Farewell to Cumbria and hello to half way!

Many of our fellow Coast to Coasters had already decided to tale the road route from Kirkby Stephen to Keld. Despite rumours of huge areas of bogs and bad weather we decided to go for the Nine Standards Rig option and followed the track up to the moor. We soon met up with Janice and Mike, the couple we walked with yesterday, who had decided to do the same. The standards were shrouded in mist and just gave us a cheeky glimpse to let us know we were headed in the right direction. Suddenly they appeared out of the mist and, whilst not being as large as you would expect, they are certainly an interesting visit. Goodness knows what they are for! It was a compass bearing to find the next path, slightly awkward as they seem to change the paths each year as well as each season to help with erosion and none of them are on the OS maps!
We found the path OK and navigated ourselves around the wettest sections down to the road. The official route takes another path over the moors but we decided to stick to the road and followed it down to Keld. The weather was a mixture of thick cloud on the hills and light showers all day, and quite warm again.
We arrived at Keld Lodge to a fantastic welcome, our American friends Bill and Susan had already made it (having taken the road!) and we joined them for tea and cake in the lounge. The rooms are great and the drying room is the best I have ever seen - cue a load of washing!
We had a nice couple of pints of black sheep before dinner swapping stories with other C2Cers, had a lovely meal, and now having a wee Bowmore malt whilst writing this.
Tomorrow is a relatively easy day of 11 miles and we have decided to follow the valley route rather than the mines route as the weather looks rather inclement (to say the least!). They also have a number of pubs and teas shops along the route!
Halfway through already. Still a long way to go and we both have a few aches here and there but the whole experience is amazing. Not just the countryside but we have met such an amazing variety of people and made new friends along the way.
Must go and be sociable now, everyone else is out from dinner and they're going to think we're anti-social!
Hopefully more tomorrow - Reeth seems quite big so hopefully will have a phone signal if the B&B hasn't heard of WiFi!
M&D x