An account of the trail in northern England, starting in St. Bees on the Irish Sea and ending in Robin Hood's Bay on the North Sea.

 

 

Click on any of the photos to see an enlargement and cutline.

Day Six - 21 miles, 1600 feet ascent

Shap to Kirkby Stephen

   I left Shap in a dreary mist and soon crossed the bridge over the M6 Motorway, glad to leave that scar behind. The weather cleared as the path passed Oddendale, a closed and private farming community, heading up a road and then open moor to Crosby Ravensworth Fell. Nothing spectacular on this day until the path nears Kirkby Stephen and descends to cross Smardale Bridge.
   This area is full of archaeological features of uncertain origin. Mounds called "Giants' Graves" may have been used to raise rabbits. Some suggest they may have been burial mounds or simply earthen platforms for stacking bracken.
   Kirkby Stephen provided a rest day, and I took the train down to Skipton to see the canal and Skipton Castle.

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