Hawes to Tan Hill Inn

Last night as we came into Hawes Adam and I met up with several other walkers on the Way. Jono is having to break his hike to head home for an interview, but we are expecting to see George (Sjors) from the Netherlands over the next couple of days.
Leaving Hawes you head around the river to Hardraw, and have the option of paying to see the Hardraw Force waterfall behind the Green Dragon pub. I didn't bother, as we expect to see a number of other falls, but George let us know that Britain's "highest single drop waterfall" is rather uninspiring.
The track then heads into a steady climb over Great Shunner Fell. The long route up the Ridgeline is over 7km to the summit, but I found myself making strong progress, and passing day-walkers as I climbed.  Adam was walking at his own pace today, I passed him taking a work phone call early in the morning, and then he blasted past the rest of us as we rested on top of the Fell. On the descent I almost steeped on 2 tiny yellow and brown grouse chicks, who tripped over themselves in alarm as they made their escape.
After dropping down into the tiny hamlet of Thwaite George and I had a leisurely tea break, then ascended the steep slope to skirt around the edge of the hill leading into Keld. This is a lovely section of the day, with the trail overlooking the green valley and waterfalls to the river on the far side.
Rather than venture into Keld itself, I carried on along the Way, stopping to cool my feet in the East Gill falls. Thereafter remained only 6km of slog to the Tan Hill Inn. Well known as a gig venue, Britain's highest pub is being used this week to film some scenes for a television drama. Despite this information apparently being on their website, we had no idea until it was mentioned by a couple of walkers on the last leg of the journey. I knew Adam was already ahead of me, so figured we'd just have to try or lock with being allowed to camp despite the filming. You can imagine my relief when I saw Adam giving me a wave, past the hoards of camera crew and equipment cans, as I finally walked down to the Inn. He had already secured our camping for the night (with some difficulty, but honestly, where else could we go?), and sorted a pot of tea, what a legend.
In the end we quietly hid in the corner, staying out of the way of the milling extras, with George arriving soon after. Given the pub was technically closed we didn't expect much else, but after filming wrapped the staff let us know what from the menu was available and we all had an excellent (seriously excellent!) chicken madras with naan bread, mango chutney, and a poppadom. While chatting with our hosts after dinner it came to light that George only drank black tea, because he'd never tried it any other way, upon which a "proper" cup of Yorkshire tea had to be produced for his edification. Full marks to the staff of the Tan Hill Inn for their hospitality (though I must point out, we did pay for what we got).