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.