No pictures today, because there was a snafu with the camera. So
here's an opportunity to show a few of my favorite extras from the last couple
of days. It's a short walk anyway, terrain much like yesterday, except that
there are ten of us walking--all our visitors have decided to walk with us today,
since it is a reasonably short distance. It's a big group.
But I
also wanted to show one of my favorite bridges, so until we get the (non) digital
film developed, I've taken the (illegal) liberty of scanning in a postcard I
bought...
...of Smardale Bridge "a once important crossing" We pause on the bridge and a man offers to take the picture. He claims to be a professional. I hope we'll reap the benefits of that.
Rachel asked me why I was checking the map, even though
we were behind everyone else. It made me realize that Wayne and I had an unspoken
but mutually understood method: whoever was in front blazed the trail, whoever
was behind checked the path for himself. If there was agreement, nothing was
said. If the back marker disagreed, he called a halt, we discussed the options
until we agreed, then set off again.
No arguments, no recriminations, no points. It's
a great system. We've both missed (and therefore led everyone astray) only two
or three times in a week, and the furthest deviation from the route that this
has caused was about four hundred yards. The others were less than one hundred.