Wednesday the 12th August - To Northallerton

The next morning, Leon drove me to the station, and drove off with the words 'May the wind be behind you, and the sun on your face' - an old Celtic phrase, he said. I really needed it to come true, because today was the day my brother had chosen to join me. This is him just outside the station, making sure that the pies he got from Jarrow Morrison's (or 'Jarrason's' as it's been known to be called) are packed properly.



First stop was the Dolphin Centre. Sarah wasn't on, but the other manager brought out the list of signers - about 40 in all, which is, I believe EVERY employee in the place - A BIG THANK YOU TO THE DOLPHIN CENTRE IN DARLINGTON!!

The two of us made good time getting out of the town, and the type of countyside there can be seen in this photo:



So, pretty good. We got to Croft on Tees in just over an hour, and had to stop, because it marked us crossing from Durham into Yorkshire, and because the place is so good looking.

Here's the church -looked like it was from around the 1400s to me. I stuck a flyer on the noticeboard:


...and the bridge:



Just beyond here, we had another encounter with an ISSR - only this time it was a pair! Who DOES THINGS LIKE THAT?!!?

Today's word of the day was 'terrain'. The paths ended with Darlington, and the entire route was done more or less on grass verges. This is tiring, and it also runs the risk of the 'twisted ankle'. As well as this, I was quite eager to crack on with the pace, because I hadn't confirmed a time with tonight's contact. I rang him, and arranged 'around 6' as we passed the Canadian Airmen memorial in Dalton on Tees, and after flyering a garage, pushed on into Great Smeaton.

Great Smeaton looks like this:



Lovely, eh? Not the type of place you'd expect two smartly-dressed men in their 60s to face up to one another and threaten fisticuffs in the street..but that's what happened. It was a 'car' thing, and the air was blue..It happened just where John and I could get the best view of the action - on a seat directly opposite. I could have taken a great photo of it, but we all know what would have happened if I had..

There were many other sights to see on the road - like this cow looking a lot like the cover of a Pink Floyd album:



..my brother, who found a stick, which made him look a bit like the Long Man of Wilmington, or someone from The Canterbury Tales:



...and this old, bedraggled, cuddly tortoise, who looks like nothing but just what he is:


When I'd cycled two years earlier, Lovesome Hill marked the end of my first day, but this time, on day 4, we still had four miles left after it before we made it into Northallerton. Just north of the town, we passd the memorial to The Battle of the Standard -a fight between the Scots and the English which had happened here in 1138:

John was in a hurry for the train, and -much to his irritation -he had pay about 3 quid to get a taxi because neither of us had a clue where the station was. We made it in around five o clock - which gave me time to flyer one or two places before meeting Bobby Cooper at the church. This is the church:





..and this is Bobby turning up:




For the fourth night running, the hospitality was astonishing. The vicar came, with his wife, and along with Bobby and his wife Margaret, we had a night of talking about music, history and what the walk was all about. Great stuff.