Day 15: Grosmont to Robin Hood's Bay

Weather: Mostly sunny with light winds

Distance covered today: 25.6km (15.9mi)

Last night's B&B: The Gallery B&B

% Complete: Cum distance: 100%: 317.9km (197.5mi)

Total Ascent/Total Descent: 704m/ 736m

GPS satellite track of today's route: Day 15 (click!)

It’s just over a fortnight since I started the Coast-to-coast and it’s hard to believe it’s over.  In such a relatively short distance, I have experienced so many different geographies, states of mind, people and experiences that I feel really quite moved. I say a relatively short distance, because in fact the C2C isn’t really a very long walk. After all, on my LEJOG journey, I was only just north of Exeter after the same distance, but the two experiences can’t be compared. From the glory of Lakeland and the adventure on Kidsty Peak to my joyous return to the Pennines and my acquaintance with the Cleveland Hills and the North Yorkshire Moors, this has been everything I had hoped for, and more. Normally, by the end of one of these walks, I’m quite happy to return home and get on with things, but I have been so inspired by this experience that I spent some time today trying to work out what to do for an encore next year!

So what do I feel about the Coast-to-coast? In many ways it is by far the most varied of the walks I have done (LEJOG excepted), but also the most demanding. I have been at times quite amazed at how under-prepared some participants have been, with the result that sales of Compeed (blister plasters) have rocketed. Yesterday I was amused to hear one fellow from Austen, Texas, on a National Geographic guided walk, wearing sandals because he has so many blisters that he just can’t wear boots anymore, saying that no-one told him there were so many hills in England. He said that he had thought that England was all flat green fields!

Initially I was a little put off by the sheer weight of numbers and it remains true that if you want a quiet walk in the country alone with your companion or your thoughts, then the C2C is not for you. However, as time has passed and as passing acquaintances have steadily deepened, as people have visibly changed, sometimes with increased confidence and sometimes the opposite, it has all become more of an experience than I had anticipated.  As a boy, I was constantly subjected to immersive experiences, designed “to make a man of you”, mostly disagreeable, but probably effective. During most of my working years, other than the odd lunacy branded as corporate team-building, I managed to avoid that sort of thing, so it is especially strange to be hurled back into the midst of it, but among an older and much more mature set of people.  All I can say for certain, is that as the muscles have tightened and the callouses hardened, so it feels that the pain was all worth it and I feel very much healthier than when I set out. I can’t think of a better retreat in the good old Jesuit sense of the word!

Of course, I have been lucky in all sorts of ways. Though the Met Office records that the first half of May has been quite wet in the UK (as a whole the UK has had more rain in the first 17 days than the average for the month of May), the rain mostly held off, and with the exception of Kidsty Pike, the weather came mostly from astern driven by westerly winds, and for a walker that really isn’t a problem at all.

My equipment all worked perfectly and my little Garmin satnav, prepopulated with daily routes, carefully plotted by myself using the Ordnance Survey online mapping service and Martin Wainwright’s C2C guidebook, meant that despite the absence of waymarks on the C2C, I didn’t ever get lost (though of course I was helped by David and Gay on Kidsty Pike where I just couldn’t see a thing).  The magnetic compass and the barometric pressure altimeter built into my satnav have proved useful innovations.  I have learned from the experience of previous walks and I now understand that the use of decent clothing and equipment makes the whole experience both safer and more enjoyable.

Not everything was perfect. In particular, I was disappointed with the service and facilities in a number of the B&Bs along the way.  As a general rule, I have found that the more popular the route the less accommodating the B&Bs, because they have a captive clientele, which I suppose is obvious. By far the best experiences were those that were off the beaten track, where I was collected and returned to a point on the route by the proprietor. These people have to work harder for their living and they also look after customers who aren’t walkers and who expect better service, and they do receive it.  By and large, though, the standard of facilities was quite adequate: even the power showers are mightily improved from just a few years ago.  Availability of wifi in bedrooms was patchy at best, but then not everyone is a geek like me who needs permanently to be connected to the net!  Even in this area, though, things are improving, with the use of repeaters and increased understanding of the advantages to the business of having good access. Keld Lodge was by far the most outstanding experience of the trip, despite being right in the epicentre of the route. I would recommend anyone to go there even if you aren’t a walker. You will enjoy it!  The Gallery in Grosmont was a distant second.

Finally, I have heard privately that some feel that I have been a bit of a grumpy old man in these posts. I was rather disappointed to hear that, because it honestly isn’t the way I feel about it, and it must be that in expressing my thoughts too quickly, I have perhaps not reflected sufficiently on the result. My excuse can only be that the pressures of the walks, including getting all the verbiage, photos, maps and data out on time, when sleep calls and another stern test awaits tomorrow, presents something of a challenge. All I can say is that I heartily recommend the C2C to anyone who might read these notes. It is an experience you will never regret!

And so to Robin Hood’s Bay. My guide-book advised me to throw my pebble from St Bees into the North Sea and I’ve done that, including wetting my boots in its waters. It says that I have been “playing (my) part in a steady geological transfer that may one day baffle scientists”.  The book goes on to say, “Then celebrate and don’t feel let down by the absence of cheering crowds. Robin Hood’s Bay is a mecca for trippers who are unlikely to know of your amazing feat, and wouldn’t care if they did.  There may be a few, instantly recognisable, fellow ancient mariners, slumped about who will exchange yarns. And anyway, you know what you have achieved, and that is all that matters in the end.” Amen to that, and I’m off to Wainwright’s bar in the Bay Hotel to see if I can find some of my ancient mariners!!

To end, I recall the late arrival of my suitcase in Kirkby Stephen. I was talking to the attractive assistant behind the bar, telling her that I was off to take a shower, so if the suitcase did arrive, please would she not bring it into the room. The gruff, Yorkshire twang of the proprietor erupted from a dark corner, “Not to worry, mate. If she does go in, we’ll add it to yer bill!”

My beautifully appointed and decorated B&B in Grosmont last night

Elegant Victorian houses on the steep climb out of Grosmont

Everywhere there are the yellow bicycles commemorating the sensational start to last year's Tour de France

At last a lapwing!  It took ages to get him to stand still!

Eric and Jane saw me walking along the road as they passed in a car and slithered to a halt to say good-bye! Really touching!

The beautiful little village of Little Beck

The flowers are improving by the day!  A sea of Stichwort!

Chubb's eccentric cave

Falling Foss

Wooden paths over the bogs on the moors of Graystone Hills

My much missed pom-poms. They appeared all over the Pennine bogs years ago but perhaps it is too early in the season this year

How amazing a colour combination! The grey of the moors with the yellow of the gorse

The first explicit sign to Robin Hood's Bay. Relief and regret...

The Yorkshire white rose; frequently visible...

The first cliffs of the North Sea coast

Bluebells and stichwort

A hare trying to get away, but I caught him!

My first view of Robin Hood's Bay

These rocket posts were once used by the Coastguard to practice rescuing shipwrecked sailors

Victorian houses in upper Robin Hood's Bay

My B&B in the old town

Wainwright's Bar in the Bay Hotel.

My perfect pebble, about to be despatched from the Irish Sea at St Bees into the North Sea in Robin Hood's Bay

Here I am; too full of myself!

And so to sea-level!!