Pennine Way Day 9 - Tan Hill - Keld

July 2, 2008 

Journal

1005 Tan Hill Inn
Bit of a mad night last night. The landlady here is completely crazy. There are chickens in the pub and sheep trying to get in still. She also has a furry spider attached to a string which is threaded over the beams to a hook behind the bar. Using this she can lower the spider onto the person who is sitting at a certain table in the bar. She scared the living daylights out of the girl who was sitting there this morning! Funny, but if that girl had been scared of spiders, it might not have been! Oh, and the girl was the one from behind the bar last night, who I assumed worked here, but it turns out that her and her boyfriend are guests too! Crazy place.

Morning at the Tan Hill Inn.

When I arrived down for breakfast, she asked me if I wanted tea or coffee - "Coffee, thanks" I said. "Well there's the kettle, get it yourself!" was the reply. When I came back with it, she said "You're a selfish b*****d!" because I hadn't offered everyone a cup. All light-hearted and I found it quite hilarious, but I can imagine it might not go down well with everyone. The bar here is decorated with funny signs like "There's no 'F' in 'parking'".

1204 Tan Hill

Still here. Have chilled out in the bar (no drinking of course). Having another coffee then off.

Looking back north from the moor.

Dropping down off the moor into Keld, some mountain bikers blast past.

1420 Keld Lodge 4.5 miles
I smell bad - need a clean :)

Later @ Keld Lodge
Good day just chatting with Mum and Dad - don't get that too often nowadays. Covered lots of topics, just nice to talk to them. They're great. Apparently Dad is keeping his own diary of my PW adventure! Typical Dad - probably on computer and everything :) Still, I can't talk ;)

My feet are a bit swollen tonight.

In Keld.

Day 9 Statistics

TAN - KLD
4.5 miles (151 miles since KY; 55.1%)
145m ascent
time stopped: 0h39m
time moving: 1h37m
overall average: 2.8mph
average while moving: 2.9mph

Comments

Of course it was Dad's birthday, one of the reasons they met me on this day. It was good to get a proper shower and sort all my stuff out - and I think my body appreciated another short day. Maybe this is the way I can succeed at things like this - by mixing up the distances a lot.