coast to coast 2011
coast to coast - day 12
Ashfield House B&B, Danby Wiske to Vane House B&B, Osmotherley
10.99 miles 1,000 feet.
Start: 08:45 Finish: 13:15 Elapsed time: 4:30 Cumulative time: 73:20
Day two of the crossing of the Vale of Mowbray. Most walkers do the 23 miles in one hit but this would have been far too much for me. The dry weather continued as did the endless field-edge paths. The good thing was that the Cleveland Hills were now in sight with the prospect of a more varied walk.
There were more miles still to do and it seemed as if I was now on my own as very few walkers stop over at Danby Wiske. I didn’t see Trevor again but just after crossing the railway line from Northallerton to Middlesborough I caught up with and passed Maggie who I would see again over the next few days. There then followed the dice with the A19 and the crossing of a busy dual-carriageway.
The A19 signalled goodbye to the Vale of Mowbray and I then pressed on past Ingleby Cross to the climb through Arncliffe Wood towards Park House where I was overtaken by the Packhorse transit van dropping of bags for other walkers. I hoped that they had mine onboard and that it would be waiting for me in Osmotherly. The climb through the wood came as something of a relief and at the top I took time to look back across the infamous and boring 23 miles that it had taken me 2 days to cross.
Osmotherly was comparatively busy compared to the sleepiness of Danby Wiske and the 3 pubs were doing good business with many walkers in evidence. I had a burger & chips in the Golden Lion. An up-market pub playing classical music and serving a more respectable type of clientele. I seemed a little out of place but the food and drink was first class. I’d been informed by Packhorse that I wouldn’t be able to check-in to my B&B (Vane House) until 16:00 but I was passing by at about 14:30 and the proprietor was chatting on the door-step. I enquired if I could book-in early and as my room was ready; they had no problems and let me in. It was okay for a B&B scoring 7/10.
