Whernside Manor to Holme Farm

I woke up on the morning of day four feeling worse than I did when I went to bed. Actually I think we all woke up on day four feeling worse than we did when we went to bed. Certainly Sandip did, and he announced that after two days of no sleep he had had enough and was going home.

Ironic really as he was the one most prepared for the hike – regularly walking twelve miles a day and doing thirty mile bike rides. But it wasn’t the distances that did him in, it was the accommodation. Used to the life of luxury the prospect of yet another night of roughing it, this time in tents, was too much to bear.

The big girl.

Still, at least he gave it a go; and to fair he does have quite a lot going on in his personal life at the moment. Starting your own hairdressing and manicure business can be really stressful, and his pet poodle Foo-Foo has been off his food recently.

But although he was only with us a couple of days, Sandip still left his mark on us. For example I never realized how versatile swear words could be. Who knew that you could construct entire sentences using nothing but obscene profanities. Even Shakespeare didn’t have such skill with words.

Day four was meant to be an easy day. Just an 8 mile amble down the River Dee to Holme Farm where we would be camping for the night.

And to be fair most of the group did find it pretty easy. But Mushy and I had picked up injuries on the previous day’s walking – Mushy on his ankle and me on my leg. I’m still not sure what exactly I did, the best description I can come up with is that it felt like I had a taut steel wire over the back of my knee which hurt like buggery every time I bent it.

Things were going ok for the first four miles or so, but then it really started playing up and by the end of the walk I was in agony. It probably didn’t help that I had soaking wet feet due to rather foolishly taking a short cut through the river at around mile five.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. (photo by Oli)

I also had a blister that ran most of the length of the ball of my foot then crept up between my big toe. For the first time I started to worry that I wasn’t going to make the entire walk. If I was having so much trouble after eight miles, what was it going to be like tomorrow when we had to walk fourteen.

Despite all my worries and aches and pains the evening of day four was possibly my favorite of the entire walk. Kerry took a break from her sherpa duties and stayed with us on the campsite, which probably had a lot to do with it. But there was also a fun atmosphere both within the group and at the campsite itself.

There was also a wedding going on in the field next door. Two musicians were getting married and they had staged their very on music festival. God knows how much it all cost, but the fireworks at the end alone probably came to more than my and Kerrys entire wedding. I have a vague suspicion that the bride and/or groom may have been famous but google reveals nothing. Perhaps they were just rich.

Mushy. His chin is naturally that blurry you know.

The very best thing however is that we had a campfire. There is just something about sitting around a fire laughing with your wife and seven of your best friends that creates a atmosphere of inner peace. Even if your leg does hurt like a bastard.

Dave and Brooky. Sunglasses at twighlight, the very epitome of cool

Vital Statistics

Time set off: 10:00am
Time arrived: 3:00pm
Rough distance traveled: 8 miles
Times I regretted suggesting the walk: 18

You can find more photo’s of the day here and you can still see the video for the third day over at the ITV local site. Neil has also kindly uploaded some of the day three footage to youtube:

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Related posts:

1. Oughtershaw to Whernside Manor
2. Drayton Manor, Ben 10, and Speed
3. Old McHughes’ Farm update
4. And On That Farm He Had A Duck
5. Open Farm sunday