Month: January 2018

Post 232: The Inn Way, 29 January 2018. The Top of The George Gap Cause (lane) to Sheriff’s Pit.

After last Mondays exhilarating but tiring walk in snowbound Rosedale we decided that we could resume The Inn Way on the North York Moors as we expected the worst of the melting snow to have gone. As an aside, I had in the meantime been reading, in the last few days, The Wainwright Letters.  I was intrigued to discover that, whilst  honeymooning in York in 1970 with his second wife Betty Wainwright, Alfred Wainwright went on the North York Moors for the first time.

Wainwright’s first marriage to Ruth ended with divorce on 24 June 1968. He was found guilty of mental cruelty and had to pay a lump sum of £4,000 and £500 a year to Ruth during his lifetime. It is not within the realm of this blog to go further into the reasons for the mental cruelty, but he did spend all his spare time going on the fells and writing his guide books. They did have a son.

Whilst on the North York Moors,  Wainwright got the idea to devise his now famous Coast to Coast Walk and in 1973 this was published. By coincidence it was the year I got married and, despite my wife Celia having grounds for mental cruelty as I spend a fair amount of time on walks, planning walks, writing blogs and the occasional book and looking at maps, we have now been married for 44 years! I must be doing something right. In 1991 I walked Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk and am now on my 54th and 55th long distance walks!

We parked near the Farndale turning car park, just before the Lion Inn, Blakey. For night owls there is an opportunity to go interstellar.

We soon dropped down to the Rosedale valley bottom as we had to pick up The Inn Way route again from where we last left off.

 What was noticeable this week was the increased sound of birds, clearly enjoying the spring like weather with temperatures much higher at 8-12 degrees. What a difference a week makes with last weeks snow all gone!!!

We passed the Rosdal (Rosedale) and Whitby signpost to reach the lane at the top of The George Causeway Gap to then rejoin The Inn Way and head back down to Rosedale (known as an out and back in the trade!). It had started to rain and so we donned our waterproofs.

 

We came across a recently cleaned out culvert, which had probably been there since the railway (now dismantled)  had been built.

The place would have looked very different in the 1800s with trains crossing this embankment to service the Ironstone Industry.

There is now a £3.8 million Land of Iron Project fund by the Heritage Lottery Fund, David Ross Foundation and many other partners. It has a vision:

History: Record, conserve and safeguard the legacy of our industrial past as it slowly melts back into the landscape.

Environment:  Nurture and protect the natural world around us, helping it to flourish for many years to come.

People: Tell the stories of the people, industry and landscape that made the Land of Iron.

However, something else beckoned us.

The rain was getting heavier and this little oasis emerged. There is even cosy overnight accommodation.

We had homemade flapjacks and Yorkshire brack cake using the self service system. The rain got really heavy and we were delighted to be kept warm and dry. Just as we were leaving the owner came out and apologised for not providing milk. However, we had our own flasks. Well worth a visit and the rain now stopped!

We followed the Daleside Road to Thorgill and Rosedale Abbey. 

Sid the Yorkshireman used to be a pig farmer and using his pig whispering skills was  able to get this beauty into the perfect pose for a photograph.

On the opposite side of the valley were the old ironstone kilns. 

We arrived at the church of St Mary and St Lawrence in Rosedale Abbey. The only remains of the priory is the  staircase below right.

The sun was out and it was time for lunch on a bench in the churchyard.

We could ponder on the artwork of children in the church, relating their memories of the Tour de Yorkshire. Bicycles still adorn buildings in the village.

We then had to climb out of Rosedale Abbey towards Thorgill Bank with ever changing images of Rosedale, one of my favourite valleys, brought alive by afternoon winter sun.

Some farms on higher ground have fallen into disuse.

The path became boggy and for the second time this winter (third time ever), due to lack of concentration and tiredness, I ended up going into a bog up to one knee. Fortunately the other leg was on firm ground.

We were pleased to get on the higher drier heather. We arrived at the remains of Sheriff’s Pit, where the pithead operated from near the mine managers house and pit shaft.

The shaft was excavated in 1857 to provide a quick and easy way of transporting ironstone from the West Mines up to the railway line on the side of Blakey Ridge. It descends 270 feet to link up with a 1500 foot long level that was cut into the West Mines to the north of Thorgill. 

All that remained now was to walk a couple of miles back to the car along the dismantled railway line and enjoy the fabulous mid afternoon views as the sun dropped low in the sky to give great photographic conditions. Relax – sit back and enjoy the slideshow.

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Now where was that Dale Head Cafe when you are ready for a cup of tea? Oh damn its there on the other side of the valley below the trees!!!

Finally, I imagine the conversation of the sheep below us went something like this:

“Hey Ewe, get in the queue!”

“That’s better”

Miles Walked 12.9

Steps 30,219

Calories Burnt 4193. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post 231: 25th January 2018, Walk 3 South Cave Circular. 

Having recently reached my 66th birthday and received some ‘cheeky’ walking birthday cards (see previous post 230), I then got this card from a much younger (about 20 years) female friend. The funny thing was that it arrived 3 days late –  so I was able to tell her that she was over the hill and that the mind goes first and then the body!! He,he,he…

With the The North York Moors under melting snow we decided to postpone The Inn Way and head to the drier chalk lands of the Yorkshire Wolds. However, having already completed The Wolds Way, we decided on an alternative project, 38 mostly circular walks which collectively total 353 miles from the book Walking in the Wolds, published in 1993. It would be my 55th long distance walk. No doubt after 25 years there would be a few changes to the route!

After leaving the Fox And Coney pub at South Cave just before 9am, we had a good start arriving at Little Wold Vineyard. This must be a sign of global warming when there are vineyards in Yorkshire. Note to self – order some wine!

The Humber Estuary can just be viewed in the distance.

We soon entered typical rolling, green Wolds country.

With some delightful copses. We passed boundary stones for Hunsley.

Then passed a  Yorkshire Wolds Way sign, indicating the end of that walk, 64 miles away at Filey. High Hunsley Beacon was passed by us and also by an aeroplane way above in the sky (see white streak left of wire beacon). Trees provided some interesting shadow patterns on the fields, with a wind farm in the distance. It reminded me of David Hockney’s paintings. A descent into Swin Dale followed, which is a classic dry Wolds valley.

We arrived at North Newbald which is one of two Danish settlements, the other being South Newbald.  We had an early lunch break on a bench in the warming sun.

A little further on we came across St Nicholas’s Church, which is the most complete Norman building in the East Riding. It is one of finest Norman churches in England. It was built mainly in the second half of the twelve century.

My first 2018 siting of snowdrops were in the church grounds.

After passing through South Newbald we arrived at Hotham Church which has a distinctive tower. A plaque on a wall outside the church was placed there to celebrate 900 years of Norman heritage. Many  of the village buildings are of local limestone.

The pub, the Hotham Arms is quite unique in appearance.

Further along is what we believe was an ice store.

It may have belonged to nearby Hotham HallIts lodge has a powerful sign – a reminder of the sacrifices so many paid for our freedom.

At North Cave there is a fine Grade 1 listed medieval church, All Saints,  built and modified from the 13th century onwards, with a few remaining Norman features.

Continuing to Everthorpe we wondered what the significance of the village sign was? We think it is related to the two prisons, HMP Everthorpe and HMP Wolds.

Even the kissing gates are much larger than the norm!

At South Cave outside the entrance to Cave Castle is a war memorial which says:

“Is it nothing to you, ye that pass by?

Well, is it nothing to you? Because if it isn’t, it should be.” 

Eight centuries ago a castle stood where a hotel and restaurant is now located.

Well if I am over the hill, I still managed to walk:

12½ Miles !!!!!!  

 

Post 230: 22 January 2018: Not The Inn Way! Revised walk around the head of Rosedale. 

Having reached my 66th birthday yesterday so that I am now 66 living on route 66 (cycle route through my village), I received a number of birthday cards which appeared to hint that maybe it was time to ease up on serious walking and retire to easier walking involving wine, tea shops, pubs and even a wheelbarrow?

A couple of days earlier Carol and Sid the Yorkshireman had struggled in deep snow up to Carol’s knees and, when avoiding a car on an icy road, she had jumped into the hedge only to find a twig poke into her eye and removed her contact lens. After a trip to the optician at Boots her eye was given the all clear.

The forecast was for good weather, but we thought the snow might still be deep on the North York Moors making continuing the next uneven and hilly section of The Inn Way difficult. We therefore had a plan B (always a good idea) to walk on the Rosedale old railway trackbed, which at least should be flat. The line was opened opened on 27th March 1871 to service the ironstone mining. During a severe winter of 1916/17 the line was blocked for five weeks by snow. Because of increased costs and a falling price in the value of iron, the mines were closed in 1925, but operations continued for a few years extracting valuable calcine dust from the slag heaps. Goods traffic on the line finally ceased in 1929.

We passed through Hutton le Hole and the side roads were not brilliant, such that without winter tyres we would have got stuck in the toilet car park! That would not have been a good start.

We continued on the main road to pass Farndale, which confirmed there was still a lot of snow about. The views were gorgeous.

We arrived at our starting point for the revised walk at the car park at the Lion Inn, Blakey, which was a little snowed under.

I decided to put sun tan on as, even in winter, protection against the sun is advised (e.g. NHS Direct). There weren’t many coast to coast campers, despite this being on Wainwright’s Coast to Coast route!  There was no accommodation at the pub when his book was first published in 1972, but coast to coasters have since contributed to the success of the pub in more recent years.

We dropped steeply down to the dismantled railway in quite deep snow.

The sheep thought us a little eccentric, but then they just followed each other like sheep.

We then picked up the railway trackbed.

The wind had created some wonderful snow effects.

There are few buildings in the area!

Sections of the route were not as flat as we anticipated as some of the track bed is silted up and now bog and marshland.

It was like entering a Winter Wonderland.

I tended to drop well behind Carol and Sid the Yorkshireman as there were so many photographic opportunities. You can just see them in the distance! The bend of the former railway track is evident too.

The bonus for me was that I could use their footprints in the snow to lessen my efforts.

The sun was out and with our efforts we didn’t feel cold.

We started to think about a banana and coffee break.

At last we found a coffee break location with a fantastic view along the valley.

Clouds were starting to appear and we were finding ‘Snow Miles’ were about twice as tiring as walking ‘Ordinary Miles’. We decided to return the way we had come back to the pub as it meant we could use our tracks to ease our efforts. It would have been dangerous and almost impossible to try and find paths to descend and ascend the valley back to the pub. They were covered in snow.

There were some interesting animal or bird marks in the snow. We had only seen a rabbit and grouse and the feathers of a bird that had been the prey of something.

We had brought our packed lunch and so as to admire the fantastic views further we stopped again at the only building on the route. It clouded over further, the wind got up and there was a definite change and chill in the air. We did not linger having had the best of the day.

We continued along the short climb to the pub for a coffee for me (the driver), tea for Carol and a whisky for Sid the Yorkshireman.

We arrived at the pub to a warming fire.

As for taking it easier as friends had hinted on my birthday, we did at least go to the pub, whereas normally on our walks we don’t have time!

Snow Miles Walked 5.6

Steps 15,000

Calories Burnt (3,500) reflecting the extra effort required to walk in snow. 

 

 

Post 229: 16 Janary 2017, The Inn Way, Hart’s Leap to the Top of George Gap Causeway.

This section of The Inn Way was one of the trickiest to plan as it was on some of the remotest, exposed and boggiest sections of the North York Moors and the forecast was was for ice, high winds and snow later on.  Some weather warnings had been issued for later on.

We decided that the snow was unlikely to arrive until after 2pm and with an early start we had a 10-11 mile route planned, which should enable us to get round before the worst of the weather arrived. We would make a final decision as to whether to walk depending on how we found the weather on arrival

After passing the Lion Inn, Blakey we turned right along an icy road to the car park with the Millennium Stone, which is shown on later ordnance survey maps.

It was sunny but very cold when we arrived at the car park. However, there were no snow clouds in sight. So the walk was on.

Our first section was on part of the Lyke Wake Walk, which can be difficult and tiring walking even in summer. In winter it not recommend and should only be taken by experienced walkers who know the area and challenges ahead.  In this photograph it seems to prove the planet is round as the circumference of the planet seems apparent in the distance, or is it the shape of the Moors? We could have been on a different planet compared to when we left home. 

In his book Some Reminiscences and Folk Lore of Danby Parish and District (first published in 1953 and again in 1990) Joseph Ford says:

In travelling over our moorlands, one must keep in mind the danger of walking unsuspectedly into one of the many bogs, for, like quicksands, once a traveller gets too far in there is no retracing, and if there is no one to reach out a rescuing hand he is likely to share the fate of many poor sheep and other animals that have been submerged in the bog and never seen or heard of again. The horror of the thought is sufficiently strong in the minds of our Dalesfolk to cause them to give these bogs a wide birth. 

Many of the boggy areas were iced over, but of course I found the one bog that cracked under my weight (despite having lost 10lbs since October in training for the Bavarian Alps!). My front leg immediately sunk into an abyss up to my knee. However, experience told me to immediately and without hesitation to sit down to even out the weight. This stopped the descent to oblivion and with the other leg still on firm ground I managed to pull my forward leg out, although with considerable suction resisting me.

Sid the Yorkshireman’s reaction was “…quick where’s the camera. And that is even with microspikes on”. I suspect the weight of microspikes would have quickened my descent into oblivion and a helping hand would have been more useful than a camera!

Somewhat distracted by this, my 1991 hat on top of my balaclava came off without me noticing. About a mile on I realised I had lost it then Sid the Yorkshireman revealed he had luckily found it and held onto it!

A tricky tiring 3 miles or so followed of dodging water, ice, bogs and overgrown heather. At times we could have been on a different planet.

We eventually arrived at Shunner Howe, a likely tumulus, where we stopped for a banana and coffee break whilst trying to keep out of the keen, cold wind. We were smiling again!

Reminder to myself: if Sid the Yorkshireman suggests again using the Lyke Wake Walk in winter for any walk, ignore him.

We eventually arrived at an the icy lane and what used to be the site of Hamer House, which use to be a pub

Joseph Ford recalls ‘how old people – natives of the dales- could relate how a neighbour’s sheepdog found, after a severe snowstorm, the decaying body of this or that old man, who had perished in the snow at Wintergill (where we were heading to!); or the finding of an old man’s bleached bones near to Bluewath Beck, not far from an ancient sheepfold, where sheep were washed in hot days in summer.

This old man used to travel these moors from one place to another to sell bottle corks, which he disposed of to the farmer’s wives, and his chief customers, the wayside innkeepers. Often he would call at Hamer, where he was unusually sure of a small business transaction with Joseph’s mother, which is how Joseph came to know him. His skeleton body was identified by the scattered bottle corks lying nearby, and the basket in which he carried them, which was beginning to decay. It is just possible he was on his way to make this small transaction – as Hamer was not far away – when the snowstorm overtook him. 

Then there is the story of a man in his prime, travelling from Glaisdale to Hamer who – soon after he left the precincts of the dale to cross the moor by way of Wintergill – was caught in a blinding snowstorm. He could not see his way before him, and very soon the moorland track was hidden beneath the snow. What could he do? Amid the seething, hissing whirlwind of blinding snow? He took his hazardous bearings from the fury of the wind beating upon his face and set a course and steered by it accordingly. 

…all but defeated he reached the old Wayside Inn, HAMER…they had to melt the clogged icicles from the snow-mans’s face.  

His children at the pub hadn’t recognised him!

Not wanting to risk waiting for the snow to arrive, we pressed on along the icy lane, passing a bridge that had clearly had a car slide into it on the ice. Turning off the lane at Wintergill there was surreal moment as I answered a call of nature just as a jet buzzed over us, no doubt to record on some RAF camera my indisposed situation! I still managed a one handed photograph or two!

Zeppelins were reported as flying over the Moors before 1917. In 1916 high explosive bombs were dropped by the Germans, resulting in 40 or so basin-shaped holes in the ridge dividing Fryup Dale from Danby Dale. 

There are some signs of previous habitation at Wintergill.

We soon began our descent into Glaisdale and what a fabulous descent with fabulous views it was, making all the hard work and encounter of the bogs of the Lyke Wake Walk worthwhile. The area reminds me very much of the Yorkshire Dales.

We passed the door to nowhere!

Then we stopped for an early lunch at about midday on a 2016 bench in excellent condition and location in the sun.

Starting our next ascent I noticed how even in winter there are lovely colours to be found and seen.

And we found carvings on a rock from 1609!

Next stop were the remains of a building, which suggested folks were a bit shorter than me in the past.

Carol had to hug this lovely tree.

There was the final big ascent of the day to Hart’s Leap, where we got to on our previous walk and where a stag was recorded as having leapt over 40 feet! (see previous blog) We were now on Glaisdale Rigg and a section of Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk.

Great Fryup Dale was to our right. Note the clouds forming, which made us press on due to the risk of snow.

To our left were fine views along Glaisdale to the sea.

We left the tarmac lane continuing along the coast to coast route towards the George Gap Causeway. 

At the head of Great Fryup Dale there were ‘lunar’ looking remains of what I think are glacial deposits known as Drumlins and some subsidence. Boulder-clay may have been deposited as swarms of rounded hummocks. Clay is found in the area as roof tiles on some of the houses were made of clay and there is more than one Red House in the area. One of my favourite books of all time is Principles of Physical Geography by F.J. Monkhouse. I selected it as an O-level prize ready for when I did A-level Geography. It worked as I got an A at A-level. I think I was a school swot but loved Geography and still use the book. There may also be evidence of ironstone mine workings that took place in this area many years ago.

At this point Sid the Yorkshireman was powering on along the clear track, but suddenly ‘turned off’ it and seemed to fall quickly. He didn’t appear for some time and I assumed he had suffered a bad fall. Indeed he had!

He had turned off the track to go to the bog (sorry, slang for toilet) and had landed into a bog! I was just a little late in getting the camera out to capture him emerging with wet trousers. We are not sure whether he had aimed badly or whether his trousers were wet due to the bog!

A bog within a bog! 

Joseph says in his book: During recent years the late Lord Downe has done a great deal to lessen these dangers (of bogs) by cutting trenches to drain away the water which feeds the bogs, but there are some of such vast dimensions that they defy ordinary measures, and George Gap Spa is one of them. 

It has been responsible for the death of innumerable sheep that have strayed too far over the edge, or been frightened and chased over the edge by stray dogs. Many a lost traveller on these lonely moorlands will have found his burial place in this bog, in company with other ill-fated men of the Stone and Bronze ages, whose bones have long mingled with the antler of the stag, the tusk of the wild boar and the bones of sheep and cattle, to lie rotting in the maw of of the great bog of Fryup. 

The good news is that despite having my 3 hats somewhat misaligned, I didn’t end up in Sid’s bog. The moral of the story is that you should choose carefully where you go to the bog! 

Great Fryup Dale

All that remained now was to progress another mile or two over more boggy land and then follow the lane for a mile or so back to the car.

Rosedale Topping can just be spotted in the far distance to the left of the Millennium Stone. The snow clouds were gathering and it was time to head off home

A challenging, fabulous walk and possibly the hardest circular section of The Inn Way completed, although we had only actually walked about 3 miles of The Inn Way!

Miles Walked 11.2

Steps 25,000

Calories burnt 3500

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post 224:  8 January 2018, The Inn Way, Glaisdale Station to Hart Leap

The forecast was for high pressure to dominate with clear skies and a heavy overnight frost.

It came as a bit of a surprise when I went to the car at 7.00am to find the wing mirrors frozen stuck for the second time this year. My wife has now agreed to provide some ‘wadding gloves’ for them which I can put on overnight, before the early walk day starts.  I can’t have walk days delayed due to freeze ups!

Eventually we got to the main Pickering to Whitby road, where a couple of car drivers had experienced much worse problems, having skidded off into a ditch and a tree.

Given that we would soon leave the main road and be driving along narrow, little used, steep, un-gritted lanes in Heartbeat Country, we had to decide whether we stop at a nearby Hole of Horcum car park and do a revised walk or continue to the next stage of The Inn Way. Having winter tyres on my car and seen how in Norway with such tyres they drive in much worse conditions, we decided to continue on our original plans and walk on The Inn Way. Without winter tyres I would not have left home!

I took it very steadily especially on the big icy downhills and didn’t encounter any problems, apart from a couple of brief wheel spins on a steep ascent.

We parked in the Glaisdale Station car park as there was a train strike on.  It was a bright sunny morning and there was a prospect of fine walking ahead. Two of us decided to put microspikes on and two didn’t.

We were heading to what Mark Reid describes in his guide to The Inn Way:

‘………the central high moors above Rosedale are wild and desolate… two or three hundred years ago trains of packhorses carrying fish from Staithes to or coal from moorland pits came this way across a moorland scene similar as today ‘. 

We ascended to The Arncliffe Arms where I had stayed on Wainwright’s Coast to Coast in 1991 – on karaoke night! As you can see I haven’t changed a bit, slightly less hair, a pound or two added (weight not money) and due to the time of year some extra winter clothing on. The hat is the original 1991 one and I have the photographs to prove it! I am of the ‘make do generation’ and not a follower of fashion – its suitability for the outdoors being my prime criteria in choosing clothing.

Spring 1991

Winter 2018

With the sun coming up behind the hill, we passed the former Glaisdale ironstone mine powder store, which would have been in use from 1862 to 1876 when the mine was in  operation.

 

Passing through Miller’s Wood we reached the old corn mill with its waterwheel.

Following the River Esk we arrived at Rake Farm,

and the Paddy Waddell Railway, the railway to nowhere.  This was known as the Cleveland Mineral Extension Railway, which was intended to take a branch line from the Esk Valley Railway over the moors to connect with railway lines near Lingdale over ten miles to the north.

In 1872 John Waddell, a famous Victorian Engineer began work on the line.

The project ceased in 1889 but a flooded cutting and bridge remain. John was nicknamed Paddy due the many Irish navvies he employed.

Rake Farm makes a fine house, but was formerly a pub during the construction years.

Arriving at Leaholm, which has been described as the perfect English village, we stopped for a coffee and banana break on the well provided for benches. There are also toilets which need donations to keep them going so give generously! Even Sid the Yorkshireman made a donation!

After passing The Board Inn,

the real climbing on iced roads towards the open moors of Glaisdale Moor and Low Moor began.

We followed The Inn Way sign, but there is no inn until Rosedale is reached many miles ahead. Having got someway behind my walking friends due to taking photographs, I had what I can only call a Sublime Moment, which climbers and walkers in remote areas experience as described in Robert McFarlane’s book Mountains of the Mind, which I have just finished reading. I think the moment was related to the sudden sense of changing nature, the icy sparse vegetation, the lone tree, the far distance views, the increased biting cold wind, all which overwhelmed my senses. It crossed my mind that if you had to spend a long time out here you would struggle to survive. It is essential to carry emergency bags and have good clothing. You go suddenly from a cosseted secure world to one of fragility.

How did that tree survive when all other perished? What qualities had it that others didn’t? How is that some climbers and explorers seem to survive when others perish?

Catching up with my friends at Glaisdale Rigg, I then did a small diversion to see wonderful vistas in the next valley of Glaisdale, where the frost lingered well into the day.

There was no time for us to linger as we continued along the icy track towards Hart Leap.

Great Fryup Dale looked remote and beautiful below us to the north-west.

Finally, we arrived at Hart Leap where it is said that a large stag made its last leap in a vain attempt to escape the huntsman and their hounds; one stone marks where the stag took off and the other where it landed, the distance being 40ft 6 inches. The men’s world record long jump is 29 feet 4inches.

This was our location to drop off the Rigg and leave The Inn Way to find a route back to the car and find a lunch spot out of the cold wind. There followed a few obstacles, a steep descent and a near fall for Sid the Yorkshireman (note without spikes!).

We found a sheltered spot between walls with a view to savour. With homemade bread rolls, jam and fruit cake it was better than any restaurant lunch in York – well sort of!

There was even a sculptured stone in the wall, which could be removed to let the sheep through! Not surprisingly it is known as a sheep hole.

After lunch we followed the road to Glaisdale Mehodist Chapel near Postgate Farm. Built in 1821 it is very small and intimate and the graveyard has far reaching views up the valley of Glaisdale. A fine place for a final resting place.

After a climb back onto the Glaisdale Moor, a descent through Glaisdale Village noted for its history of ironstone mining and the Glaisdale and Lealholme Association for the Prosecution of Felon’s, the powder store looked quite different in different light.

A superb walk justifying the purchase of winter tyres!

Miles walked 10.2

Steps 23,000

Calories Burnt 3,300

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post 223: 5 January 2018, The Inn Way, Beck Hole to Glaisdale Station. 

A major panic arose just before writing this blog as I couldn’t find my map and guide book used on the walk. I telephoned my walking mates thinking I had left them in their car or one had taken them by mistake, but got a negative response. Disaster – had I left them back at the end of the walk?

I searched my rucksack and boot bag again, the study and in various other places around the house without success.

Then I noticed my wife’s coat on the stairs. Sure enough the maps were hidden under her coat. However, she said my coat was on the maps too. However, I pointed out that my body warmer still revealed the maps and I would have spotted them. The evidence is a here:

Had the need to find the map and guide been urgent for an imminent walk, it would have been grounds for divorce!

For the first time in 5 walks there was no need to debate whether to wear microspikes as heavy overnight rain meant that the ‘Ice Age’ on the North York Moors was over (for now).

After driving through rain and fog we arrived at the picturesque village of Beck Hole. We immediately saw a sign which meant we could be in for a confusing navigation day.

We crossed over Eller Beck, which becomes Murk Esk at the confluence with West Beck. Are you confused already?

We then passed Birch Hall Inn 

With an interesting sign on the door and with a dog barking at us from inside the window to prove the point!

Leaving Beck Hole to join the dismantled railway line (the trackbed of the original Stephenson’s line) there was another interesting sign. There are indeed two waterfalls nearby at Thomason Foss and Mallyn Spout (see previous blog). To this day it is still a fine area for both short and long walks.

After a diversion along a signed Grosmont Rail Trail, we then left the old line to ascend steeply from where there we fine and extensive views, including in the distance Egton Manor.

Descending to Egton Bridge, Sid the Yorkshireman decided to do some community work (he does litter collection in his home village) encouraging branches blocking the path on their way. At this rate he will be expecting us to put him forward for an MBE. Not that we could use the path due to the flooded river!

Always keen to cross rivers on stepping stones, Sid the Yorkshireman looked forlornly towards the stepping stones under water beyond the private bridge. .

Another steep muddy ascent led to some rocks which made a a great coffee and banana break spot with extensive views. I remarked that it was much better than Costa or Starbucks or the multitude of other coffee shops in York. Although Alf wasn’t too pleased when he found his mat was not waterproof and he had a damp bottom!

There was some tricky navigating on new paths for us. One of the reasons we like doing long distance walking projects is that we find paths we haven’t done before.

We reached Arncliffe Woods, which is on the route of Alfred Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk. We then descended to the delightful River Esk.

After passing the Arncliff Arms , which I stopped at when completing AW’s Coast to Coast route in 1991, we descended to Glaisdale Railway Station, which had been salted for ice (hmm..?) and had an automatic announcement which advised repeatedly of the forthcoming rail strike.

By the time we left we could have been suffering from deafness and migraines by the constant announcements. However, there was the delightful Beggar’s Bridge to sooth our irritations. Wainwright drew the bridge from almost the same spot prior to the publication of his book in 1973, some 45 years earlier. It is estimated that tens of thousands have walked it each year since, making it one of the most popular long distance walks. It has been rated the second best walk in the world. Wainwright said:

‘I want to encourage in others the ambition to devise with the aid of maps their pwn cross-country marathons and not be merely followers of other people’s routes: there is no end to the possibilities for originality and initiative’

He succeeded in my case and my own coast to coast,  The North of England Way, was published in 1997.

Interestingly, the only other walkers we were to meet all day were in Arncliffe Woods on AW’s route.

Wainwright’s route continues to attract walkers and indeed in May I will be picking some friends’ luggage up at Glaisdale and picking them up at Robin Hood’s Bay the end of the walk.

Here we left The Inn Way to make our own way back to Beck Hole and the car.

We came across something in hibernation at the bottom of a tree. We didn’t dare disturb it or them so will never know whether it was a fairy, hobbit, elf or something else……….

Another tiring ascent followed, but there were lovely views back.

A steep descent led to the old miner’s cottages at Esk Valley.

Following the dismantled railway line back to Beck Hole we found some more signs! A day of signs.

Miles Walked 11.8

Steps 25,000

Calories Burnt 3,300