Pennine Way day 9 (sat 26th april 2014) - Keld to Middleton in Teesdale (21 miles)

We wake up early after a really good sleep and get our breakfast butties and packed lunches delivered to the yurt, absolutely brilliant! It's a long day ahead of us to Middleton-in-teesdale but the good news is that the bags are going on the sherpa van today which should make a real difference!! We put my stuff in a bin bag and use my rucksack as a day pack and head out into the drizzle about 9.40am. The first 4 miles up to Tan Hill aren't actually too bad, the weather is a bit rubbish but we're both feeling pretty refreshed and we arrive at tan hill just after half ten where we stop for photos at the tan hill inn and i manage to get bashed on the head with the pub sign in the process! 

From there we headed towards Sleightholme moor where we realise exactly why the pennine way has a reputation for being boggy!! It was AWFUL, it seemed to take forever to get across, constantly hopping across the really bad bits and trying to keep our feet as dry as possible. It was the pretty difficult to follow the path too and would be very easy to veer off in the wrong direction especially if the weather was really bad! We were very happy to finally get across and come out onto the road towards Sleightholme farm, crossing Sleightholme beck before trudging through the bogginess that is Wytham Moor and finally dropping down to God's bridge where we stop to sit by the river and eat our packed lunches.

From there we headed under the underpass on the A66 and head back up onto the moors where i manage to narrowly avoid standing on an adder, i wouldn't even have noticed it but Chris pointed it out after he saw me step right over it! It was pretty cool to see one though, first time either of us has seen one while out walking!
The next few miles is across more boggy moors although nowhere near as bad as this morning, plus the sun has come out and it's actually really pretty, we head down to the reservoir at Baldersdale which is the halfway point of the pennine way….ONLY HALFWAY!!! best not to think about it i think!

From here its about another 6 miles to Middleton-in-Teesdale, all of which seems to be up and down over fields and moors which is hard going on the old knees, we pass by Hannah Hauxwell's farm where there is now a meadow named after her and then walk another few miles before finally we can see the town in the distance and we head down in bright sunshine, arriving at our B&B for the night, The Old Barn. Lynda the owner is really lovely and so helpful, we'd pre-arranged for her to do us a much needed load of laundry and it's so nice to have some clean clothes to set off in tomorrow!  We have a lovely dinner at the Teesdale arms before getting an early night after a long day!  It was definitely a good move putting our bags on the sherpavan today, it made it a really enjoyable day(despite the bogs!)