Cleveland Way - Day 1

Helmsley to Hamleton Inn (Sutton Bank) via Rievaulx Abbey - 10 miles.


Alighting off the bus at Helmsley Square I was disappointed to see the throngs of people and cars all clogging the market square, it was a Tuesday afternoon in September, the school holidays were over and I had expected to find a quiet market town. All chances of a photograph of the square and the Feversham Memorial were spoilt, however a quick look down some of the backstreet's  revealed just what a pretty place Helmsley is.

The stream that runs through Helmsley

It had been a beautiful morning, cloudless skies had made the train journey over the Pennines and across the Yorkshire Plain very pleasant and boded well for the start of the walk, however clouds were now building.

All Saints Parish Church Helmsley

There were so many things to see, I knew that inside Helmsley All Saints Church there were some interesting murals, which included a 6 metre long dragon and a copy of the painting 'Veronica's Handkerchief' and then there was the 900 year old Helmsley Castle

Helmsley Castle

but time was getting on and I was itching to get started on the walk. I made my way to the start passing this garden on the way.

I guessed that the yellow bike was celebrating the recent visit of Le Tour de France to Yorkshire and the lady in the period costume on the right remembering the 100 years since the start of the Great War of 1914-18 but I wasn't sure about the guy in the middle maybe he was just a 'common or garden' scarecrow.



Then finally after weeks of planning I made my first steps towards Filey

Start of The Cleveland Way at Helmsley

It's a long gentle climb out of Helmsley across the fields towards Rievaulx with some nice views of Helmsley if you take the trouble to look back. I pondered on my journey ahead and the fact that ultimately I had a train to catch that was 6 days and 109 miles away and the idea of a blog title came to mind;

"You Have Only 6 Days, 3 Hours and 17 Minutes, To Catch A Train" 

I laughed to my self because it sounded like the famous line from the Flash Gordon Movie;

 "Flash, Flash I love you but we have only 14 hours to save the Earth"

Common sense obviously prevailed, it was not a very descriptive title for anyone searching the internet looking for information on the CW.

I had planned on a small detour to look at Rievaulx Abbey along the way and hopefully get some photos but from a photographic point of view the lighting wasn't very good.

Rievaulx Abbey

However it was well worth the detour the impressive remains are set in a tranquil valley and a pretty hamlet.

Rather than retrace my steps back along the road I opted to walk over the fields to Bow Bridge, cross the river and return to the CW through the woods.

I pressed on to the next village Cold Kirby and on route passed literally thousands of game birds obviously being bred and fed for 'the glorious 12th', as it was now September I could only think that these were the lucky ones, so far!

Cold Kirby

I didn't see a soul as I walked through the village everybody must have been indoors the only welcome being a stand at the side of the main street selling home-made flapjacks.

The lack of people and the dark late afternoon skies only added to the feeling of 'it's getting late' so my thoughts started to turn towards 'were was I going to spend the night'. My original plan was to get to at least Sutton Bank giving me the option of camping at The Hambleton Inn. 

I arrived there just before 6:00pm and the door was closed so I decided to carry on to the next point of interest i.e. the White Horse of Kilburn but after arriving at Sutton Bank escarpment and realising that the chances of getting any photos were now over for the day and the thought of a very long and lonely night camping wild I hastily beat a retreat back to the pub. On arrival the front door was now open and very welcoming, inside the landlord who is accustomed to Cleveland 'Wayers' was very hospitable and said that I was more than welcome to pitch on the lawn at the rear of the pub and if I was coming in for a bite to eat there would be no charge for camping, 'that seemed fair enough'.

I went outside, pitched the tent, sorted my sleeping bag & mat out then went straight back into the pub where I indulged in a couple of pints of Theakstons, then Breast of Chicken wrapped in Bacon, served with Creamed Mash & a White Wine Leek & Bacon Cream Sauce with Side Veg. for £13.95. It had been a long day and by 9:00pm I was ready for bed, there had been a couple of guys and a dog sat in the corner and when I went outside they were pitching their tents in the dark. They were also doing the CW and after a brief chat we all retired, little did we all realise at this stage that it was going to be the start of a friendship and 'The Adventure of Three Men and a Dog'.  I slept soundly until 6:00am when the noise of traffic speeding along the A170 woke me up.