Day 28 - London

Distance Walked: 11.5km, # Times Lost: 2
G&T: York Gin Roman Fruit (Dull), York Gin Grey Lady (You Can Drink It), Wine: 1 glass Australian Shiraz (Harmless)

Today was spent getting from Yorkshire back to London so no photos and not a particularly eventful day.  I just had scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast since I wasn't going to be walking much.  However, my B&B didn't bother buttering the toast and didn't seem to use any butter when they cooked the eggs.  Who does that?!

My journey to London involved taking a train with one railway company from Scarborough to York and then another train with another company from York to London.  I'd bought a cheap advanced purchase ticket and I ended up having to wait 1 1/2 hours in York.   Three trains to London with the 2nd company  departed while I was waiting.  The first would have been an uncomfortably tight connection but I could have made either of the other 2 easily.  I guess that's what comes of buying a cheap ticket.  

The annoying part about the wait in York was I couldn't go into the town to sightsee or shop as they don't have left luggage services anymore.  I was forced to browse in the York Gin shop, chat to the saleswoman and sample several of their gins.  I was also forced to buy some gin to justify all my sampling and chatting.  A bought 3 mini bottles of 50ml each.  Hopefully I should be able to get those through the airports in London and Singapore.

I'd splashed out for 1st class tickets on the train so we got served on meal on the York to London leg.  However, even though I boarded the train around midday, the service had started in Edinburgh much earlier in the day.  This meant they had only loaded breakfast options so I ended up having another full English breakfast for this holiday after all.  It was actually quite decent, although the portions were a lot smaller than I've been getting.

My hotel here in London is called Hotel 63 as it is located at 63 Bayswater Road.  It is owned by the Soproptimist society and was originally their residential club headquarters.  They are an international women's organisation which tries to tranform the lives of women and girls through education.  On a more practical note it is also handy for Paddington Station and the Heathrow Express.  At least, it appears to be so on Google Maps.  However, I had underestimated how much detail is omitted when you look up Google mpas on a phone.  What looks like 2 streets on the right is actually a good many more when you zoom in, hence the # Times Lost statistic.

After checking in I went to the Victoria & Albert museum to spend a couple of hours looking at their fashion collections.  This was very pleasant but meant I was trying to take the Tube back to my hotel during rush hour.  It took me a full 5 minutes just to get through the turnstiles and onto the platform.  Then I just missed a train on my line and the next one was cancelled.  Only those with stompy-enough shoes and enough determination made it onto the next train that did show up.  Today was a stark contrast to walking through countryside with not another human being in sight like I've been doing for a large chunk of the last 4 weeks.

Dinner was a "fun" experience.  I randomly chose a chain Italian place not far from Paddington.  I knew it wouldn't be good but then I doubt any of the cheap eateries around there are any good.  First I waited by the "Please wait to be seated sign" for a good 5 minutes, while the various waiters ignored me.  Eventually, the maitre d' condescended to notice me and showed me to a seat and gave me a menu.  I then proceeded to wait some more for my order to be taken.  Other people where seated, other people were served food and finally 2 pretty young girls at the table next to me had their order taken even though they'd arrived a good 10 minutes after me.  I got up and left. 

The second cheap Italian place was crammed full of people and clearly had no free tables.  The 3rd place was deserted with not a single table occupied so I gave that a miss too.  I ended up at  Frankie & Benny's diner.  I was seated, had my order taken and my food delivered in less time than I'd spent at the 1st Italian place.  I just had a cheeseburger and chips which were  Harmless.  For dessert I had tiramisu which was surprisingly decent.  It had the right ratio of biscuit and marscapone, they were a little more sparing with the coffee and cocoa than I would be but still used a decent amount, and, miraculously, they had at the very least waved a bottle of Marsala over it.  On an absolute scale it only rates Harmless, but given my expectations I'm tempted to say You Can Eat It.

Now I'm back at my hotel trying to work out how to cram everything back into my suitcase.  It all fitted in before!

Day 27 - Filey

Distance Walked: 14.5km, Actual Time Taken: 3h 20m, Estimated Time Taken: 4h 10m
Ascent: 512m, Descent: 499m, # Times Lost: 0
Beer: 1 bottle Singha beer (Harmless)

I have completed the Cleveland Way and all three hikes of my holiday.  My feet and knees can breathe a sigh of relief.  The discrepancy between the actual time and estimated time is not due to me suddenly developing a high turn of speed.  Instead, this time my route notes actually over-quoted the distance to cover.  Instead of quoting the distance to the official end point on the Filey Brigg peninsula it included the extra 2.5km into the town of Filey itself.  I didn't.  I turned the GPS off when I got to the end marker.  But it took me another 45 minutes to get into Filey.

I had lovely weather for this, my last day of hiking.  Clear blue skies without any cloud and no wind, let alone a head wind.  The scenery was, as always, lovely.  I got to see a colony of seals today.  They make a surprising amount of noise.  Those blobs on the end of the rocks at the top of the photo are seals - I swear.

Also walking along these cliffs I saw lots of signs warning about landslips and how unstable the cliff edges are.  However, this is probably the best example of how much erosion these cliffs undergo.  Below is a photo of a WW2 lookout bunker.  It used to be on the edge of the cliff, not down on the beach.

What I also saw a lot of, which was very sad, were bunches of flowers at various points along the coastline.  Sometimes there was also a sign or photo giving details of the person who had died there.  Given they all seemed to be people in their teens or early 20s I'm guessing most (if not all) are sights where people have committed suicide rather than died from an accidental fall.  Rather confronting to see these markers for mile after mile.

On reaching Filey around 1:45pm I treated myself to a "proper afternoon tea" (that was how it was described on the menu).  This consisted of two sorts of sandwiches (cream cheese & walnut and ham), two bit sized quiches, a scone with jam and clotted cream, a chocolate brownie and a slice of ginger cake with cream cheese icing - all on a stand, along with a pot of tea.  This got commented on by several other people in the cafe.  One woman actually changed her order so she could have it too.  She ate all of hers.  I left half the brownie and half the piece of cake.

My tour company had organised with a local taxi firm to drive me back to Scarborough as I'm staying in the hotel here for two nights.  They couldn't source lodging for me in Filey.  A lot of B&Bs in these seaside resorts have a minimum of 2 nights policy.  However, my taxi ride wasn't until after 4pm and I finished up my lunch around 2:30pm.  Filey is pretty town but not pretty enough that I wanted to linger for 1 1/2 hours so I caught a bus back.  It took less than 30 minutes to cover the distance I'd spent the best part of 4 hours to walk.  

For dinner I settled on the Thai Orchard.  I had planned on going to a highly rated Middle Eastern place but I saw on the menu that many of their dishes were served with chips, in deference to local preferences.  However, I'm all chipped out.  The Thai restaurant looked like a typical local Thai restaurant you could find in any suburb in Melbourne.  It made no attempt to cater for Western tastes.  I had the Tom Kha Gai soup then Larb Gai with jasmine rice.  My sinuses have been scorched clear.

I'm now back in my hotel getting organised to go home.  Tomorrow it is trains to London then the day after it is planes to Melbourne.  I'm feeling a little sorry for myself now that it is all coming to an end.  Which is all quite ridiculous as I'm going home to my furry crew, whom I miss, as well as friends and family and activities that I enjoy.  Plus, I've already booked my house minder for April and May of next year so it is time to start planning my next holiday!

Day 26 - Scarborough

Distance Walked:  26.5km, Actual Time Taken: 6h 24m, Estimated Time Taken: 6h
Ascent (GPS): 899m, Ascent (Watch): 444m, Descent (GPS): 915m, Descent (Watch): 442m
Wine: 2 glasses Nero D'Avola (You Can Drink It), 1 glass limoncello (Harmless)

Even allowing for the fact that one of those kilometres I walked was me searching for the public toilets in Ravenscar, today was a long day.  Longer than yesterday which is not what my route notes promised.  They claimed that today would be a good 4km shorter than it was.

Last night the weather forecast for today was constant light showers all day.  By this morning this had changed to being overcast with heavy rain from 2pm to 4pm.  What actually happened was there was a strong south-easterly breeze which blew all the rain clouds over my head and out to sea so I didn't get rained on at all.  That was the plus side.  The minus side was I was walking mostly in a south-easterly direction all day so into a strong head wind.  Today was a very, very long day.  Door to door it took me longer than yesterday and I stopped for lunched yesterday and bought jewellery.  

What made it even harder was Scarborough itself.  I had said Whitby was the biggest seaside resort in Yorkshire.  I lied.  Scarborough is three times the size.  Just to make things worse it is actually based around two bays - the imaginatively named North and South Bays.  Given I'm walking in a southerly direction I naturally reached the North Bay first.  It felt liked I'd arrived.  There were people, cars, shops and cafes and suburbia.  However, my hotel is in South Bay so I had another 4km to walk before I was done.

My hotel here, the Palace Hill Hotel, is one of my favourites of all the ones I've stayed in.  However, Scarborough started as a fishing village in a narrow cove so it is up hill.  Also, the hotel is an old house that was built for rich merchants with stables underneath so you have to walk up steps to get to the front door.  Then my room is one of the attic rooms.  Very cute with a sloping ceiling but it is up another 3 flights of stairs.  I haven't been reduced to crawling up the stairs but I did think about it.

No photos from today as I had been expecting rain so everything was packed carefully away in multiple layers of plastic.  However, below is a sign from Sandsend beach.  You clearly need to be hard core to have a beach holiday in Yorkshire.

And as I said, the tides are no joke as can be seen from the tide info board in Whitby yestersday.

For dinner tonight I went to the Tricolos Italian restaurant just up the street from my hotel.  There was a sign in the window saying they were looking for an experienced chef which was a bit ominous.  However, on the plus side the wait staff were talking to each other in Italian.  The service was very Italian too.  The women were brusque and the men flirtatious.  I didn't have a starter but for main I had a pizza with funghi and proscuitto.  It was listed on the menu that way but with the English translation of mushrooms and ham.  I asked my (female) waiter if it was actually proscuitto or just ham and she decided that meant I wanted to order that pizza.  It turned out to be ham.  Still, it also turned out to be a decent pizza.  Crispy base and the right amount of topping.  I'd rate it somewhere between Harmless and You Can Eat It.  Also, it was enormous.  A good 30+ centimetres in diameter.  All the same I didn't so much eat it, as enhale it.  I hadn't had lunch so I was starving.

For dessert I had tiramisu (of course) with a glass of limoncello.  Sadly both were Dull.  The tiramisu had the cream to biscuit ratio wrong (too much cream), no taste of marsala wine (typical of restaurant tiramisu) but, criminally, barely any taste of coffee.  The limoncello tasted as if it was made with lemon essence rather than lemon juice - a bit chemical and not entirely nice.  Still it was all a pleasant change from pub grub.

Tomorrow is my last day of walking and I have to confess I'm pretty much done.  It will be Day 21 of actual walking and Day 27 of the whole holiday.  I'm ready to get home, sleep in my own bed, not have to walk any further than I want to and not have to pack my suitcase every day!  On the other hand, I'm so not looking forward to cooking my own meals, making my own bed or cleaning my own house.  Swings and roundabouts.

Day 25 - Robin Hood's Bay

Distance Walked: 25km, Actual Time Taken: 5h 45m, Estimated Time Taken: 6h 20m
Ascent (GPS): 810m, Ascent (Watch): 396m. Descent (GPS): 818m, Descent (Watch): 357m
G&T: Whitby Gin (You Can Drink It), Beer: 1/2 pint Timothy Taylor's Landlord Dark (You Can Drink It)

I don't believe the ascent/descent totals from the GPS.  The elevation graph looks scary but that is just because the y-axis is so fine.  I think the watch totals are more plausible.  I had the GPS in the pocket of my fleece, which was tied around my waist most of the day.  I think all the bouncing up and down with every step confused it.

The walking today was easy again, which was good as it was a long day.  The weather was lovely, in the morning at least.  Clear skies, mild temperatures and very little wind.  In the middle of the afternoon it started to go off, with the skies clouding over.  It never managed to rain.  It is saving that for tomorrow.

I didn't see many people walking the Cleveland Way in my direction (North to South) but met plenty going the other way.  If you are only doing the coastal section it does make sense to walk it the other way (South to North) so you don't have the sun in your eyes.  Although I did met one individual who was doing it in the northerly direction but trying to walk the 30+km from Scarborough to Whitby in a single day, which is not sensible at all.  I found doing the 25km from Runswick Bay to Robin Hood's Bay was actually a bit too much.  The length is quite do-able but it means you don't have any time to stop in the various villages you pass through on the way.  His schedule just made it more of a forced march.

The flat bit in the middle of the elevation chart is me walking the 3.5km from Sandsend to Whitby along the beach rather than up along the cliff top.  This section was all road walking so I thought I was rather clever avoiding it.  That is until I realised that walking on sand, not matter how hard packed, is a different experience to that of walking on firm ground.  

I stopped in Whitby for some lunch and to buy some jewellery as a souvenir.  Whitby is famous for the high quality jet that is mined nearby.  There were well over a dozen jewellery shops selling items made with it.  I didn't have time to browse them all so I settled for the first one that had items that I liked and which had clearly displayed prices.   I assumed that any shop that was being coy about how much things cost would have prices that were higher than I wanted to pay.  I ended up buying two pairs of earrings as I couldn't chose between them.  If you replace the pound sign on the price tag with a dollar sign they were very reasonably priced.

After this I escaped Whitby.  It is probably the biggest seaside resort in Yorkshire and was full of tourists, even though it is out of season.  I can't imagine how crowded it must be in the summer time.  I am all out of practice with crowds and found it all rather unpleasant.   Plus I still had 11km more to walk and the weather was beginning to look like rain.  Still, it was shame I couldn't/wouldn't stay longer as there were two museums I would have liked to visit.  One on the history of jet and the other about the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.  

Just outside of Whitby I came across the best possible holiday cottage I've ever seen.  The views would be spectacular.  I'd love to stay here and it is only 600 GBP a night.  However, a few hundred metres further along the cliff path is the local fog horn station, so perhaps not the quiet location it first seems.  

However, I've just looked up details on the foghorn and it isn't operating anymore.  It is now a private house with just an interesting roof top decoration.

Just outside of Robin Hood's Bay I saw the best sight yet.  A pod of about a dozen dolphins swimming north and jumping up out of the waves.  It was lovely to watch.  I tried taking photos but every time I clicked the shutter button they went under the water so all I have is a sequence of out of focus pictures of waves.  

I got to my B&B (a proper one this time, not just a B) around 4:30pm.  I settled in and had a shower before heading out to explore the village and decide where to have dinner.  As Robin Hood's Bay is yet another fishing village it is perched all up the hillsides of a narrow cove.  My B&B is at the top so I tottered down (and down) to the beach and looked around.  I was looking for somewhere other than a pub but I couldn't find any bistro/restaurant that was 1) still operating; and 2) open on a Tuesday night.  I finally did the obvious and checked out Google.  It said the best bistro in the place was back up the top of the hill, so up I went again, only to find it also isn't open on a Tuesday.  I gave up and headed for the nearest pub, the Victoria Hotel.  I had the fish (cod) and chips with mushy peas as I'm tired of the steak & ale pie.  It was Harmless.

I'm not the only guest here at the B&B.  There is a husband and wife couple that have just come in and are having a heated "discussion".  Lot of "All right.  All right." and "Here we go again."  Other people are really tiresome some time.

Day 24 - Runswick Bay

Distance Walked: 19.9km, Actual Time Taken: 4h 50m, Estimated Time Taken: 5h 20m
Ascent: 674m, Descent: 609m, # Times Lost: 0
Beer: Helmsley Striding the Riding (You Can Drink It), G&T: Masons Original (Harmless)

Today was an easy day.  The weather was lovely - clear blue skies with only a light breeze.  It's all coastal walking now so navigation is trivially easy.  Keep the sea on my left and then I'll be headed in the right direction.  Aside from dipping down into a fishing village in a cove every 5 or 10 km it is mostly level walking.

I set off bright and early thinking I was alone by the sea.  Then as I stopped to take a photo of this odd "charm bracelet" sculpture I looked back.  There were three separate people walking the Cleveland Way too, coming up behind me.  All went faster than I did and tow of them soon left me behind.  The exception was one young man with a fancy camera who kept walking right over to the crumbling cliff edge to take photos.  We leapfrogged each other until we got to the village of Skillingrove (the first dip).  I sat on the jetty and had a rest so he could get a good head start on me.   That way, when he fell to his death when the cliff gave way beneath him I wouldn't have to watch.

The second dip in the elevation chart was when I went down into the village of Staithes.  The sea here must be very shallow as they clearly have a huge range between high and low tide.  Tomorrow I have to walk along the beach for a bit.  I hope it is low tide when I get there.

I made it to  my destination of Runswick Bay an hour earlier than planned so I wasn't able to check into my hotel, the Runswick Bay Hotel.  It turns out this hotel is at the top of the cliff above Runswick Bay.  As I was early I wandered down (and down (and down)) to the beach - not included in the elevation chart.  I had planned to have dinner at the Royal Hotel on the waterfront but decided against it.  Walking all the way up a steep, narrow road after dark didn't sound like fun.  Instead, I settled in for a pint in the company of Jemima (the Great Dane) and Millie (the dachshund).  Jemima was very friendly.  Millie not so much.  What is it about small dogs?

I've just finished dinner here.  I started with cod goujons which I had imagined was some sort of dumpling perhaps.  It turns out it is just fillets of fish dipped in batter and deep fried.  It was Harmless.  For main I had a giant Yorkshire pudding filled with chips (why?!) and roast beef with a side of onion gravy and steamed veg.  The pudding came with about half a cow's worth of roast beef.  I instantly became, Ted, the pub labrador's very bestest friend.  The pub was largely deserted.  There were a handful of people in the public bar and me dining in solitary splendour in the lounge bar.  Ted and I ate our way through the roast beef.  I also ate the veg and the pudding with gravy but gave up on the chips.  Ted watched me eat every bite in the hope that more beef would appear.  As soon I put my knife and fork together down on my plate Ted got up and walked away.  He clearly knows when the meal is over and his chances are up.  I've retreated to my room, hurt and offended.

 

Day 23 - Saltburn-by-the-Sea

Distance Walked: 6.5km
Beer: 1/2 ping Singha (Harmless)

Today was a rest day so I spent the morning puttering around the town.  I started off around the sea front.  You could see that in its heyday Saltburn was a very fashionable place.  There were promenade gardens and what appeared to have been a cafe with a fabulous view out over the bay.  However, while some of the gardens have been restored the rest are overgrown and the cafe is boarded up, which is a shame.  Still there were a lot of tourists about.  Just about the whole stretch of road along the sea front was parked with camper vans.  In spite of the signs saying no overnight parking it was obvious that people were doing just that.  It wasn't clear who was living permanently in their van and who were just on holiday but they clearly had spent the night.  

Along with the many people walking their dogs, there were also plenty of people going surfing which just blew my mind.  While it was a sunny day the temperature only hit a maximum of 14C and it was only about 10C when I took this photo (if you squint you can see tiny figures in the distance).  I've entitled it Lunatics At Low Tide.

Next I took the funicular down to the beach.  This was great fun.  It is water powered.  The fill the base of the top car with water, release the brakes and let if slide down the slope, which simultaneously pulls the lower car up.   When the car gets down to the bottom the water is emptied out and pumped back up the top, to do it all over again.  We were told there are 3 different sets of brakes and they are tested at the start of every season. This is a comfort because if they failed, the car would shoot down the slope and out onto the pier, which would be a little too exciting.

I wandered along the beach itself for a bit and visited Old Saltburn, which is a handful of cottages, a pub and, of all things, a mortuary.  The original town was tiny and survived on fishing and smuggling, with an emphasis on the latter.

For lunch I headed back up to the new town and had a Yorkshire Pudding Burrito.  How could I resist?  It was roast beef, with horseradish, gravy, stuffing and roast potatoes all wrapped up in a giant Yorkshire pudding.  I had a side of mushy peas to make it a complete meal.  It was all Harmless but pleasantly filling.

After lunch I browsed in a large hall that had stands from several second-hand, sorry, antique dealers.  I was saved from buying several Art Deco tiffany style lamps due to the impossibility of safely shipping them home.  After all this virtue I visited a fancy chocolate shop because chocolate.  I bought myself a selection of chocolate truffles and retreated back to my B to eat them, read a book and have a nap.  I can be energetic tomorrow.  I will have to be as I have a 20km hike to complete.

For dinner I went to Coco & Rum which is supposedly a Thai fusion restaurant.  At first I didn't see what the fusion part was all about as the dishes on the menu were all standard Thai dishes.  However, after I had my meal I understood.  They had toned down not just the chili, but all the aromatics and spices, for Western tastes.  It was all extremely bland and definitely Dull.  What a shame.

Day 22 - Saltburn-by-the-Sea

Distance Walked: 19km, Actual Time Taken: 4h 50m, Estimated Time Taken: 4h 15m
Ascent: 810m, Descent: 878m, # Times Lost: 0
Beer: 1 pint Cobra (Harmless)

 

Again, a discrepancy in estimated vs actual time taken because the route notes failed to take into account the climb up and down Roseberry Topping and then up again to rejoin the Cleveland Way (the 2nd peak after the 2km mark).  Still the walk after rejoining the path was easy enough and the weather was lovely.  Mild temperature, very little wind, a little high cloud but sunny and, best of all, no rain!

I took my time today.  My destination, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, was once a thriving Victorian era seaside resort.  I have to confess my idea of a seaside resort and those of the Victorians have little in common.  I expect sand and sunshine and warm weather.  They seem to be OK with just sea.  This point is roughly halfway through the walk. 

I'm taking a rest day here before tackling the cliff walking of the rest of the route.  The moors were spectacular but I'm looking forward to seeing some new sorts of scenery.   Although I may change my mind once I'm underway.  Below is a picture of the start of the walk out of town.

I'm not a huge fan of my B&B here.  Mainly because they've dispensed with the "&B" part.  I have a little studio apartment with a kitchenette in one corner of the room.  I have all the ingredients I need to cook myself my own Full English Breakfast.  I shouldn't be cooking!  I'm on holiday.  I'm trying to decide if I just have toast and/or cereal tomorrow or if I go to a local cafe for breakfast.  Although I suppose I could make myself an omlette.  Maybe.

For dinner I tried to get a table at the local Thai place as it was recommended to me and I'm tired of pub grub.  It was only 6pm and it was a big restaurant but it was jammed packed.  I have booked a table for tomorrow night instead.  For tonight I settled on a local Indian place called Spices.  It had plenty of free tables but I just put that down to being one of several in town.  However, I should have realised this was not a good sign on a Saturday night.  For a starter I had Chotpate Aloo which was described as crispy potatoes with chickpeas, egg and tamarind chutney.  It did have chickpeas and slices of hardboiled egg in it but no potatoes, crispy or otherwise and I seriously doubt tamarind ever came near it.  For main I had Roshuni Haash which was duck with garlic, coriander and "chef's special mixed spiced tomato".  It was described as medium hot but no chillis were harmed in the making of this dish.  Quite a lot of peanuts did seem to have met their end during its construction which was unexpected.  I had a side of Eggplant Bhaji, which tasted remarkable similar, but without the peanuts and some plain naan.   I didn't bother asking if they had kulfi or any other desserts, as the food only rated as Dull because I was feeling generous.  Better luck tomorrow hopefully.

Day 21 - Roseberry Topping

Distance walked: 24.5km, Actual Time Taken: 6h 15m, Estimated Time Taken: 5h 15m
Ascent: 783m, Descent: 940m, # Times Lost: 0
G&T: Cleveland Way The Lemon One (You Can Drink It), Beer: 1/2 pint Doom Bar (You Can Drink It)

 

The actual time taken is significantly longer than I expected as the official route ended at the 22km mark.  The route notes failed to take into account the need to climb up Roseberry Topping and then the extremely steep descent down the other side to the village of Newton under Roseberry where I spent the night.  Below is a picture of the easy ascent up to the top of Roseberry Topping.  This is the one where you only had to climb 100m or so.  I took this picture from the point where I turned off the Cleveland Way to take the detour up Roseberry Topping.

The views from the top are spectacular but I didn't spend much time checking it out as by the time I got there I was done.  I just wanted to get to my hotel and put my feet up.  There were quite a few people at the summit, chatting and admiring the view. I have to confess I just accosted the nearest person and demanded they show me where the path down the other side started.  Not my finest hour.  Below is a picture from the top of the village of Newton under Roseberry where my hotel, the King's Head Inn, was.  It was a long way down.

The weather today was varied, as was the terrain.  The walk started with one of the hotel staff driving me back up to the top of Clay Bank.  Always pleasing to start well above sea level.  The walk today was again along the moors, mostly following the edge of the escarpment.  This meant it was very windy.  It started off also drizzling.  I was well covered in GoreTex but still the wind meant any rain hitting exposed skin felt like needles.  After about half an hour the rain stopped and the wind became a tail wind.  I thought this is not so bad.  They did say it would clear by lunchtime.  Well, they were right, and it wasn't lunchtime yet.  After about another 30 minutes the wind picked up and it started raining hard.  I began to wonder why I was paying for the privilege of doing this.  However, the rain did stop by lunchtime, but not the wind.  On the plus side that meant I dried out so when I finished the walk I wasn't even mildly damp.

In the afternoon, the wind died down (a bit) and most of the clouds cleared away. I even managed to spot this weird yellow thing in the sky a few times.  I also saw quite a few walkers in the afternoon but none in the morning.  They had more sense than me.  Although I did see a walker at breakfast this morning who had also been at the Queen Catherine in Osmotherley.  He got his lift up to Clay Bank after me and I didn't see him again.  I think he must have been walking the Coast to Coast path.  It overlaps with the Cleveland Way at Osmotherley but turns off before Roseberry Topping.

Today was quite a long day but my option was to do 2 longish days or one short day and one really long day the next.  I opted for 2 longish days, which seemed wise at the time.  I just didn't realise at the end of the first longish day was the climb up and down Roseberry Topping!

I had dinner tonight at the pub as it is the only place in the village.  It is trying to be a bit of gastro pub but isn't really managing it.  I started with soup of the day which I had been told was roasted red capsicum, although I heard another waitress saying it was roasted tomato.  In any case, it was red and tasted mildy spicy as if it had some chilli in it but nothing much else.  It came with one of those part-cooked bake at home rolls which hadn't been baked enough and was a bit doughy.  For main I had roast pork fillet which was described as coming with black pudding mash, green beans and a silky cider sauce.  It was a pork fillet and the mashed potatoes did include bits of black pudding.  However, the "green beans" turned out to be strips of zucchini and I don't believe any cider went anywhere near the sauce.  The G&T was good so I've rated the food as Harmless but Dull is probably a more accurate rating.

While I was having dinner a man came in with a young standard poodle called Rosie.  She was about 6 months old and very excitable.  She barked at anyone new she spotted, she definitely barked at any other dog and sometimes she just barked because she wanted to.  Over the course of the evening various other people came in with a spaniel, a fluffy little terrier thing, the cutest little dachshund and a very elegant hound that was too superior to notice other people.  This set Rosie off each time.  Her owner would fuss over her, the new dog people would fuss over her, she would be given doggy treats and peace would reign - for about 10 minutes.  At one point Rosie's owner even let her drink some of his wine out of his glass in the hope she would quieten down.  It didn't work.

 

Day 20 - Clay Bank Top

Distance Walked: 18.9km, Actual Time Taken: 5h 30m, Estimated Time Taken: 5h
Ascent: 1042m, Descent: 971, # Times Lost: 0
Beer: 1/2 pint Monty Python Holy Grail (Harmless), 1/2 pint Timothy Taylor Boltmaker (Dull)

 

No photos today as it kept threatening to rain.  It never quite managed it but it did spit a bit from time to time.  Just enough to cover everything up in plastic only to have to remove it all again a few minutes later.  What is was today was windy with a captial W.  Not bad down in the valleys but very strong on the peaks.  The route is essentially along the edge of the escarpment of the North York Moors with fantastic views out over the moors on one hand and down into the valleys below.  The route alternated between tramping across the moors or walking through forests.  I saw several deer today (very cute but I'd still eat venison if I saw it on a menu), as well as the usual grouse and partridge.  These are grouse moors after all.

Tonight's stopping point is actually in the town of Great Broughton down in the valley below the escarpment.  There is nothing (besides a car park) at Clay Bank Top.  On the second to last climb of the day the wind gusts were so strong I decided that if they actually managed to blow me off my feet I'd give up and head down into the valley and just walk to my hotel for the night.  Enough of the views and the moors.  However, I managed to make it to the top.  When I got there I meet two school teachers herding a group of young children (8-ish maybe).  None of them had hiking poles and most of the children were wearing gumboots rather that proper hiking boots.  I couldn't believe they weren't going to get blown off their feet.  However, I didn't hear any screams so I guess they got down the hill safely.

At the top of the last climb I called my hotel to arrange a pick up time.  They said "Oh, you only have a mile to go.  We'll meet you at the car park in 30 minutes." !  I countered with a hour, which they laughed at but agreed to.  I was right.  It took me 50 minutes to make it to the meeting point.  Then they were 15 minutes late.  Still there was a coffee cart at the car park so I had an excellent coffee and a nice chat with the owner and also with two other hikers that stopped by.

For dinner I went to the Jet Miners Inn which had been highly recommended, rather than eating at my hotel, the Wainstones.   In hindsight, I should have saved myself the walk and just ate here.  The Jet Miners Inn was fine but it just provided standard pub grub.  No need to put extra distance on the poor little feet.  I had the steak and kidney pie (nobody does it with a proper suet crust pastry these days) and then an apple & berry crumble with custard and ice cream.  All Harmless.

Tomorrow is a long day - 22km - but hopefully not so hilly.  Sadly the forecast is for rain though.

Day 19 - Osmotherley

Distance Walked: 19km, Actual Time Taken: 4h 40m, Estimated Time Taken: 5h
Ascent: 434m, Descent: 576, # Times Lost: 0
Beer: 1 pint Doom Bar

Today was easier than expected in some ways. My hosts from the B&B offered to drive me back to the car park so I could skip the 1/2 mile into the village.  I happily accepted, expecting them to drive me to the car park at the foot of  the escarpment where I'd turned off the GPS yesterday.  However, they drove
me to the car park at the top!  I didn't complain as it was raining.  Fortunately not heavily but it did drizzle on and off all day.  The day invovled mostly walking along the edge of the escarpment with views  down into the valley below on one side and across the expanse of moor on the other.  The day before I could see for miles.  Today all I saw was cloud. So no photos of the walk today as everything was well wrapped in plastic - at least two layers.  Given it didn't rain heavily nothing got too wet, just a little damp.  

I got to Osmotherley around 2:30pm but fortunately I was able to check into my hotel for the night, the Queen Catherine pub, and even better my suitcase had arrived.  There was a big pile of luggage in the foyer.  It turns out that two groups of hikers doing the Coast to Coast walk are in town tonight.  That walk and the Cleveland Way overlap of the next 10 miles or so.

I wandered downstairs about 6pm to have a beer and some dinner.  I was very hungry as I hadn't had any lunch - I forgot to order any from my B&B (they wanted 24 hours notice) and it was too cold and wet to have stopped to eat anyway.  I was soon joined by Garfield, the pub cat, but he lost interest in me when I refused to share any of my steak & ale pie.

Not long after the fun started.  A pair of women came downstairs to complain they had no power in their room.  After investigation it turned out that most of the village has lost power.  For some reason the lights were still on downstairs in this pub but other buildings were entirely without power. The kitchen had lights and gas ovens so they could do some food. Fortunately, my Harmless pie & chips had already been cooked before the power  went out but I had to settle for a rather Dull cheesecake for dessert.  Still we got to dine by candlelight.

The pair of women who first alerted us to the power custs have settled in at the table next to me.  They are part of one of the groups doing the Coast to Coast. They have a 20 mile day tomorrow.  That is crazy.  Even over not too hilly terrain that is still a 10 hour day, and that's without any breaks.

`

Day 18 - Sutton Bank

Distance Walked: 18.5km, Actual Time Taken: 4h 20m, Estimated Time Taken: 5h
Ascent:  687m, Descent: 529m, # Times Lost: 0
Beer: 1 pint Black Sheep (Harmless), G&T: Masons Yorkshire Gin (You Can Drink It)

I haven't suddenly developed a surge in speed.  The estimated time taken is high because the route notes over-estimated the distance.  Then I added a 2 mile detour to Rievaulx Abbey and the 1 mile detour to my B&B in Kilburn.  I guessed with a break for lunch and a amble around the abbey it would take me 7 hours door to door.  In the end it took me a little under 5 1/2 hours.  Even if the routes notes assumed you'd take the detour and added the distance to the B&B their numbers still don't add up.  

I didn't amble around the abbey in the end.  When I got there a school bus full of schoolgirls pulled up.  Also, they wanted 12 GBP as an entry fee.  I was too misanthropic and too cheap to go in so you'll have to settle for the photo I took from the road.  Or would but I seem to have accidentally deleted it from my phone.  Look at the pictures on the website.  They're better than mine was anyway.

I met up with a pair of men in their 60s (70s) at the abbey.  They were very friendly and chatty.  They are from Captain Cook's home town and were rather offended that Captain Cook monuments in Australia are not always treated kindly.  They didn't really grasp why celebrating the day he invaded might be considered a little tactless by the original inhabitants of Australia.  They were friendly enough inspite of that.  

They were very impressed that I was doing the Cleveland Way by myself.  I don't know why people think it is a big deal.  The path is clearly marked and you are never far from other people, roads or farms.  Plus the people here are very friendly and always seem willing to chat.  Soon after I left the abbey I met a solo woman hiker (about my age) headed the opposite way.  She stopped to chat.  She was headed for the abbey but when I told her about the schoolgirls she said that as an ex-school teacher she'd pass too!  Later on a met a pair of young men (they were in their 30s!)  headed the same way as me.  We chatted while we had lunch.  They are trying to do the whole way in 5 days.  I'm doing in 9 days of walking plus 1 rest day.  Plus they are camping so they are lugging all that gear around.   I wished them good luck.

A little further along the path dropped into woods with ponds full of ducks and undergrowth full of grouse.  I thought "how sweet" until I heard lots of bangs.  Turning a corner I came across three hunters shooting at anything that flew overhead.  They had their backs to me luckily.  Clearly they knew better to shoot towards the national trail.  Still, I was glad I was wearing a bright orange rain jacket.  The ponds between the path and the shooters was crammed full of ducks.  They seemed to have worked out they were safe there.  I felt a terrible hypocrite.  I'm certainly not a vegetarian and I'd happily eat duck if it was on a menu but I was hoping the ducks would be smart enough to stay put.

A little futher along things got rather weird.  In the middle of a forest clearing there was a brand new building, which appeared to be a cafe.  While the path was wide enough and firm enough underfoot that a quad bike or perhaps even a 4 wheel drive could get up there, there wasn't any cars around.  It was also rather off the beaten track.  Even on the Cleveland Way how much passing trade could they get?  Even weirder, about 20m away from the cafe, on the edge of the clearing was this child's cubby house.  I would have to crouch to get in the door.  The whole thing screamed "wicked witch".  In hindsight I wish I'd stopped for a coffee.

I had dinner at the Forresters Arms.  It is the only place to eat here.  They had standard pub things on the menu plus more fancy pants stuff.  I went for the fancy pants dishes and they were delicious.  It was all Not Bad.  The best meal I've had here.  

For starter I had roast butternut squash soup with rosemary croutons, fresh house baked bread with fresh churned butter.  For main I had pan fried duck breast (so much for wanting the ducks to win) in a sour cherry jus with dauphinois potatoes and asparagus.  For dessert I had lemon posset with raspberry sorbet and shortbread. They had decorated the shortbread with dabs of posset and fresh raspberries.  It was only through great strength of will I didn't order a second helping.

Day 17 - Helmsley

Distance walked: 6km
Beer: 1/2 pint Wychwood Hobgoblin Ruby (You Can Drink It), 1/2 pint Wainwright's Amber Ale (You Can Drink It)

Today was not a relaxing day.  Instead it was a travel day which proved to be not relaxing at all.  I first got a taxi to Garsdale railway station, arriving in plenty of time for my train.  The taxis here double as school buses so my choices were arrive 1 hour early or 1 hour late.  After a long cold wait, the train got me to Leeds on time.  So far so good, but I had another 1 hour wait for the connecting train - which was late.  Also, while you could reserve a seat they didn't label each carriage so the only way to find Seat 1 in Coach G was to walk through each coach peering at the reservation labels.  I didn't bother, I just grabbed a free seat.  Other people did bother causing massive traffic jams in the doorways and aisles at each stop.  It didn't help that there were no luggage racks so the doorways were piled with suitcases.  When I arrived at Thirsk railway station, blessed be, my pre-booked taxi was waiting (and waiting (and waiting - I had to give him a big tip)).  After a long, chatty drive I finally got to my destination here in Helmsley.

This is where the fun really started.  My hotel (the Royal Oak) had no record of my booking.  So much for thinking Celtic Trails (who are handling this particular hike) are more organised than Contours (who managed the previous two).  Eventually the landlord discovered a booking from CT under the heading Scala but the name of the person was something completely different (a German name).  CT was also supposed to have mailed me my guide book, map and luggage tag to here.  Actually, this is my second set of all these.  The first set was set to me in Australia back at the beginning of August but never arrived.  The duplicate hadn't arrived here either.  Just in case I'd bought copies of my own in London but I rushed out to the local newsagent to buy luggage tags so I could clearly label my suitcase for the baggage service.  Of course, once I got back to the hotel my parcel had shown up.  I quickly ducked out to the local Oxfam shop (3 minutes before closing) and donated the copies I'd bought.  Now I just need to hope that my landlady at the next stop is expecting me and not Ulrike or somebody else or nobody at all.

I had dinner at my hotel.  Just standard pub grub - a steak & ale pie with chips and mushy peas.  The chips were from a packet but the pie was homemade and not bad.  Altogether Harmless.  The local pub dog, Marvin, desperately wanted to share my pie with me but I was heartless and refused.

Turns out I maligned Celtic Trails.  After dinner I was chatting with the cook.  She mentioned something about good thing I had a big dinner since I hadn't paid for breakfast.  When I said "no breakfast is included" she ended up pulling up the email CT sent to the pub.  There was clearly stated my name (not Ulrike's).  Whoever took down the details from the email really screwed it up.  The cook still wasn't sure about who should pay (me or CT) or whether breakfast was included, but I insisted and the landlord eventually said he'd call CT to sort it out.  I think the pub is new to hosting people on supported hikes.  They were friendly just not very well organised.

Day 16 - Sedbergh

Distance walked: 6km
G&T: Chase GB (Harmless)

Today was a rest day so I did very little.  My feet are happy.  Below is a picture of the Howgill Fells from my bedroom window.  I'm proud to say I didn't contemplate climbing them for even 30 seconds.

I spent the morning puttering around Sedbergh. It has buildings dating from the 14th century so I followed a one hour guide to the town provided by the local tourist information centre.   I'm not sure when this horse sculpture dates from but I'm reasonably sure it is quite recent.  Lovely though.

After all this excitement, the two bookshop open on a Sunday were in business, so I spent the rest of the morning browsing in them.  I bought myself a local cookery book which contains 6 different recipes for gingerbread as well as other less important dishes.

After this I was feeling slightly hungry.  I didn't have a full English breakfast this morning as I wasn't doing any walking.  I think this is the first time I've actually felt hunger this entire holiday.  I pottered into a local cafe where I had a dish of beef lasagna which was served with chips (since you needs carbs with your carbs) and a salad.  It was all Harmless.

There is a rather posh boarding school in this town.  At around 1pm the streets were full of teenagers.  They must let the Year 12s leave campus and go into the town on Sunday afternoons.  Upper class England is very white.  

After lunch I briefly contemplated walking out to an old mill which is about 1 mile or so out of town.  My landlady at the B&B strongly recommended it.  It has been turned into a gallery/bookshop/workshop/cafe for local artists and crafters.  In the end I decided to be a philistine and retreated to my room for a nap and to read a book.  

The cost of living crisis here is no joke.  I overheard my landlady chatting with another guest.  She isn't sure if they'll bother keeping the B&B open once the walking season is over (mid to late October).  They will get so few guests over the winter she didn't think it would be worth the heating costs.  Not that the rooms here are all that hot.  Each room has a radiator which is off by default.  You can turn it on if you want of course, but the boiler that supplies them with hot water is only on for a couple of hours in the morning and again in the evening.

I had dinner again at the Dalesman but it was a bit disappointing this time.  I had wanted the game terrine (may contain buckshot) but they had sold out so I had to settle for a layer "cake" of mushroom duxelles and crepes with a cream sauce, which You Could Eat, but not what I had been looking forward to.  Since it was Sunday the choice for dinner was roast beef, roast lamb or roast chicken with the trimmings (plus token fish and vegetarian options).  The trimmings were roast veg, roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding.  The Yorkshire pudding had puffed up so much it was all crispy edge and no gooey centre.  The roast potatoes were so crispy I feared one would shoot across the room as I tried to cut into it.  Still, it was all Harmless but not a patch on yesterday's dinner.  For dessert I had  rice pudding with a marmelade and whisky topping rather like a creme brulee.  Again, Harmless.

Now to pack everything up into my suitcase again.  Such a bore.

Day 15 - Sedbergh

Distance Walked: 10.5km, Actual Time Taken: 2h 30m, Estimated Time Taken: 2h 30m
Ascent: 343m, Descent: 350m, # Times Lost: 0
G&T: Sedbergh Gin (You Can Drink It)

 

Rain was predicted again for today but it was a very short day and not much climbing involved so I walked it any way.  It got windy on and off and rained on and off but was positive pleasant compared to yesterday.  The only problem was that the path had been described as "muddy in places".  After all the rain yesterday it was thoroughly waterlogged in places.  The rest of me stayed dry today but my feet rapidly got soaking wet.  Having your socks squish as you walk is not pleasant.

Breakfast this morning was an interesting experience.  It was in the dining room of the pub, which is a dog friendly pub.  Sadly somebody's dog had poo-ed on the carpet they hadn't cleaned it up or told anyone about it.  The pile was still there this morning.  The only staff member at work that early was the cook who took a break from cooking our breakfast to clean the carpet.  Ugh.  We can only hope he thoroughly washed his hands before going back to the stove.

I had a rest day here in Sedbergh tomorrow (Sunday).  It is called England's book town so I was sure I would find plenty to do to pass a pleasant day.  However, it only has 4 bookshops and only 2 are open on a Sunday!  Luckily it does have 3 pubs, one of which is home to a gin distillery (the Dalesman), so I should be OK.

On Monday I head off to Helmsley on the edge of the north York moors to start walking the Cleveland Way.  I need to get a taxi from here to the railway station at Garsdale and then another from the station in Thirsk to Helmsley.  I spent a good half hour phoning around trying to arrange this.  So many of the local taxi companies in these small towns double as the school bus so I had to settle for a bus that will get me to the Garsdale station an hour early - and I'll miss breakfast!  The taxi at the other end was also tricky even though I arrive at 1pm so I can't imagine school runs have anything to do with it.  

Dinner was much more upmarket than I've been having lately so the food was very tasty and the portion sizes sensible.  A good thing given how little I've walked today.  I liked the look of the menu at the Dalesman so much the first thing I did was book a table for dinner tomorrow night too!  For tonight's dinner I started with a twice baked cheese souffle and then a lamb Wellington.  Both were Not Bad.  For dessert I had the lemon posset, which sadly only rated You Can Eat It status.  It needed to be a little tangier.  To drink I had a G&T with the local house gin.  It was very good and the glass was garnished with a slice of dried orange, a slice of fresh lime, a sprig of rosemary and a handful of juniper berries!  A little over the top but still appreciated.

Day 14 - Dent

Distance Walked: 16km, Actual Time Taken: 4h 45m, Estimated Time Taken: 4h 45m
Ascent: 533m, Descent: 596, # Times Lost: 0
Beer: 1 pint Wainwright Golden Ale

Well today the weather was absolutely horrible.  When I got up it was solid grey cloud from one horizon to the other, with no view to speak of, and rain predicted from 11am onwards.  On the plus side, it meant there was no temptation whatsoever to climb Whernside which is one of the famous Three Peaks here in the Dales.  While the ascent and descent didn't look as bad as the descent from Ingleborough yesterday, with this weather it would be cold, wet and windy with no view to make it worthwhile.  Below is a picture of Whernside from the turnoff on the path.  Trust me, behind all the cloud there is a peak about 500m up.

I said they were predicting rain from 11am.  They were almost perfectly right.  I reached the 6km mark and started the ascent for the day at 11:14am, just as the rain was starting.  It didn't let up for the rest of the day.   Up on the moor, the wind was so strong the rain felt like hail, it was hitting me so hard.  At times, I was glad of the hiking poles as it meant I wasn't blown over.  At least, I had the rain mostly on my back or coming from the side.  I did encounter one miserable couple going the other way - into the wind poor souls!

I was covered head to toe in GoreTex but it can only do so much and by the time I reached Dent I was soaked to the skin and everything in my pack was wet.  My left knee had also gone on strike about 4km from the end and was refusing to bend.  I arrived at my destination for the night, the George & Dragon, very bedraggled and sorry for myself.   Sadly I got there at 2:30pm but my suitcase didn't make it until 4pm.  

When I said everything in my pack was wet that includes my wallet, both phones (local & home), my kindle and my GPS.  The phones and kindle were ok, but I don't think my wallet will ever be the same. Scarily, my GPS refused to turn on.  I couldn't believe the one thing designed for hiking use would die when all my other electronics kept working.  Fortunately, it was just that the batteries had died about 2km from the end of my trek.

I had dinner at the George & Dragon.  For starter I had wild mushrooms with goat's cheese on brioche.  The mushrooms weren't wild.  They weren't even flightly.  The were just staid mushrooms from the supermarket but otherwise it was Harmless.  For main I had a lamb hot pot and was entertained by a man at the neighbouring table complaining about how he hates Christmas and how it is the worst day of the year.  You get up when it's still dark, you spend hours cooking, you then eat food you don't particularly like, then spend more hours washing up, finally you can go out but it is dark again and everything is shut anyway.  I was tempted to lean over and tell him to come to Australia for Christmas.  Everything is still shut but at least it is (usually) warm and sunny on Christmas Day.  For dessert I had a caramel apple pie.  They didn't do the caramel right.  They need to take it just to the edge of getting burnt so it has a bit of bite to it, otherwise it is just sickly sweet.  Only the Inn on the Lake in Glenridding has done caramel right.

And so to bed but not to sleep.  A group of people were having drinks and chatting loudly.  They didn't pack it in until 3am!

Day 13 - Chapel-le-Dale

Distance walked: 19.6km, Actual Time Taken: 5h 40m, Estimated Time Taken: 5h 30m
Ascent: 835m, Descent: 738m, # Times Lost: 0
Booze: 1 glass Sangiovese

Today the chatty taxi driver drove me back to Stainforth to head back out on the trail.  Today's hike included climbing up the second highest peak in the Dales - Ingleborough which is 724m above sea level.  The keen eyed will see that the highest point I actually reached today was only 700m above sea level.  I got to the last little bit and it was a scramble up wet, slippery rocks and it was very windy up that high.  Below is a picture of what the last 20m or so was like (I pinched this off the interwebs).  I started going up and then thought "this isn't fun and going down is going to be even less fun and this is supposed to be a holiday i.e. fun" so I turned around and went back down.  I doubt the view would have been materially different from those extra 24m up.

I'd climbed up from the south side but to continue my walk I descended towards the north.  The guide book mentioned this was "hair-raising at first".  I disagree.  I think it was hair-raising the entire time!  I climbed down around 300m over a distance of a little over 1km. It was steep!

I got to my destination, the Old Hill Inn, in Chapel-le-Dale at around 3:30pm.  Unforunately, my chatty taxi driver couldn't come to pick me up until 4:15pm.  His taxi (a people mover) seems to double as a mini school bus.  Even more sadly, the pub was shut.  They've given all their staff 2 weeks holiday!  Fortunately, it wasn't raining.  I have tomorrow to look forward to that.

Dinner tonight was at La Tavernetta in Ingleton (where I'm staying for tonight).  The chatty taxi driver recommended it to me.  Strictly speaking it just rates as Harmless but it was comforting, decent quality bistro Italian.  I started with bruschetta with proscuitto and basil and then had the lasagna with a side salad with roasted vegetables.  The lasagna was decent but the salad desperately needed some vinegar or lemon juice.  For dessert I had tiramisu.  The consistency and the ratio of marscapone to biscuit was right but there was no trace of booze.  

The most entertaining part of the night was a man at a table next to me.  He was a dentist and he talked endlessly to anyone who would listen or even who didn't want to listen.  The poor waitress, who looked all of 18, had braces and he quizzed her about her dentist, her teeth problems, her braces and her treatments.  He chatted to me, he chatted to people at the table on his other side.  His poor dining companion kept ordering beer after beer.  At one point the companion said to the waitress "you understand why I need another beer don't you?".