Coast to Coast UK - Danby Wiske to Osmotherley

Our 12^th day of walking. The countdown is on, and all along the track today there were reminders that we were counting down to the end. The café in Ingleby Cross had a sign above the door for example, saying St Bees Head 140 miles and Robin Hoods Bay 50 miles - a total of 190 miles - but the overall distance is meant to be 192 miles. Further up the road as we ascended Worm Hill, another signpost indicated St Bees 132 miles and RHB 48 miles … a total of 180 miles. We seem to be losing miles as we progress. This would confirm my previous premise that a mile is an arbitrary and variable measurement. It will be interesting to see what our final tally is, based on the daily distances recorded by our OS maps App.

It was another perfect day for walking, except for one brief shower, which caused us to dive for our fleeces, but the sun soon reappeared forcing us to stop and remove them again. There was a light breeze and intermittent cloud cover, making walking comfortable. We slightly overshot one turn-off, which was carefully camouflaged as an opening in a hedge, with a bit of flattened grass alongside a crop, the only indication of a track on the other side of the hedgerow. When we had retraced our steps and found the turn, Wallsy, who loves a good sign, stopped on the other side of the road to take a picture of a ‘Caution Walkers’ sign, which had grabbed his attention. As he did so, he disappeared down a ditch, or at least half of him did! I didn’t have the presence of mind to take a photo of his predicament before I hauled him out; thankfully he was unharmed.

Our dinner companions from last night, the couple from NZ and the German couple, were all walking at a similar pace today and we kept catching up and overtaking each other, exchanging pleasantries as we did. The first challenge for the day was encountered about 2 miles out of Danby Wiske, where we all converged on a very narrow, overgrown track, notoriously impassable during wet weather. On the Facebook forums I had carefully studied before we left, this lane came up for regular discussion and the posted photos of the quagmire, were horrendous. However, as most other areas we recently passed through had largely dried out, we decided to tackle this one. It was passable, but only just!

Soon after leaving this obstacle course with very muddied boots, we reached the sanctuary of Moor House. It was one of the situations we have become accustomed to during the course of the walk, where we marched down the driveway to a property as if planning a visit but were diverted at the last minute around the back of the farm sheds, to a corner stile in the dividing fence. Here, our faith was restored in farmers and their attitudes to public footpaths on their properties, with the discovery of a picnic table and rubbish bin for walkers to enjoy a rest … and we did! We had already walked 3 miles after all!

The second challenge for the day was to safely cross the high-speed railway line by passing over a high metal stile and then onto the dual line, at an unmarked pedestrian crossing. We stopped, looked and listened carefully, before we stepped out onto the track and passed safely across.

The next major test was to cross the A19 motorway – all four lanes – and live to tell the story! We traversed farms, skirting around barley crops, and trudged down endless, uneven gravel roads, narrowly avoiding a huge tractor, which covered us in a cloud of grey dust as it passed, until eventually, we could see and hear the motorway in the distance. The crossing point was adjacent to the Exelby Services, so while our NZ friends prepared to cross, Wallsy and I headed into the Services to have a coffee and eat our lunch.

Fortified with food and coffee, minds alert and legs rested, we set out to cross the A19, first the north bound lanes, then a brief respite on the median strip while we waited for a break in the south bound traffic. Although often spoken of as the low point, and most dangerous part of the C2C, it was quite doable, if you were prepared to be patient and wait for a suitable break in the traffic. The reality was, we didn’t have to wait long at all.

The day improved from here. We walked immediately after the road crossing, into Ingleby Arncliffe and then Ingleby Cross, two delightful little villages, which exist in the triangle created by the intersection of the A19 and the A172. Although the location is underscored by the constant drone of traffic, the villages exude calm and serenity. They provided a beautiful place to wander, gaze at quaint buildings and read of their history, before our ongoing journey.

As we walked out of Ingleby Cross and began the ascent up Worm Hill towards South Wood I gave Wallsy the good news that we were on the final 3 miles for the day, and it was only 2 pm. Today’s was a very different last three miles, to that I described yesterday, we attacked the climb with gusto, winding through the woodlands, across a final field of curious cows, and then down, down, down into the attractive village of Osmotherley, where we were booked into the Golden Lion Hotel for the night.

This is one of the bigger villages we have stayed in. It has a village store, a coffee shop, two pubs and even a fish and chip shop. We went for a short explore before dinner – we had so much extra time with such an early arrival, and it was great to be able to have a look around, a drink, and then a rest before dinner.

We are now officially in the North York Moors National Park, the last of the national parks crossed by the Coast to Coast, and tomorrow we attack the Cleveland Hills.