Sam's Walk
Walton, Newtown, Crosby on Eden, Rickerby and Carlisle
Hi Sam and we hope you are enjoying your holidays. We think about you as we start out today. Last night was quite an experience worth a mention. We stayed at the White Horse at Brampton and were alerted to things to come by Linda our taxi driver who said it can be a bit noisy on a Friday night! Viv and I had rooms at the front and I quickly closed my window as it was above where the smokers go for their smoke at the entrance to the bar. As the night wore on the shouting got louder and made less sense until it reached its crescendo around 1am.
That was not the end of the show as a fight broke out in the car park in the early hours and a car was stolen. When we go down to breakfast the police are at work collecting their information. Poor Annelies from Nijmeger in Holland was walking Hadrian and had come here for some quiet as there is a big festival taking place in her town this week. She could not believe what she was hearing and seeing. We met Annelies at the hotel and she has a friend Ine Geboers who has MS. Rob only got three hours sleep and is desperate for some more.
We take breakfast in the hotel and talk with Sandra the temporary manager. She convinces us that running a pub is hard work but she is enjoying it. Rob puts on a show for us in the bar early on with a few beer mats he performs beer mat tossing. Apparently he was Brasenose beermat tossing champion at Oxford and claims something like over 40 beermats. Today he goes down memory lane and says he tossed 25 but looked like about 4 to me. Lynda our taxi driver meets us to take us back up to where we finished on the wall yesterday and Annelies comes along with us. Lynda is not surprised to hear our experience but cannot believe we have booked in again tonight to find out what happens next in all the arguments and punch ups taking place. Just kidding and no way are we going back there.
The walking is pleasant but much less dramatic than previous days. Impressive views of the Coast to Coast hills to come in September with Rob bravely waving his stick at them and saying 'huh...you call them hills?'.
We pass through Newtown where Rob engages Liverpool fans with Nathan, Aiden and Amberlooloo, their dad Jonathon and the dogs Coco Sophie and Honey. We lose Rob for a while as he talks Liverpool football and the prospects for the season.
Further along we catch a thief with his fingers in the honesty money box of The Stall on the Wall.
At the Stag's Head at Crosby on Eden we meet William and Else from Holland who we thank for your very generous contribution to our campaign. We really appreciate it and we know it will make a difference. We also see lines inside the pub on the wall about three feet off the ground showing where the floods rasied to in 2007. Scary thought.
At Rickerby we see a chain saw sculpture in a dead tree.
Finally in to Carlisle and it is a bit of a hit on the senses being back in a town after the freedom and stunning scenery of the Northumberland countryside around Hadrians Wall. Hopefully less excitement outside our bedroom windows tonight and a good nights sleep before our final day.
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