Today was an extraordinary day of blue skies, warm sunshine, light breeze and fast walking across the ‘flatlands’. Most of the country was rolling hills, stone fences (too high for me to see over!) and lots of sheep.
It amused me to think that the overall view was a beautiful pastoral scene yet we were walking through a lot of sheep and cow dung!
Kingsley is our bird expert. He is a real gentleman and sometimes sounds just like Rick Stines!
We walked fast but as we made good time we were able to ease up towards the end. A few people found the warmth a bit much and the distance a challenge. We were able to spread out and we changed walking partners often. It is a great group. Everyone is interesting and good humoured. 
Alan didn’t walk but spent time at a physio hoping to speed recovery of his torn muscle. Moyra took another days rest because she is still congested in her lungs.
When we walked into Kirby Stephen half the group went to Fletcher house and our group went to Croft House. We were greeted with, bags in room (👍), afternoon tea and cake, and a delightful environment , dog and hosts. We have even ordered a roll for lunch! 
We all met for dinner at the Mango Tree Indian Restaurant. Sarah abstained. She finds groups a bit much sometimes and eats sparingly most of the time. She has trekked regularly and across many places. Her sure footedness is quite inspiring. She is like a gazelle, light and quick on her feet.
It was a merry meal with lots of banter. Deborah and I opted for a tandoori shaslick but it was so generous we had to pass half of it down the table. After dinner Lyn and Bruce , Deborah, Dennis and I went to a pub for a quiet drink. That was a lot of fun too and Dennis was proved correct on a few points we had doubted. He is an endearing character. Quick witted and intelligent he is a successful property developer but is always joking around so we aren’t sure what is true or not.
Deborah has a page in Facebook where she is raising money for a hospice where she works. She is getting lots of donations and it is very impressive that she is dedicating this challenging walk to raising money. She is a great room mate.
I have been surprised to see cattle and sheep so often in the same field. Bruce collected some stray wool to pad his shoe in an attempt to ease a blister. There is a lot of wool lying around as it drops off . The sheep are quite straggly looking and messy with black faces and legs.
Tomorrow is a shorter day with tea and scones towards the end.
I wanted to make some corrections to yesterday’s post but some how I deleted it! It was 39000 steps and 31 kilometres. Sometimes the blog is frustrating!
fleetfootkath 