WE DID IT !!

Day 10: Grosmont/Whitby to Robin Hood's Bay

Erica:  this last day, we changed the usual route to the end of the trail to include a short bus ride to Whitby and then a 7 mile hike down the cliffs south to Robin Hood's Bay. It was a warm, sunny day and we pulled off all of the warm layers that had kept us through the previous week. The cliffs are circled by seabirds and topped with perfect, bright green fields manicured into perfect lawns by perfect cloud-like sheep.

The ruins of Whitby Abbey, overlooking the town . Evidently, this was the inspiration for Dracula

Yeah, this is a sheep shot

The trail dips and climbs over the headlands and suddenly turns a corner and there's Robin Hood's Bay. Besides being the end of the Coast to Coast Trail, the town is famous for smuggling and press gangs (thugs who kidnapped people to serve in the Navy). After 10 days on the trail, we were disreputable enough to feel right at home.

We put our boots into the sea

The custom is to dip your boots in the Irish Sea at the start of the trail at St. Bees, and then again in the North Sea at Robin Hood's Bay. I stood in the water at St, Bees five years ago and here we are today! Different trip, different companion, even different boots. But we've stitched the country together, step by step, from edge to edge.

I can't hold it all in my head at once, although every single day's memories are vivid. I can't hold all of the colors of fields, heather and sea and the textures of stone, grass and wood. Villages, roads, farms, churches are all distinct but then blur together again.  But everything is tied together with the steady rhythm of walking.

Now we start home, and should be in London by evening. I know it'll be a strange day. Part is going back into the city and home/work life. But most of it will be that we won't be shouldering our packs and walking out across the fields, We've looked forward to this trip for many months, walked it for many days, and now, very simply,  it's done.

Sarah: So this magical journey is coming to its natural end;  in the sheer physical sense  our work is done.  but my  memories are of our footsteps travelling across the  ridges and valley folds of a diverse and rich landscape that is eons old. It will take me some time to let it all assimilate, but for now there is a deep joy in having accomplished our goal. So many thanks to all our supporters far and wide - you were with us on this adventure all the way!

SISTERS 104 MILES   - BLISTERS  5  ( and every one worth it  )

If you'd like to celebrate our adventure with a donation to the Lyons Library, please check out our GoFundMe site: ‭https://gofundme.com/blister-sisters-hike-100

 

Sarah wringing out her sock having been forcibly pulled into
 the sea by Erica: a long established ritual  marking the end of the Coast 2 Coast

We are added to the record of fame in Wainwright's favorite pub

Toot toot!

Day 9: Rest day in Grosmont

Erica: we needed this. Eight days on the trail and Sarah's feet were hurting and my back was starting to spasm. We had planned an exra day here because of the railway steam train that passes through the town. We had a Thomas-the-Tank-Engine morning! After a fun ride, we did a bit of shopping in the "Big Town" of Pickering. This was for Tylenol and blister remedies, in the biggest grocery store we'd seen since  London.

But we still couldn't stop ourselves from walking. On the return trip we got off the trail a few miles from Grosmont and walked back through the green Esk River valley. The weather is turning sunny and I'm starting to fret about how much I'll miss walking through this countryside.

Our day off

This is Sarah's fantasy house 

Sisters: 97 miles        

Blisters: aw, who cares now, we're so close!

I can see the sea, I can see it!

Day 8: Blakey Ridge to Grosmont

Sarah: Our day typically begins around 6:30 with English tea for one particular Blister Sister. We check the weather, repack our cases (yet again), pack our rucksacks with essentials for the day - enough layers for whatever happens,  waterproof pants, winter hat and gloves, maps and our ‘Bible,’ Steadman’s “Coast to Coast”, 1.5. Litres of water, 1st aid kit, pen knife, rubber bands, duck tape, blister dressings, athletic tape, change of socks...........etc. etc.  after 80 miles, everything but the duck tape and 1st aid kit  have been used repeatedly.

Setting out in driving rain

Today was our last up on the moors - that rugged, quilted landscape of heathers, bobbing wild flowers, rock cairns and silent, ancient standing stones. Runnels of trickling water find their way into tiny streams stained a reddish ochre from all the remains of  now invisible and disused lead mines pockmarking  the landscape,  long since heather covered.   Bright  green mossy lichens  glow in the rising and setting sun.  We can walk for hours up here seeing no one, or suddenly encounter others hiking the C2C in the next dip.  Skies are enormous, constantly on the move in the layers of breezes, gusts and winds.

Patchwork of moorland colors

"Fat Betty". where hikers leave offerings of no longer needed granola bars- the end is in sight!

Rosedale Moor Standing Stone

But when we began today, all we saw was swirling mist shrouding the land, rain stinging our faces as we were blown and buffeted by the winds. All very Gothic and so pleased we got to experience the moors when the going got really rough - it felt more complete somehow.

Transition from upland moors to farming valley floor 

Within two hours, winds, sun and clouds were playing hide and seek and there, way off in the distance, I could see the thinnest line of azure on the horizon. The kaleidoscope of the valley floor
below was completely different - patterns formed by rich grazing and agricultural land and we began to descend into a whole new area rich in farmland, small hamlets, an occasional pub! But not before that azure line had become a wide band of lavender clearly signifying we were nearly there - the North Sea and Robin Hood’s Bay - over 100 miles from where we began our Blister Sisters Trek.

Tomorrow is a rest day for bones, backs and blisters. They all need it., then our last day............

Sisters: 93 miles and a glimpse of the sea!     Blisters: "counting 1, 2, 3 -ow- 4, 5, all healing slowly"

"Beggar's Bridge in the Esk Valley

Library Landscapes

Day 7:  Clay Bank Top to the Lion Inn at Blakey Moor



Erica: Today was an easy day across flat moorland. We took it slow, with a picnic and lots of time to admire the views from the windy, lonely purple moors down to impossibly green farm valleys.



 I'm brought back to the bookshelves of the library I grew up in: the flower- and lark-filled moors above gloomy Misselthwaite Manor and its Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett);  Bonnie and Sylvia fleeing the Wolves of Willoughby Chase with only their wits and a fowling-piece to save them (Joan Aiken); and the Proud-but-Prejudiced Elizabeth at dour-but-hunky Darcy's Pemberley Estate (Jane Austen).

'The first half of the Coast-to-Coast trail climbs through the Lake District, home of  plucky Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter) and the sailing adventures of the Swallows and Amazons (Arthur Ransome). Barbecued Billygoats! I think I may be doing this hike in large part from a pent-up literary yearning.

But today the moors were far from gloomy or gothic. We had some sunny weather and gentle walking over the rolling hills. Grouse, golden plovers and curlews, rabbits and, of course, lots of sheep. Blisters and sore knees had a chance to rest. At at the end of the day, The Lion Inn, perched alone on a windy ridge, offers unexpectedly fluffy pillows, hot baths and the prospect of a half-pint (or pint) and a good dinner to come.

The trekker's life for me!

Every mile we walk raises funds for the Lyons Library! My childhood library brought me here. If you'd like to learn more and perhaps help another generation discover the world, please visit: https://www.gofundme.com/blister-sisters-hike-100

Sisters: 78.5 miles   Blisters: at least no new ones today!

Even Moor Ups and Downs

Day 6.   Osmotherley to Clay Bank Top  



Sarah:  Up and up then plunging down, then more up and down over and over and over. We have a drinking song for this for today now!

The higher we climb the more cider we drink

The more cider we drink the better we feel

We'd better get over the aches and the pains

'Cause we'll get up tomorrow and do it again!

There were great things today -   we saw the sun.......... all day!!!  WE also glipsed our ultimate destination, the North Sea,  misty and way off in the distance from our highest points. Best of all - we are finally  up on the North York Moors where I have spent many wonderful times hiking in the past with my late husband.  The Secret Garden book was set here and it  a magical place of dipping and diving birds, calf high, springy heather with tiny bell-like purple flowers  covering and clinging to the hillsides despite the fierce winds so fierce we were nearly blown over.



This morning, the  Coast to Coast joined a National long distance path called the Cleavelean Way where we moved steadily eastward  on Yorkstone slabs about 3' x 18" somehow inlaid onto the rollercoaster like moors making the path easy to follow even if the mists swirl and sweep over the entire hillside.

I found today physically draining - my phone app said we climbed the equivalent of 17 floors - 1,700 feet and covered 11.5 miles.  But we did it !   And my goodness, the hot bath I've just had did wonders.

“At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done—then it is done” 
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden


Sisters: 69 miles.   Blisters: 5

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)

From moors to flatlands under skulking skies

Day 4: Richmond to Danby Whiske

Sarah: We woke to sulking grey skies, rain and an anticipated hike across suburbs, flatlands and an enormous motorway (the A1). So, instead, we went in style on the #55 bus for 15 minutes.




 Getting off in tiny Bolton-on-Swale, we found the stunning, well cared for village church - guessing 14th Century.  The trail was way marked and off we went  through endless fields of sheep, cows and huge expanses of wheat, barley and meadow grass dancing  under still sulky, pewter skies. Today  had  cameo appearances of the odd farmer, two or three of groups of hikers, including 3 local women who’ve been hiking together for 36 years. Most of the time, including long miles  on a single track lane, the only sounds came from English birds of fields and hedgerows: wrens, yellowhammers, thrushes, robins and warblers.

We found our village for the night a bit early- so a wonderful chance to spend an hour in the 11 th C church yard. Inside a stunning yet simple church with Norman windows and font, to my great delight we discovered an altar, altar rail and vestry door made by The Mouseman’ of Kilburn, N. Yorkshire in the early 20th century. On each and every piece of furniture, he carved his trademark of a unique 2-3” mouse. He is world famous, but probably not quite in Lyons yet!

The  village pub offered enough space and draft beers  / ciders to please all. Turns out everyone in the place  had been playing   tag across  fields & moors  and up and over the Pennines for the last four days. 12 pairs of boots were airing outside - they’d got caught in a drenching downpour we had avoided only thanks to the 15 minute bus ride as we began this morning.

Sisters: 47 miles      Blisters: 1.5  (but healing)

Thank you, Kirt from Utah, for your donation to the Lyons Library! Great to have dinner with your at the White Swan tonight!