May 28, 2022
Day 12
Because it was Saturday breakfast didn’t start until 8:30 am, so we didn’t get on our way until 9:15 am. We headed back up the main street, past the castle, then over the A66. We followed the road a bit more then headed out into the fields. First we passed a sign warning about unexploded munitions (mustard gas from World War 2) and then a sign about a firing range (no firing today).
The route across the moors this morning was pretty good this morning, with only a small number of bogs to dodge. But we had to cross numerous stiles between fields, which slowed our progress significantly. At one point we met a large group of walkers coming towards us and chatted to one of them for quite a while.
Rosemary had checked the Trailblazer guide and noticed there was a bird blind next to Blackton Reservoir, which we were just approaching. There were hardly any birds there, and it wasn’t obvious why the water company had put it there, but it was a nice place for lunch.
After lunch we passed by Hannah’s Meadow and High Birk Hatt and a lot more farms. This required crossing a lot of stiles, and most of them were the kind which made you climb over a stone wall on tiny steps. Those were the worst kind for Rosemary’s knee. When we came to the B6276 we briefly considered calling a taxi, but decided to push on. Finally we got to the top and descended down to Middleton, arriving there at about 5 pm.
We quickly found our hotel, Brunswick House, at the upper end of the village. Our room was at the front of the house overlooking the street towards a small park. The bollards which lined the main street had been decorated with crocheted caps of red, white, and blue, but the ones across from us were extra fancy as they also had flowers on them.
Once settled into our room we quickly went out for dinner, since it was Saturday and the restaurants might be full. Well, it turned out that both of them were fully booked so we ended up at the fish and chip shop. And this was a good choice. It was incredibly busy but it didn’t take long at all to get served, cod and chips for Rosemary and haddock and chips for Paul.
West Coast Hikers Around The World 