On to Richmond

On to Richmond.
Woke up today to typical English weather.  Overcast skies and obviously some night time rain.  Rain gear went on for the first time the entire trip.  We had a low mileage day going the 12 miles from Reeth. While we have become used to sheep grazing on the hillsides and the lambs running to their mums as we walk by, today the numbers were a bit reversed and the sheep and the cattle outnumbered us, in some places 10 to 1.  This meant the animals were much more vocal about letting us know they were not sure we belonged-and twice we were greeted with a cacophony of mooing and baaing with the animals not quite clearing our paths as quickly as we were used to.  It can be a bit disconcerting to have a mother cow blocking the path or sheep standing on the side of the trail looking at you thinking like they might charge.  Wendy said there is a story every year of a cow attack although usually that involves walkers traveling with a dog. We had some short climbs so that we approached Richmond from the heights making the castle an imposing sight.
The town is rather large for this part of England with most of the buildings looking Georgian.  The castle was first built shortly after the conquest-probably around 1070 by the Brittany dukes who came with their cousin William.  It doesn't claim credit to much historical significance although Henry III did order its surrender during the Baron's war in the mid 13th century and Henry Tudor technically was the Earl of Richmond when he won the War of the Roses.  The castle is huge and since it avoided the 15th and 16th century violence it is in very good shape- although most of the literature talks about castle life in general.  Like other parts of this hike, there were references to Robin Hood in parts of the castle sections.  We suspect the north was usually so frustrated with the south that they took this southern hero (Nottingham is south of here) as one of their own.  We have passed Robin's chair, his grave and now his tower as we head towards our ending point of robin hood's bay.
Next two days will be long.  We hope to walk to the Yorkshire moor district tomorrow and begin climbing the next day.  The moors are the last of the three national parks we will cross on our way to the sea.  Need to finish 35 miles in two days.  Luckily the cramps and sore knee, from a fall, seem to have calmed down.  Briefly had some doubt about my ability to finish but the English have this lovely ibuprofen gel which does wonders.  Not sure what is in it-they only let you buy two tubes at a time.