(plus an extra 2 miles to visit the White Horse, Total 21 miles)
I awoke early morning to cold thick wet fog, the tent was soaked and being so tiny every time I turned in the night I brushed the tent sides which wet my sleeping bag. I warmed up some porridge and made a filter coffee, proper coffee being one of the luxuries I won't be without even when camping, these days it takes a good shot of caffeine to fire up the old engine in a morning.
While eating breakfast and packing I chatted to the guys I had met the previous evening, they were planning to go to Osmotherly that day a distance of about 12 miles. They were not detouring to see the White Horse at Kilburn so when I was ready for setting off at 7:30am I said "goodbye, you never know we might meet up later".
As I got to Sutton Bank the fog started to lift and the first point of interest was the Yorkshire Gliding Club, it is quite spectacular when the gliders literally go over your head and over the escarpment but unfortunately it was too early for anything to be taking off.
Interestingly Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia in 1930, had been a club member .
She died in 1941 and mystery still surrounds her death, the reason remains a government secret, one report says she was flying from Blackpool to RAF Kidlington and went off course in adverse weather conditions, reportedly out of fuel she bailed out as her aircraft crashed into the River Thames Estuary, Lieutenant Commander Walter Fletcher of the HMS Haslemere spotted her parachute coming down and saw her alive in the water, he dived into the water in an attempt to rescue her, however conditions were poor with heavy seas, a strong tide, falling snow and it was intensely cold, he failed and died of exposure after the attempt and her body was never recovered.
However the crew had reported seeing a man and a woman in the water and said it was the man that the Commander had tried to rescue, later the Ministry of Aircraft Production issued a statement saying 'that there was no passenger with her'.
Another twist came in 1999, Tom Mitchell an ex gunner claimed to have shot down the plane after Amy had failed to give the right identification code, which was changed daily so ground forces knew which aircraft were British. Apparently she failed to give the code twice and was shot down as an enemy aircraft.
Just a bit further on from the glider club is the White Horse of Kilburn and the CW brings you to the head of the horse.
Unfortunately from the bottom you can't see it's head!
and of course you have to climb back up to return to the CW. With a 15kg rucksack on your back and 20 miles still to walk it's not really a good way to start the day. So with not much chance of a flight in a glider to photograph the White Horse from above I have resorted to Google Maps for an image. (Dragging the image down also allows you to see the proximity of the glider club).
The horse was the work in 1857 of Thomas Taylor, headmaster of the local school, his pupils marked out the figure and 31 volunteers spread 6 tons of limestone on it to whiten it.
After my detour to see the White Horse I began to make my way back to Sutton Bank and it's impressive escarpments.
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| Sutton Bank in the mist. |
I was now however hungry and thoughts turned towards the National Park Visitors Centre and breakfast No.2
By the time I arrived it was 9:30 and the 'big fancy' National Park Centre was not yet open, so no food!!! I couldn't help but think that a 'butty van' on the main road would have provided a better service. I managed to find an outside tap and filled up with water and I carried on with my walk.
I was disappointed with the dull and murky weather conditions, I was hoping to get some photographs along this stunning section of the CW. James Herriot wrote that 'Sutton Bank has the finest view in England’ and a sign confirms this. I should have been able to look out over the Vale of Mowbray and the Vale of York and beyond to The Pennines but due to the mist I couldn't .
There is a good view of Gormire Lake, one of the few natural lakes in Yorkshire, and the result of glacial activity.
There are several tales in folklore about the lake, one being that it is bottomless another that it hides a lost village in its depths, there is also a story of a witch who was being chased across the moor and upon reaching the cliffs jumped into the lake and eventually emerged in a well nine miles away! Another tale concerns a goose that was dropped from the cliffs into the lake, it supposedly emerged featherless in Kirkbymoorside 12 miles away!
However not connected to tales of folklore was this sad memorial.
The path underfoot was good so, enough of photography, I decided to make up for 'lost time' and set off 'tabbing', and pondered whether I might catch up with the guys I had camped with last night.
So I marched on to the moor where the heather was beautiful
The day was now starting to brighten and my hunger pangs could no longer be ignored.
So with the sun just breaking through the misty clouds I decided to stop and dry my sleeping bag and warm up some instant spicy noodles. After all an army marches on its stomach as quoted by; 'Napoleon Bonaparte, or Frederick the Great of Prussia, or Claudius Galen, chief physician of the Roman Army', anyhow who am I to argue, it's true.
In the breeze and the sun my sleeping bag quickly dried and I wolfed down my scran and set off again.
To top off this military feel to my thoughts, overhead passed a Lancaster bomber, .
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| VERA |
It was the Canadian Lancaster Bomber 'Vera', nicknamed Vera because of her registration VR-A, she is one of only two remaining Lancasters that are still airworthy. Vera was probably on a test flight out of RAF Coningsby after having suffered problems on engine No.4 while on her 60 venue tour of the UK.
The Lancasters are most famous for the Dambuster Raid. This was carried out by 133 airmen of 617 Squadron in 19 Lancasters, 8 aircarft were lost, many of which were flown at just 60ft above the ground, it was a desperate bid to smash Nazi Germany’s war efforts by flooding much of its industrial heartland.
Sadly 56 flyers did not return from the mission – 53 were killed while three were captured – and as many as 1,300 people on the ground died in the floods and devastation that followed the bombing runs.
Despite the desperate loss of life the mission was hailed a huge success.
I pressed on to Osmotherley and on arrival enjoyed the way the path cut through the village along narrow passageways and a ginnal, I took care to adhere to the order.
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| Osmotherley |
I had a quick look round and took a few photos, went into the village shop and bought a bottle of water, a banana and a small bar of chocolate, I am sure the lady was pleased she had stayed open.
I decided to press on with 7 miles still to go. I was begining to wonder if I would catch-up with the guys I had left this morning they must have charged along to be still in front of me, little did I know that they were sat in a cafe eating a meal while watching me run up & down taking photos and shopping.
It was a tough climb out of Osmotherley and on to Scarth Wood Moor past a large telecommunications facility but it afforded fine views
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| Scarth Wood Moor |
The path then descended off the moor and into Clain Wood where I came across a memorial to Bill Cowley
The author of the original guide book that me and my dad had used all those years ago and I had used as a reference when planning this trip, he was also the creator of the Lyke Wake Walk.
After Clain Wood it was a another tough climb up Knolls End and onto Round Hill
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| Looking back at Clain Wood from Round Hill |
The moor seemed to go on forever and it was tough going but somewhere over Carlton Moor was my destination and camp-site for the night at Lordstones.
I arrived at 6:00pm and the camp-site was empty so I went into the building to enquire about camping, it was a restaurant with a bar in the middle of nowhere, and an oasis for one very tired Cleveland Wayer. I was shown to my pitch by a waiter dressed very smartly who than asked me would I like to make a dinner reservation! I replied I would, just give me time to pitch the tent and have a shower.
I got the tent up and went for a shower in a very palatial shower block, I got undressed and was amazed to find an enormous blister on my heel
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| The alien in my shoe! |
I have a lot of hard skin on my heels from doing long distance running and the blister had formed underneath and I was totally oblivious to it. I popped it applied some Savlon and it never bothered me for the rest of the CW, a lucky escape.
Tent pitched, me showered and blister sorted, I made my way down to the 'restaurant' and bumped into three guys just arriving, the two from last night with their dog and a German that they had collected on the way, he was walking the 'Coast to Coast' path which joins the CW for a few miles at this point. I asked if they would be going down to the bar for a drink later and they said yes.
I had dinner on my own, I opted for the The Beltie Burger a home-made char-grilled beef burger served with dry-cured Yorkshire bacon, Monterey Jack cheese, caramelised onions all on a toasted brioche bun with fries. It was excellent quality and at £10.95 in a restaurant with waiter service I thought it represented the very best value for money and I will definitely return here one-day.
I left the dinning room and went back to the bar to join the other guys for a drink, everybody was tired and we didn't stay up drinking very long.
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