Day 18: Egton Bridge to Little Beck

When planning this walk it soon becomes apparent that everyone, save for the mad wild campers, needs to stop at the Lion Inn back at Blakley Ridge, simply because it is in the middle of nowhere, and a comfortable days walk from and to the nearest village.

For the rip, tear and bust walkers, yesterday, today and tomorrow are three days rolled into two. Punishing themselves over the last section rather than taking it easy and enjoying what will be for most a never to be repeated adventure.

There is much to see over these days and a must is the North York Steam Railway at Grosmont.

In 2011 we took time out to ride a steam train north to Whitby (hometown of Captain Cook) and back before continuing our walk.

This time I am taking the train south to Goathland better known as Aidensfield, Heartbeat country.

So no rush for me I am happy to enjoy these last days at my leisure.

In the planning stages it is important that a contingency is factored in to this walk. To cater for turning the wrong way, or for construction work, which both can add a few extra k’s to the day. And add a bit of time to be tourist, like rest days and train rides, and deviations to find stone circles and historical building.

To put the walking into perspective, when walking up a path on level ground in your home town, in shorts and tee shirt with no pack on your back, it is easy to clock 5km an hour, but the Coast to Coast is not that type of walk.

It is a walk across a country, each day, every day, day after day for nearly three weeks.

I have managed three days over this walk at 5km an hour or better, all three were downhill or at worst level ground and mostly on road or a firm path.

Then there are other considerations, like you never know exactly where you are or going, which means you are constantly stopping to check your map, guidebook and GPS.

Then there is the weather, if you are not leaning into the rain and wind you are constantly taking off and putting on layers of clothing, to keep your body warm or cool.

Then you need to eat, so you stop for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea; even more time is taken up if you are tempted into a pub or cafe for lunch.

Then there are rivers and streams to be forded and bogs to survive and bulls to be avoided.

And then you need to remind yourself that you are a tourist so there are hundreds of pictures to take and time taken just soaking up the scenery and checking out all the old buildings.

Not to mention chatting to passers by and fellow walkers.

Realistically your average moving time is about 3km per hour, so a 23km day takes nearly 8 hours.

Leaving your B&B at 9am (most hosts don’t serve breakfast before 8am) means you are walking into your next B&B close to 5pm.

By the time you check in, take your boots off and hang your gear in a drying room, unpack your luggage, that has arrived earlier by courier, shower, attend to your blistered feet, then dress for dinner, organize your kit for the next day, put in your breakfast and packed lunch order for the morning, enquire where to eat, walk to the pub, have a couple of pints, eat, have a couple more pints, head back to the B&B, write your blog, it’s time for bed. No time for much else.

For me this last section is over three days, it is 23km to Egton, which I did yesterday, 9km to Littlebeck today, and a stroll of 15km to finish of tomorrow.

 

So after leaving Egton Bridge it was a pleasant walk along the River Esk to Grosmont.

A train line bisects the village of Grosmont, and the steam trains that run north south from Whitby to Pickering.

I arrive an hour early than needed to catch the 10:30 to Goathland so I wander around the locomotive workshop and chat to the volunteer engineers and railway staff.

 The old steamer arrives on time and off I go, back in time, a simpler time.

There is not much at Goathland except the familiar buildings that are transformed into their Aidensfield characters, like the garage and of course the pub.

I dropped into the Aidensfield Arms and enjoyed only a half pint, as it was still late morning. Standing at the spot where the likes of Greengrass, Ventriss, Sarge and many others have.

Returning to Grosmomt just after lunch I pick up the walk and made the heartbreaking hill out of Grosmont and onto Sleights Moor.

The view to the north was Whitby and it’s ruined Abbey and the North Sea beyond, it will soon be over I thought.

The A169 cut through the moor and
on reaching it I turned north on this road to Whitby, but this is not my destination.

Finding the sign that read “Private Road-Farms only-No Entry”,  I turned eastward, private they may be but not for walkers, I headed up the road passing two farms before reaching my B&B at Intake Farm.

Daily Stats.

Distance             9.3km

Assent                315m

Descent              246m

Time out             2h 13m

Stopped              0h 8m

Moving average 4.6km per hour

Weather 10 to 15, Sunny patches.