Day 10. It was Thursday, and the Saturday finish was in touching distance. The weather had not eased up from yesterday, it was so bad none of us even had shorts on! After walking earlier in the week Shifty had decided to come back for another 'jolly' outing. He arrived bright and early up the bank to the Lady Chapel and we started loading up the car for Nat to take home. It was then that the first problem of the day occurred - with all of the gear going home there wasn't enough room for the four of us to get in the car too, but thanks to Nat's Auntie Teresa she was able to dump the gear at her house in a nearby village then come back and drop us at our finishing point yesterday. She would then go back to pick the gear up and take it all home. You don't realise what went on behind the scenes!
It wasn't long before we were on the road again, Nat dropping us back at the top of Swainby bank. Part of today's walking would be following a section of the Cleveland Way, another long distance walk. The rain had made a waterfall down some nearby steps and the mist had made visibility very poor, you could barely see 10 foot in front of you. Shifty donned his waterproof poncho but it wasn't long before he realised he wasn't going on the log flume at Flamingoland and it became a victim to the weather. We encountered a number of ups and downs in the morning of this walk including Carlton Top and Clay Bank Top. Fortunately a lot of the way was paved with steps, but unfortunately the steps were soaking wet and every one a potential hazard. A combination of the dangerous steps (I had visions of me slipping and twisting my knee so close to the end) and the pulling of my thigh from Day 7 meant it was a long and arduous task getting down the steps as well as getting up them. As always though, it didn't matter, we were a team and what time we lost on the ups and downs we made up for on the flat.
According to the guide book there was a cafe built into the side of a hill, but amazingly enough we missed it! It wasn't that we took a wrong turn or anything, we literally could only see what was directly in front of us. We didn't have time to start searching for it, we wanted to crack on. We did, however, hear various animal noises throughout including one I've never heard them sing in the 'Old McDonald' song. It was kind of like a shrill Ewok, I actually thought it was the dinosaur from Jurassic Park and any second it was about to pounce in front of me, open it's wings and spray poison right over me.
Rumour has it that people had petitioned to force the North Yorkshire Moors Authority to put more signs up as a lot of people were getting lost on this leg of the walk. With this weather I was not surprised, it could quite easily have been used for the setting of The Hound of the Baskervilles.
It was approaching lunchtime, and we were approaching the Wain Stones, a collection of large Bronze Age rocks. We seemed to be faced with a choice of routes - up and over the stones or around them on the side of the hill. We set off walking around them but it wasn't long before we realised it wasn't the safest route. We walked so far on the slippy terrain until things got too hairy and we were having to jump across sections. On a slanted hillside, with only a little room for manoeuvre and no room for error we were out of our depth. It wasn't safe to carry on this way so Shifty volunteered to back track and see if there was another route.
The time passed and Shifty hadn't returned, maybe THE BEAST from Tuesday had tracked him down and eaten him, maybe he had got lost in the mist, or sprayed by the dinosaur. But at that Shifty seemed to come from nowhere about 20 feet above us, he had found a way to get us out. We cautiously back pedalled a bit and clambered up to meet Shifty before deciding it was definitely time for a lunch break. Shifty had earned his pips for that day and was thanked for his efforts, no more so than by Dad who still had clumps of the hillside in his grasp, reluctant to finally let go of it.
It was a tale of two terrains today - the morning was spent climbing up and dropping down, whereas the afternoon was a long flat trek. It may well have been flat but it felt like a hell of a long walk. The pathway was quite defined but was strewn with puddles, and the last 7 miles followed and old disused railway line, so easy to navigate. It was a case of head down and walk for this section with the weather being so bad. It was during this time that I decided to unleash my secret power, so fed up with picking which stones to jump on through the streams I opted to just walk across the water instead, it really was an act of magic.
Under normal circumstances I'm sure the Lion Inn would come into view as you walk the track but with limited visibility this wasn't to be, and it took a fortuitous look at the GPS to realise that we needed to turn left at a poorly marked sign for the Lyke Wake Walk, a move which saved us an extra 2-3 miles and having to go back on ourselves. It was to be our final uphill of the day and as soon as we got to the summit we realised the pub, and our accommodation for the night was not far away. Having only seen 4 or 5 people all day it was nice to finally see civilisation again. We sat in the foyer and removed our boots, the steam oozed from them, a sign of a good walk!
The pub was a lot bigger than I had previously thought - I didn't realised they had a restaurant part too! We were shown our room and then returned for a few drinks - the first round being all hot drinks!
It wasn't too long before we were met up again by the gang. Mam, Nat and Uncle Frank arrived and then Hayley came a little later. We only had one more night after tonight so we sorted our gear out accordingly, then relaxed for the night having a meal, few drinks, and a good bit of social.
Day 10 was now over, leaving 2 days to go. It was 14 miles today but in horrendous weather.
It wasn't long before we were on the road again, Nat dropping us back at the top of Swainby bank. Part of today's walking would be following a section of the Cleveland Way, another long distance walk. The rain had made a waterfall down some nearby steps and the mist had made visibility very poor, you could barely see 10 foot in front of you. Shifty donned his waterproof poncho but it wasn't long before he realised he wasn't going on the log flume at Flamingoland and it became a victim to the weather. We encountered a number of ups and downs in the morning of this walk including Carlton Top and Clay Bank Top. Fortunately a lot of the way was paved with steps, but unfortunately the steps were soaking wet and every one a potential hazard. A combination of the dangerous steps (I had visions of me slipping and twisting my knee so close to the end) and the pulling of my thigh from Day 7 meant it was a long and arduous task getting down the steps as well as getting up them. As always though, it didn't matter, we were a team and what time we lost on the ups and downs we made up for on the flat.
According to the guide book there was a cafe built into the side of a hill, but amazingly enough we missed it! It wasn't that we took a wrong turn or anything, we literally could only see what was directly in front of us. We didn't have time to start searching for it, we wanted to crack on. We did, however, hear various animal noises throughout including one I've never heard them sing in the 'Old McDonald' song. It was kind of like a shrill Ewok, I actually thought it was the dinosaur from Jurassic Park and any second it was about to pounce in front of me, open it's wings and spray poison right over me.
Rumour has it that people had petitioned to force the North Yorkshire Moors Authority to put more signs up as a lot of people were getting lost on this leg of the walk. With this weather I was not surprised, it could quite easily have been used for the setting of The Hound of the Baskervilles.
It was approaching lunchtime, and we were approaching the Wain Stones, a collection of large Bronze Age rocks. We seemed to be faced with a choice of routes - up and over the stones or around them on the side of the hill. We set off walking around them but it wasn't long before we realised it wasn't the safest route. We walked so far on the slippy terrain until things got too hairy and we were having to jump across sections. On a slanted hillside, with only a little room for manoeuvre and no room for error we were out of our depth. It wasn't safe to carry on this way so Shifty volunteered to back track and see if there was another route.
The time passed and Shifty hadn't returned, maybe THE BEAST from Tuesday had tracked him down and eaten him, maybe he had got lost in the mist, or sprayed by the dinosaur. But at that Shifty seemed to come from nowhere about 20 feet above us, he had found a way to get us out. We cautiously back pedalled a bit and clambered up to meet Shifty before deciding it was definitely time for a lunch break. Shifty had earned his pips for that day and was thanked for his efforts, no more so than by Dad who still had clumps of the hillside in his grasp, reluctant to finally let go of it.
It was a tale of two terrains today - the morning was spent climbing up and dropping down, whereas the afternoon was a long flat trek. It may well have been flat but it felt like a hell of a long walk. The pathway was quite defined but was strewn with puddles, and the last 7 miles followed and old disused railway line, so easy to navigate. It was a case of head down and walk for this section with the weather being so bad. It was during this time that I decided to unleash my secret power, so fed up with picking which stones to jump on through the streams I opted to just walk across the water instead, it really was an act of magic.
Under normal circumstances I'm sure the Lion Inn would come into view as you walk the track but with limited visibility this wasn't to be, and it took a fortuitous look at the GPS to realise that we needed to turn left at a poorly marked sign for the Lyke Wake Walk, a move which saved us an extra 2-3 miles and having to go back on ourselves. It was to be our final uphill of the day and as soon as we got to the summit we realised the pub, and our accommodation for the night was not far away. Having only seen 4 or 5 people all day it was nice to finally see civilisation again. We sat in the foyer and removed our boots, the steam oozed from them, a sign of a good walk!
The pub was a lot bigger than I had previously thought - I didn't realised they had a restaurant part too! We were shown our room and then returned for a few drinks - the first round being all hot drinks!
It wasn't too long before we were met up again by the gang. Mam, Nat and Uncle Frank arrived and then Hayley came a little later. We only had one more night after tonight so we sorted our gear out accordingly, then relaxed for the night having a meal, few drinks, and a good bit of social.
Day 10 was now over, leaving 2 days to go. It was 14 miles today but in horrendous weather.
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