Internet has been hideous on this trip, including the lodgings’ WiFi and the villages’ cell networks.  The exceptions are surprising and delighting.  In Richmond the WiFi was good enough to download Rushmore from iTunes so I could introduce Ma to her first Wes Anderson film.  For £20 I bought a SIM card from an airport vending machine that gives me all-I-can-eat data, and it worked great up until I reached the boonies of northern England.  Now when I get 3G walking through a small village, I drink my fill from the hose while I can.

On one occasion I had an amazing signal at the top of a hill while we stopped for lunch, and had the best unexpected FaceTime chat with my kids back home.  So I’ll stop complaining now, but I wouldn’t mind another opportunity like that to present itself!  Last night I held my iPad high over my head in just the right position trying to get any web page to load, managed to trade a few iMessages before my arms got tired, and then I just gave up and fell asleep.  It’s amazing how much more sleep you get with inconvenient Internet!

While on the subject of technology, let me give a shout out to Viewranger, the mapping app I’m using on my iPhone and iPad.  I was able to download the high detail Ordinance Survey maps (£20) for the Wainwright Walk, as well as routes contributed by other hikers for each day’s segment.  And they have a watch app for it, too, so at a glance I can see which direction to go and how far to the destination.  It’s been great!  I also have a backup battery in my pocket, but I’ve only needed to use it twice in 11 days.

Off to Osmotherly now.  May the broadband gods smile upon us…

A food delivery truck parked right outside our breakfast window this morning, and it took us a while to notice. That cloud looks like… Cauliflower? But the blue skies and sun draw no special attention on this trek. It’s been mostly gorgeous since St. Bees.

Yesterday, however, we had the first rain that qualified as more than the welcome, brief, refreshing drizzle we had experienced a few times previously. I still didn’t bother with my raincoat or rain cover for my backpack, but I did put the waterproof cover on my front camera holster.  Priorities!

This is all to say the weather has consistently disappointed. I was expecting rain every day, and instead it’s been boring California weather. I feel like I’m missing the true experience of Northern England. And you know what? I’m going to find a way to be okay with that.

Two more days of hiking to go…  One thing I’ll miss is the ready access to Wensleydale.  It’s in sandwiches (often with pickle, which really means a sort of chutney relish), it’s in cheese pies, it’s everywhere, as plentiful as Cheddar!  And it is delicious.  Definitely worth running an errand to the moon to resupply.

Tonight we’re in the most secluded of all our stops, the Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge in the middle of the North York Moors.  It reminds me a bit of the White Mountain AMC huts back home, in so much as it’s a big lodge unexpectedly encountered above tree line after 13 miles of hiking.  The main differences are the auto road leading to this one, the beers on tap, electricity and WiFi, oh, and the bath tubs!  C2C wins on all counts.

Tomorrow is especially exciting because for our penultimate (again 13+ mile) hike we’ll meet Pebble Emeritus, Laura, in Grosmont for the final stretch!  I can’t wait.

(Photo courtesy of Senses in the Kitchen blog.)