This very small market town, serving the livestock farmers of the upper Eden Valley, is not quite the halfway point of the Coast to Coast walk, but it is a good place to pause and perhaps take a day’s rest before tackling the Yorkshire Dales. There is a choice of eating places including a Chinese take-away and two pubs serving meals, a supermarket, pharmacy and a few other shops as well as a wide choice of accommodation of various degrees of comfort, including a youth hostel. (For more specialised shopping requirements you will need to wait for 3 more days until you reach the larger town of Richmond). The town’s train station is a mile and a half away up a steep hill, with several trains daily connecting Leeds and Carlisle.