Walking becomes the world

Day 5: Danby Whiske to Osmotherly



Erica: Today was a good day's walk, 11 miles, mostly through fields and along country lanes. We've worked our way across the Mowbray valley that divides the Yorkshire Dales and North Yorkshire Moors. The Coast-to-Coast was first laid out by iconic rambler Alfred Wainwright in the 1970s. He walked all over northern England and was an energetic advocate for trails and keeping the rights-of-way open for hikers. English law protects the rights of walkers to traverse ancient routes, even if they go through private land and sometimes even right through farmyards. Wainwright's beautiful hand-illustrated books and maps made these paths accessible and beloved. But he turned his nose up at this flat valley and Coast-to-Coasters are often advised to grind through it in a single 23-mile day. Sensibly, we broke it up into two.

Wainwright tried to keep the path in the countryside as much as possible. For us, this meant pushing through waist-deep pasture grass, climbing over stiles into thorn and thistle patches and gagging at the smell of pig farms. But these were all better than following busy roads where the cars inexplicably passed us on the wrong side of the road. We did have to run across the A19 highway, but that was the biggest reminder of the modern world that we faced today.

  

We've now passed the 50-mile mark: half way! We're deep in walking mode now. At some point in a long-distance hike, your mind and body start to believe that this is what you're actually destined to do: get up each day and walk. Even the weird  names of the villages are less weird (but still: Osmotherly?) We've learned the habits that sustain us. For Sarah, the familiar comforts of multiple cups of tea per day and chocolate. For Erica: exotic treats like McVitties Digestive Biscuits and licorice allsorts. But we're appreciative of "trail angels" like the folks at Wray House, who leave an assortment of food, drink, bandaids and Tylenol for hikers.



At the end of the day we entered the forests of the Cleveland hills. We've seen them for two days, pale blue on the horizon and becoming more solid every mile. Tomorrow we start to climb.

Sisters: 58 miles     Blisters: 5 (all on the same foot)