B2B Day 77 Hartington to Litton Mill

For an OS map of today's originally planned walk (10.7 miles; 17.22 km; 1,287 ft total ascent), click here.

The youth hostel bunk beds were not kind to us. Ken had a terrible night of not much sleep, feeling really uncomfortable and feverish with his cold. The duvets were too hot. The hostel room was quite an uncomfortable place to be if one was feeling sick. The small room had only bunk beds, not even a chair. The shared toilet was in a separate room next door—convenient, but still outside the room. These things are all fine when you're feeling well, but don't lend a sense of being comfortable when you're sick.

I went down to breakfast alone and had cereal and a croissant. Ken felt terrible and couldn't imagine walking today. (It didn't help that the weather was dismal: cold and rainy.) We got ready to check out at 10:00 a.m., and just before breakfast ended, Ken did get a glass of orange juice and some croissants. 

After we checked out, we sat in the YHA library, and Ken emailed our hosts to say we were going to try to get a taxi. Our hosts, Brian and Linda, emailed back and said that Brian would pick us up at 12:15 p.m. and bring us to the B&B in Litton Mill. Their kindness made Ken want to cry. We were so grateful. 

I walked down to the village stores in Hartington and got a turkey salad sandwich and crisps for our lunch, then I bought four buns and a pot of original curry noodles for our dinner. We ate our lunch in the library, and the sandwich was excellent. 

We went outside to wait for our ride. It was cold—today's high was supposedly 11C, and it felt it. Brian picked us up and drove us via a very scenic route to Litton Mill, taking us through beautiful countryside. The view of the valley which opened up as we passed Taddington was stunning. Our walking route would have gone in a similar direction, which brought mixed feelings for Ken, who had been very much looking forward to this walk.

We were so grateful to get settled in our lovely room, which was exactly the kind of comfortable place one wants to be when not feeling well!

We had some hot drinks and biscuits left for us, and we had a good long nap in the afternoon. We had our dinner of noodles and buns, then some tea and biscuits while watching Antiques Roadshow, followed by the same portion of a special on Helvellyn that we had watched last year. 

Seal bars!

The otter-seals were excited to see that we had been given Seal Bars, and we ate those as an evening snack. At lights out we listened to a BBC3 radio program called Night Tracks, which we enjoyed as we drifted off to sleep.