitcases up to our room. We shower, eat dinner, put in GPS coordinates for the next day, send blog updates and a few pictures, talk with our husbands on Skype or Skype phone, think we will read some but fall asleep as soon as we get into bed.

I think for me to finish this hike it mainly takes a lot of grit and determination. In some ways all of the years our family went backpacking prepared me for this hike. Sometimes you just have to keep going. Today was one of those days. By missing the trail we ended up hiking 14.2 miles today. - Nancy

(Apparently today there was some kind of an equestrian competition.)