Postcard from Britain #4, C2C Walk, North York Moors to Robin Hood's Bay

Well, we did it! Nineteen days and going on 200 miles after we walked expectantly out of St. Bees and up onto the headland beneath a mostly sunny sky, we marched into Robin Hoods Bay on aching legs and sore feet, beneath a threatening sky.  Whew!
   

The final third of our cross country journey–from Osmotherley to RHB–took us through the North York Moors National Park.  We enjoyed some fine, distant vistas (even the North Sea a couple of days before we arrived), the lovely Esk Dale (especially the exquisite village of Egton Bridge, right out of a BBC serial), and on the last day a beautiful and beautifully-named waterfall, Falling Foss and a mysterious, hallowed-out boulder known as the Hermitage.  We made one steep climb out of Clay Bank up to Carr Ridge and another up the lane out of Grosmont (33%). We trudged and danced through nearly two miles of muck after a local hiker opined that we might find “a bit” of muck on the path along Broughton Bank that we took instead of climbing up to Wain Stones.

               "A bit of muck"       At the beach in Robin Hoods Bay

Still, the walking was good on this stretch compared to earlier, and the weather, while rarely sunny was not stormy.  A few showers, some mud and a couple of windy days–a bit closer to what we bargained for.

We began our journey dipping our feet in the Irish Sea and collecting a pebble or two to transport across England.  After checking-in to our B&B in Robin Hoods Bay we walked down to the beach and wetted our well-worn feet while depositing our pebbles in the North Sea. Then we climbed up to Wainwright’s Bar in the Bay Hotel, and joined by our Aussie friends Paul & Heather, hoisted pints celebrating the completion of our walk, and signed the register.

  Glaisdale Moor and the Cleveland Way, North York Moors

    The previous evening at Intake Farm we conversed with a couple of women roughly our age at dinner.  They were also on the coast to coast walk, one of them for the ninth time.  We saw them at the Bar and exchanged congratulations.  Paul & Heather said they had run into Rodger and Judy in Robin Hoods Bay earlier, but they were taking the Packhorse van back to Kirkby Stephen that afternoon, so we couldn’t share a toast with them.  We had shared an enjoyable dinner two days earlier at the Pub in Glaisdale, and we never doubted they would succeed in their endeavor.

          Robin Hoods Bay                        The sign at the end of the walk

    We’re not ready to do it twice, let alone nine times.  But we’re glad we did it. And we think all four of us can take some pride in sticking it out. Keep walking. Gail and Nancy are headed home with a stopover in York, while Janet and Stu head for Scotland for a little family history search before crossing an ocean + a continent to Sacramento.

Happy Travels,

Janet & Stu