Left at 8.35 this morning in rain which got heavier as we went along. Would have been a lovely walk in good weather, beautiful scenery and loads of wild flowers, but it was just something that we had to get through. Reached Orton after 3 hours like drowned rats, went into the Chocolate Factory and had hot chocolate and crumpets - felt a bit better! Still raining as we left Orton not really able to appreciate where we were as we had our heads down against the wind and just trudged on. Rain eased a couple of times then looked as though it might actually clear up, our waterproofs were just beginning to dry when down it came again - such a shame, ground that would normally be boggy was just deep muddy ponds. About a mile and a half outside Kirkby Stephen just to finish us off completely it started coming down like stair rods, couldn't believe we could be so wet! Got to the B and B by about 5.30 to be greeted with a pot of tea and 2 slices of Victoria sponge, very welcome.
21.5 miles!