Day 14! – Osmotherley to Blakey Ridge

I made it !!

22 miles, my longest day and 9 hours of walking later I am happily entrenched at the Lion Inn.   What a day!    This start to the final third of the walk, over The North York Moors  was extraordinary.   It took me climbing  up again and it was stunning.  I might nod off during this , my body is tired out but here goes.

I wanted to start today early as I didn’t want to still be walking at 6 or 7 tonight.  It was just me and the chef at breakfast.  I had a few butterflies this morning at breakfast.  I wasn’t sure how I would go with this distance, if my legs would keep going .  I still managed my scrambled eggs on toast with extra toast and local marmalade , with a pot of tea.    I left Osmotherley and headed up to the the rejoin the route of the coast to coast.   As I climbed the hill up to the woods the mist that I thought was a bit of cloud cover got thicker and thicker.   I was looking out for a phone tower as the point where I turned onto the path , I could not see a thing.   As the mist thickened I could only see a metre in front of me .  It wasn’t until I was wearing the phone tower as a hat I realised it was time to turn.

At this point, I seriously considered getting out my ‘I’ve packed for all eventualities ‘ head torch from my back pack.   ( go on , have a laugh).   This will surely help I thought.   I then concluded that looking like a complete plonker in a head torch might affect my confidence levels at this point and I needed all the confidence I could get.  I decided to hold off on the torch for a bit longer.  On I went until I could see the sign for Scarth Wood Moor.   I could see the sign , just not the moor!   I had to walk through some misty woods first,  it was eerie and  beautiful, it was eerily beautiful- it was mostly eerie .  I walked through a huge spiders web which felt like someone had just thrown a doily on my face .  I was happy to be alone during the following 10 minutes performance to check the spider wasn’t about my person.   On the moor I just kept looking to find the path directly in front of me, the mist was making me soaking wet and whenever I turned around to look behind me, the path
and everything was gone, out of sight.  It was like being in an episode of Dr Who.

The path across this moor was luckily easy to follow and on I went, this part of the walk shares it route with The Cleveland Way walk and so the sign posting was excellent.  I wound down into a beautiful woods and then a steep, climb up to Live Moor.   Still completely shrouded in thick mist , it followed onto Carlton Moor.   It was here in big bold letters and exclamation marks , Stedman’s map announces I should get my first glimpse of THE NORTH SEA!!!!!   I could just about see to the bottom of my sleeve.   I dropped down steeply again (hello again knees!) and then up , up this was
the pattern of the first half of the walk, up onto the amazing Cringle Moor.  The mist suddenly started to shift and lift and I got the most wonderful surprise,  the most incredible views .  It was like taking the blind fold off in Pin the Tail on the Donkey.  !    All doubts and all thoughts about distance were gone for now , this was one of the most thrilling parts of the coast to coast walk , I was loving it.  It just felt like I was in the complete wilderness out there – the mist, the moors, the vastness.  Wainwright describes this part of the walk as ” unenclosed, uninhibited, remote from industry and noise and free from traffic,  where one can wander tirelessly all day and enjoy freedom complete. ”  He got it so right.

I climbed up then to The Wainstones .  An amazingly positioned outcrop of rock that looks like it might topple over at any second but has held its position there for hundreds of years.   There were people climbing there,  Wainwright loved these stones, my Dad would of too.     I pressed on and levelled out as I reached Urra moor.   From this point on it became a flat Moor walk and the second part of the day was visible for miles.  I crossed the moor – stopped for my packed lunch ( which included a bag of salted peanuts!   , packed lunch pub style).  And then the route had me join a disused railway track , the Rosedale Ironstone Railway.   Constructed in 1861and dismantled in 1929 it now provides a very straight and easy walking track for walkers crossing these moors.

I then got into a rhythm of walking and I settled in for the long haul.   About 10 more miles to go on this track.    After a good long way I turned a bend and thought I saw a glimpse of my destination for the night , The Lion Inn!  Then as quickly as it appeared  it disappeared  from view again .  Was it a
mirage ??   Please let me be here!! My feet were sore !!  This pub is the 4th highest in  England and dates back to 1553.  It’s position high up and completely isolated on a windswept moor make it an
iconic stop for walkers .   Everyone asks, “Did you get a room at The Lion Inn.?”   When I was having the lovely job of going through each village to book my stays, The Lion Inn was the first one I booked .  Even over a year ago it was nearly full.   I was looking forward to my pint – it was getting on for 5. 30 and I made the final push up to where I thought I’d seen it.  Yes! There it was , sitting all alone,  a glowing light on this deserted moor top.   It had low ceilings, little nooks and worn old beams throughout.  It was lovely.    I had my pint (with my packed lunch salted nuts) outside not moving a single part of my body except my arm.

A wonderful start to my North York Moor journey.  Tomorrow I should get my first mist free glimpse of The North Sea!  I’m on my way Robin Hoods Bay!   – see, not too tired to rhyme … !

Night , night ,  sweet dreams xxx lots of love xxx