DAY 13 ... GLAISDALE TO ROBIN HOODS BAY... 19 MILES
This is my last C2C day, another 19 mile day.
Breakfast at 7:30, cereal, yoghurt, 2 poached eggs
and very good sausage. Yorkshire honey (on toast)
was excellent. I took an apple and a mandarin orange
for lunch and started out at 8:30. A step across the
road and I’m on the path to Robin Hoods Bay and the
North Sea, up through the woods along the River Esk.
In Grosmont, I take a photo of the steam trains and
buy a Cadbury's to supplement lunch.
River Esk
Slabbed Path Through East Arncliffe Wood
In 2006, I scheduled a short walk from Glaisdale to
Littlebeck so I could take the steam train from
Grosmont to Goathland, only about a 20 minute ride
through the Esk valley. I decided to walk out from
the village to Mallyam Spout waterfall, but ran into
a TV crew filming Heartbeat (a popular TV series),
the heir to Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small.
What a crush of cars and spectators, never did get
to the waterfall. Back to the village, had an ice
cream (this is a tourist spot, you know), then a
train ride back to Grosmont. At the Station Pub, I
had a cuppachino and talked with a French tourist
wearing a beret and scarf who looked and dressed
amazingly like Francis Ford Coppola (I attended his
67th birthday party at his winery two years ago). I
like that look, maybe I'll try it!
Steam Train at Grosmont, Oct 2006
Goathland Train Station, Oct 2006
Back to 2009..... as I leave Grosmont, the rain
starts and I put on my Ducks Back. It was off and on
rain the rest of the day. Out of Grosmont is the
incredibly steep road famous for taxing the most
hardy C2Cers. One mile of it, a catch-your-breath
section, then another mile not so steep. I am now at
the top of Sleights Moor and pass by groups of
ancient standing stones.
A first view of Whitby and the coast opened up at
the one mile point. A large car park is full of
buses and trailers for the Heartbeat film crew
(again), but I cut across the boggy heather to catch
a track and lane leading steeply down into
Littlebeck.
Standing Stone East of Grosmont, Oct 2006
Overlooking Littlebeck
In 2006, I took the side road up to Intake Farm B&B
less than a mile south of Littlebeck. The entrance
is totally unpretentious, definitely a working farm.
Judith greeted me with tea and coffee cake in a
kitchen as cluttered as the farmyard, but it works.
I have a large comfortable bedroom full of books and
magazines, her college daughter's room. Downstairs
is a wonderful sitting room with a roaring
fireplace. There are five others staying here
tonight, walkers but not on the C2C. Dinner was
family style, chicken, sausage, ham, leeks, carrots,
potatoes, cabbage and stuffing. Quite a meal! The
five other guests had three bottles of wine which
they shared with me. Then dessert, plum and apple
crumbles with decaf coffee. Enough already!
Entrance to Intake Farm, Bed and Breakfast Sign at
Left, Oct 2006
For such a small village, Littlebeck is full of
interesting historic buildings. Here, the C2C enters
the forest on a trail following Little Beck to the
Hermitage, a 1790 stone shelter, then to Falling
Foss, an absolutely beautiful waterfall perhaps 200
feet high. This was a good place to eat my modest
lunch. In Oct 2006, a red fox appeared in the path,
surprised to see me, and scampered back up the hill.
In a few minutes, three hunting dogs were furiously
sniffing down the path and to both sides.
The Hermitage Dated 1799
Falling Foss Waterfall, Oct 2006
Bird of the Forest
After lunch, I said goodby to a beggar bird and
carried on past May Beck Farm, on lanes and across
moorland until I reached the dreaded muddy, boggy
moorland of Graystone Hills. These bogs are as much
fun as the bogs of Nine Standards fame. As
Wainwright might say, "a delight for bog lovers".
Entering Another Boggy Moor, Oct 2006
More Bloody, Muddy Bogs
After this, its not far to the coast. I had
previously taken the coastal path to RHB in 2006, so
this time I took the faster cycle path on the old RR
bed which runs just above the coast path. The walk
today has surprisingly been has been long and
difficult, much bog trotting and many steep
inclines. I was rainy wet and tired and ready to dip
my boot. The tradition is to carry a pebble from the
Irish Sea to the North Sea, and also to dip your
boots in the sea water on each coast. As I merge
with the coast path at RHB, I see Bill and Katie
coming up the coastal path, an amazing coincidence.
It was 5 pm and I hadn’t seen them all day. We took
photos, threw pebbles, dipped boots and agreed to
have dinner together at the Bay Hotel where they are
staying.
Robin Hoods Bay at a Distance (by B&K)
Gregg Overlooking Robin Hoods Bay
The Walkers Three at the Bay Hotel, Bill, Katie and
Gregg
Gregg Throws A Pebble into The Sea (by B&K)
I check in at Upside Down Cottage, a quirky kind of
place as the name indicates, but comfortable and
near the bottom of the village. I relax with a hot
chocolate, then go out to phone Cathryn with my PO
phone card. We have a nice long talk, then I shower
and go to meet B & K for dinner. Its 7 pm and the
van group of walkers are just arriving at the Bay
Hotel and look totally knackered. The lady that fell
and hurt her ankle at Gunnerside Gill has made it
the whole way. She says she is in great pain and her
ankle is swollen black and blue. I don't know how
she did it. Actually, I do know. But more on that in
the next section where I tell about my accident in
2006 on the coast trail. That account will pick up
the 2006 story as I arrive at the coast from
Littlebeck and take a diversion north for two days
instead of immediately walking south to RHB.
Bill and Katie and I have some pints and dinner
together and reminisce about the walk. Tomorrow,
they will catch an early bus to Whitby, then the
train all the way to Devon. I will continue walking
to Scarborough to take the train to York, then on to
Heathrow the next day. Even though its Monday night,
the restaurant/bar is full and loud and we all are
having a good time. Finally, its time to call it a
night, we exchange emails and hug our goodbyes. Nice
people. I hope to see them again someday.