Open Writing

The hostel is about half a mile outside the village (uphill, of course) and we were fortunate enough to have a dormitory just for the five of us and this one even had its own toilet cubicle. Luxury indeed. Unlike Keld, this hostel not only had a television but also had its own television lounge so we would be able to catch up with the football on Match of the Day later that evening.

After dinner at the hostel, we settled down in the television lounge where Andy was already talking to a female guest and, as their conversation progressed, gradually the rest of us joined in. I became a little concerned when it became apparent that she knew a lot about us and wondered whether she could be some sort of mind reader. How else would she know so much? Could she be a stalker who would follow us for the rest of our journey? When she mentioned that she was at the hostel for the weekend, having arrived the day before, the penny dropped. Don must have stayed here on Friday night and she had been chatting to him! That being the case, he had walked about thirty-five miles between leaving us on Thursday afternoon and arriving in Osmotherley on Friday, walking in the rain for most of the time. Adding the distance from Keld to Reeth, he had covered about forty-six miles in two days.

As we were due to meet up again on Sunday night at Blakey, that meant that we would cover the same distance in one day that he had given himself two days to do. So much for his idea of evening out the distances. He had left himself two very short but, nevertheless, exciting days. As we cursed him for giving personal information about us to this serial man-eater, little did we know that he faced greater danger himself at that very moment!