Day 9 had arrived - hooray for day 9! We awoke in Osmotherley Lady Chapel and Ged was on with his breakfast for 3. Despite some electrical malfunctions we all managed to have a little something, though I think mine was the only warm one! It was a good nights kip in the warmth, with use of toilets too, despite the old rattling noises and the phantom door knocker. It was nice to be somewhere for more than one night as we were not messing about so much on the morning.
Mark was joining us this morning, and he drove us to back to Danby Wiske so we could pick up where we left off yesterday. We had four days left to go and the route was quite flexible, today we decided to walk as far as we could, and then pick up again wherever we left off in the morning.
Right from the off it was a grim day, and we were doing a fair bit of field walking, great, bring on the mud! I had noticed a potential alternative route to Wainwright's which avoided travelling south to Osmotherley, I suspect he had put it on the route for niceness and accommodation purposed, but we had already been there and done that. I will come to that a little later though.
We did come across an interesting chap on this day. He was a solo walker and overtook us when we had stopped off for a break. We did catch him up though as he was stood by himself waiting to cross a stile, he must have been there ages. When we asked why he hadn't crossed the field he admitted he was terrified of the cows chasing him, he had been listening to some horror stories of cow stampedes and had obviously terrified him. We passed the field with him and the cows never even flinched. He pulled away but we were to catch up again in similar circumstances later on.
There were plenty of gates and stiles to contend with today, and it was heading down a slippy bank to one of these that Dad took a tumble which resulted in the death of one of his trusty walking poles. I was then faced with the dilemma - do I whip my phone out for a pic of him laid out or run over to help him up? Being the good son I am it was the latter, no good for the blog I know!
We carried on further and again met the Cow Man, and let him join us crossing. Funny enough, a bit further on the walk we came across a field where the cows had all huddled around the stile looking as if it was impossible to get over. Step in Dr Dolittle (Ged) who, like Moses, parted the cows and we crossed.
One farmer clearly had a sense of humour as he had attached rats and skulls to his fences, very good. It was a little further we passed a dog which was going mental. It was chained to the side of a barn and was barking and jumping like crazy, if it escaped from that chain then one of us was for a pouncing. Fortunately though it never did, but I'm sure one day it would.
We passed a railway track, but that was nothing compared to the dash across the A19 we had to do, which sounds quite spectacular, and all books say the most dangerous part of the walk, but despite the poor visibility of the day, we still managed to get across with relative ease, and we didn't have to wait too long.
After crossing the A19 we headed into the villages of Ingleby Arncliffe and Ingleby Cross, where we stopped off at the Blue Bell Inn for a break. We had met up with Mark & Felicia again, and were joined in the pub by the crowd from Wyoming. It was, by this time, atrocious weather, but we were still determined to wear our shorts, the bad weather wasn't going to stop us! The wearing of shorts prompted one of the Wyomings to question us - "Aren't you guys cold?" to which we replied "Nah, it's not too bad this weather, you should see the winter!". We proceeded to leave the pub at this point, to which we all shouted "Bloody hell it's freezing!" Cue the roars of laughter from the Wyoming massive.
We then headed on and took on my alternative route. It was cutting out Osmotherley totally and heading through Scarth Woods. By this time the mist had really dropped, and the ground was really boggy. Perhaps there was a reason the route doesn't go this way I thought as we set off up the hill. It was bad terrain, and at one point we were deep into the mist and you couldn't see over the edge of the hill. This part, for me, was more dangerous than scampering across the A19 - one slip on the muddy incline and you were gone, but the worst thing was you couldn't even see where you were going to fall!
We decided to call it a day and break off whenever we could, somewhere suitable for Nat to pick us up for the day. We would have to take a little detour to head into Swainby. 1 mile the signpost said, well it it must have been the longest mile ever, there is no way it was only 1 mile from where we were. As we were heading down into Swainby we noticed a car tucked away in the mist. Was it abandoned? On closer inspection, it looked like a couple were in it, and, well, perhaps the less said about it the better. They obviously never expected anyone up there in these conditions!
By now it was absolutely lashing down, nevermind though, we were in Swainby - there must be loads of pubs. Well, there was a few, but they were all shut. SHUT!! Unbelievable, what kind of a place was this where all pubs were shut through the day. Here we were, sat outside a pub in the soaking rain waiting for Nat to pick us up, we must have looked desperate. The best bit was when Nat text to say "why don't you go in the pub, you nutters?". As if we were ever going to voluntarily sit outside a pub, no matter what the weather!
As always, Nat the hero arrived and we went back to Danby Wiske so Mark could pick his car up. We were then heading for Osmotherley but as soon as we left Mark we drove past a car with what looked like a dead body in the driving seat. Intrigued, Nat reversed so we could look in again to check. At this, the 'body' woke up and we had to keep reversing back to Mark so it didn't look so obvious!
We decided to call into the Queen Catherine again for a couple of drinks before we took the long awaited fish and chips back to the digs for tea. In the pub we met Mark & Felicia for the last time and they were thrilled when Dad & Ged presented them with a couple of Wainwright glasses we had managed to 'acquire' from the pub "OH MY GAWWWD" (in your best American accent) was their exact reaction.
The great news was that Nat was kipping over with us tonight, the terrible news is that we were all subjected to a full Nat special murder drill. Procedures, emergency actions, escape routes, the whole caboodle!
It was a terrible day weather-wise but we had pressed on a little further making the last few days a little shorter. That was Day 9 over, only 3 to go! Another 14 miles done.
Mark was joining us this morning, and he drove us to back to Danby Wiske so we could pick up where we left off yesterday. We had four days left to go and the route was quite flexible, today we decided to walk as far as we could, and then pick up again wherever we left off in the morning.
Right from the off it was a grim day, and we were doing a fair bit of field walking, great, bring on the mud! I had noticed a potential alternative route to Wainwright's which avoided travelling south to Osmotherley, I suspect he had put it on the route for niceness and accommodation purposed, but we had already been there and done that. I will come to that a little later though.
We did come across an interesting chap on this day. He was a solo walker and overtook us when we had stopped off for a break. We did catch him up though as he was stood by himself waiting to cross a stile, he must have been there ages. When we asked why he hadn't crossed the field he admitted he was terrified of the cows chasing him, he had been listening to some horror stories of cow stampedes and had obviously terrified him. We passed the field with him and the cows never even flinched. He pulled away but we were to catch up again in similar circumstances later on.
There were plenty of gates and stiles to contend with today, and it was heading down a slippy bank to one of these that Dad took a tumble which resulted in the death of one of his trusty walking poles. I was then faced with the dilemma - do I whip my phone out for a pic of him laid out or run over to help him up? Being the good son I am it was the latter, no good for the blog I know!
We carried on further and again met the Cow Man, and let him join us crossing. Funny enough, a bit further on the walk we came across a field where the cows had all huddled around the stile looking as if it was impossible to get over. Step in Dr Dolittle (Ged) who, like Moses, parted the cows and we crossed.
One farmer clearly had a sense of humour as he had attached rats and skulls to his fences, very good. It was a little further we passed a dog which was going mental. It was chained to the side of a barn and was barking and jumping like crazy, if it escaped from that chain then one of us was for a pouncing. Fortunately though it never did, but I'm sure one day it would.
We passed a railway track, but that was nothing compared to the dash across the A19 we had to do, which sounds quite spectacular, and all books say the most dangerous part of the walk, but despite the poor visibility of the day, we still managed to get across with relative ease, and we didn't have to wait too long.
After crossing the A19 we headed into the villages of Ingleby Arncliffe and Ingleby Cross, where we stopped off at the Blue Bell Inn for a break. We had met up with Mark & Felicia again, and were joined in the pub by the crowd from Wyoming. It was, by this time, atrocious weather, but we were still determined to wear our shorts, the bad weather wasn't going to stop us! The wearing of shorts prompted one of the Wyomings to question us - "Aren't you guys cold?" to which we replied "Nah, it's not too bad this weather, you should see the winter!". We proceeded to leave the pub at this point, to which we all shouted "Bloody hell it's freezing!" Cue the roars of laughter from the Wyoming massive.
We then headed on and took on my alternative route. It was cutting out Osmotherley totally and heading through Scarth Woods. By this time the mist had really dropped, and the ground was really boggy. Perhaps there was a reason the route doesn't go this way I thought as we set off up the hill. It was bad terrain, and at one point we were deep into the mist and you couldn't see over the edge of the hill. This part, for me, was more dangerous than scampering across the A19 - one slip on the muddy incline and you were gone, but the worst thing was you couldn't even see where you were going to fall!
We decided to call it a day and break off whenever we could, somewhere suitable for Nat to pick us up for the day. We would have to take a little detour to head into Swainby. 1 mile the signpost said, well it it must have been the longest mile ever, there is no way it was only 1 mile from where we were. As we were heading down into Swainby we noticed a car tucked away in the mist. Was it abandoned? On closer inspection, it looked like a couple were in it, and, well, perhaps the less said about it the better. They obviously never expected anyone up there in these conditions!
By now it was absolutely lashing down, nevermind though, we were in Swainby - there must be loads of pubs. Well, there was a few, but they were all shut. SHUT!! Unbelievable, what kind of a place was this where all pubs were shut through the day. Here we were, sat outside a pub in the soaking rain waiting for Nat to pick us up, we must have looked desperate. The best bit was when Nat text to say "why don't you go in the pub, you nutters?". As if we were ever going to voluntarily sit outside a pub, no matter what the weather!
As always, Nat the hero arrived and we went back to Danby Wiske so Mark could pick his car up. We were then heading for Osmotherley but as soon as we left Mark we drove past a car with what looked like a dead body in the driving seat. Intrigued, Nat reversed so we could look in again to check. At this, the 'body' woke up and we had to keep reversing back to Mark so it didn't look so obvious!
We decided to call into the Queen Catherine again for a couple of drinks before we took the long awaited fish and chips back to the digs for tea. In the pub we met Mark & Felicia for the last time and they were thrilled when Dad & Ged presented them with a couple of Wainwright glasses we had managed to 'acquire' from the pub "OH MY GAWWWD" (in your best American accent) was their exact reaction.
The great news was that Nat was kipping over with us tonight, the terrible news is that we were all subjected to a full Nat special murder drill. Procedures, emergency actions, escape routes, the whole caboodle!
It was a terrible day weather-wise but we had pressed on a little further making the last few days a little shorter. That was Day 9 over, only 3 to go! Another 14 miles done.
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