coast to coast 2011
coast to coast - day 11
West End Guest House, Richmond to Ashfield House B&B, Danby Wiske
14.19 miles 944 feet.
Start: 08:40 Finish: 15:00 Elapsed time: 6:20 Cumulative time: 68:50
Leaving Richmond it seemed as if the period of unsettled weather was behind me as I set out for what was going to be a long day on the crossing of the Vale of Mowbray. As you can see from the following pictures it was a bright sunny day.
Shortly after passing Colburn Hall I caught up with Trevor once more
who has stopped to observe a Stoat on the path a few yards ahead of
us. We exchanged pleasantries about the nice weather and I was then
on my way. I was passed at Catterick Bridge by a couple that I’d
seen at breakfast in the B&B. They were doing 23 miles today and
were moving a lot quicker than me. These were the only 3 walkers
that I saw all day.
By the time I reached Bolton-on-Swale I was ready for a break so
stopped in the churchyard for a bite to eat. There was still some
distance to go, so no time to linger and on with the slog. When
Wainwright first devised the route he complained about endless road
walking. This has since been replaced by endless field-edge walking
which, whilst making it no shorter, does mean that it is slightly
more tolerable. The one consolation was that the sun was shining as
shown below.
I finally made it into Danby Whiske on what was the third longest leg of my walk. Wainwright was dismissive of the village and the pub. Not much has changed but the pub has been renovated and now serves good food and drink (check times). Trevor had made it this far and we chatted as we ate our evening meals. Accommodation in Danby Wiske is almost as scarce as food & drink and I stayed at Ashfield House. The breakfast was okay but my room was only sparsely furnished and the shower was barely a trickle. For this reason it scored only 6 out of 10.