Robin Hood Bay

Monday September 5, 2016

A much nicer day for our last day - plus it was short, only about 12 miles. We were still a few miles from the coast and walked thru a variety of topography for several miles. For a few miles we walked in a gully between high stone fences, felt a bit like a 'secret passageway"

Nice walk thru the forest.

Parts of the train were nicely improved.

A few more miles on the moor

Walking on a trail between rock fences

A little town we passed through.

The English populate these sad little holiday places near the coast.  We walked thru one to reach the coast trail.

Looks like the North Sea to me!

The trail led us around the coast for a mile or two.

Robin Hood bay at low tide. Where can I put my towel?

Heading into town

We walked into town and were settled in our last B&B by about 3 PM. Gave us time to clean up and wander down to the water's edge. Robin Hood Bay "town" was a cute little place with a couple of pups and some tourist shops - but no cash machine. After walking to water on the reef (and tossing in our stones from the Irish sea) we celebrated the completion of our walk with a couple of beers in "Wainwrights" pub right on the water's edge.

Monday night we celebrated the end of our walk with dinner at the XXXX hotel. (I will dig up a group photo from somebody.)

Intake Farm near Littlebeck

September 4, 2016

We were now on the edge of the high moors that we could see from the castle in Richmond. We walked straight up onto the moor from the pub. It was a wet and foggy place, and some of us were wondering about running into bogs. But fortunately most of the morning we were walking along an old railway right of way that was solid and pretty easy walking. But the rain kept on coming.

We had been told to expect to see a lone pub on the moor (the "Lion") after 10 or so miles, but one needed to see it to get to it. We could not see more than a few 100 yards in the fog and rain. Fortunately Wes was scouting ahead of us and spotted the pub, and stayed on the track where we had to divert to the pub. Even then we almost missed the pub.

The pub was very appreciated.  It was totally isolated on the moor, but obviously a favorite gathering place and so quite busy. As we all dragged in 'wet and soggy" we gathered in one of the rooms with an open fire, and ordered beer and hot chips. After warming up so of our crew started to bail out and take a cab - only 6 hardy fools ventured on - Kaiko, Hiroshi, Bryce, Richard, Sharon and me.

We were soon split up. Sharon got way ahead, Richard and Bryce were in the rear, Kaiko, Hiroshi and I somewhere in the middle. The B & B farm turned out to be hard to find, but we eventually all arrived.

Arncliffe Arms" at Glaisdale (This was the day the blog got confused)

September 3, 2016

Today we expected to walk about 18 1/2  miles from Great Broughton to Glaisdale. Late mid morning we crossed a railway line while walking thru a little village and to our delight saw a  delightful old steam engine chuffing away in the railway station. Turns out this was one stop of an historical railway line running to the coast at Whitby.

I was very excited at this prospect because:

A. Mason is totally enamored by Thomas the tank engine
B. I like trains too
C. Whitby was captain Cook's home port.

Fortunately the "events committee" agreed we should ride to Whitby for lunch so I did not have to go it alone. The train was not expected for a while so I got busy making videos for Mason (I showed them to him on Sunday and he was apropriately impressed.) The ride was fun - I made sure that I put my head out of the window to get soot in my eyes, to complete the nostalgic experience.

Whitby turned out to be a busy little tourist town full of English people enjoying summer vacation in the rain. The group found a place WHERE ALL 10 OF US could eat fish and chips together (lots of separation anxiety) I have not had fish and chips for 10 years and now I am OK for another 10 years, maybe more. The Australians among us (including one traitor, who shall not be named) visited the captain Cook museum.

The Captain Cook Museum

English people in summer cloths

Its a bit of a soggy harbor

The lady in blue was from Russia (no coat)

Greater Broughten

Friday September 2, 2016

Another day with no rain. Today we climbed up into the moors.We saw the North Sea for the first time. The views of the East coast were pleasant. The heather was pretty. We did not encounter any bogs. There were more locals taking the walk - seemed like the thing to do on a dry weekend.

At lunch time we arrived at a park facility that included a cafe for walkers. From this point the trail involved climbing and descending over 3 or 4 large ridges, which promised to be tiring. A few people pulled out and took the "easy route" around the low land. By the last ridge Sharon and I were the only walkers on the "official route" and we plodded on.

Tonight's hotel was a few miles from the trail end so they had sent a car to pick us up. The "short-cutters" had to wait for Sharon and I to finish. There was a wedding at the hotel - enough said!

Jan

North Sea in the distance

Hiroshi in the heather

The lunch place

Richard

Always up

Ingleby Cross - the longest day

Thursday September 1, 2016

I am not too sure what the hurry was, but when you are in  group its best to go with the "group decision"? So we were up at 6;30, breakfast at 7:00 and out the door at 7:30 AM. Turns out that the person that pushed this decision decided to catch the bus! So there were only 5 of us.

No one is sure how far we walked, but some where between 23 and 25 miles. Bloody long way. We eventually arrived at 5 PM, 10 hours later. We maybe took one hour for morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and a quick pub visit.

Bryce leading the way out of Richmond

Thru a field

Working on expanding the freeway, they discovered Roman ruins

Nice old church

Listening to the radio

Taking a break

Then we found a pub

Richmond

Wednesday August 31, 2016

Easy 12 mile walk - just for a change we made it in the prescribed 4 hours, leaving about 8:45 AM and arriving about 1:30 PM. (The distances on the country paths have proven to be a bit of a mystery.) Today's walk was a bit of a stroll with only a few ridges to climb over. I am at the point where I am finding a climb easier on my feet than a steep decline.

Our B&B is a nice old house that has been tastefully renovated. After a quick shower Bryce and I walked into the old town, had a bit of lunch and toured the castle. We then ran into some walking companions and had a 1/2 pint and a pie in a pub for lunch. The "retail rules" we run into here are a bit funny. Reminds me of Deidre's and my "We don't do butter" story. I wanted my pie reheated - "We don't reheat pies" was basically the reason. We had stopped in a cafe a bit earlier, with a similar answer" "We don't reheat the soup after 2:30". They are a strange mob.

We have a big walk tomorrow over the moors - I think 22 miles.

Taking a break

Richmond in sight

Our fancy room

The keep at the castle

Inside the castle

Great Hall inside the keep

Views from the castle

Reeth

Tuesday August 30, 2016

Pretty easy day today as we walked East down a lovely valley out of the Penines. It was only about 18 kms but we seemed to make it longer somehow. "As usual" the weather was great - mix of cloud and sun and some wind when we are on a ride - but no rain.

After the hard day yesterday my preference was to follow the river down, and that was agreed at breakfast, but the navigation team seemed to mess it up a bit and we ended up climbing at least 1,000 feet over a couple of ridges.

The scenery all the way just seemed to be straight out of a picture book, The England we have seen on this trip can be really attractive.

We stopped at a pub for lunch - we have not been able to do that before so were quite looking forward to the idea. The service and food was dreadful, but the beer was OK.

Julie and Bryce

This old guy just wanted to chat. Richard and Bryce.

Equipment Update

Walking poles: A gift from David and Jen. They are great! I literally would not have made it this far without them.

Rain coat: My new rain coat works great. It does not breath, and so is sweaty, but it keeps the rain out

Rain pants: Also a bit hot and a bit long but work fine.

Gaiters: The gaiters I purchased were too wimpy so I bought a 12" set on the road. They did a great job in the bog.

Back pack: Is probably a bit small as I need to carry all my rain gear plus a bunch of other stuff. Was generally OK until the camel broke.

Blister kit: I am greasing up my feet morning and night. So far I am wrapping 3 toes and probably will protect 4 tomorrow. The Paw Paw grease is doing a good job. I am using liner socks under my hiking socks. I now have a blood blister on one toe that I will tape in future. My left ankle hurts but not too much.