On the Coast to Coast Path: We followed the track that led along a back lane and out onto the long main road of Kirkby Stephen. There was our accommodation, perched right on the main street. The “Jolly Farmer” was a comfortably renovated inn. The assortment of boots and walking staves in the corridor suggested that this was a popular walkers’ overnight spot. .After a shower and afternoon tea, we walked into the centre of the town. The name Kirkby Stephen was derived from Old Norse and … [Read more...]
Coast to Coast Walk – Nine Standards
November 6, 2009 by
We were on the Coast to Coast Walk and had just left Kirkby Stephen. Occasionally, we glimpsed a group of tall cairns known as the Nine Standards. No-one really knows who built them or for what reason, but one story is that they were placed on this Pennine ridge to give the marauding Scots the impression that here were able folk, always ready to defend their lands from unwelcome interlopers. Another theory held that the cairns were associated with the Norse usage of the numeral nine, which was … [Read more...]
