coast to coast 2011
coast to coast - day 13
Vane House B&B, Osmotherley to to Newlands House B&B, Great Broughton
10.88 miles 1,363 feet.
Start: 08:40 Finish: 14:10 Elapsed time: 5:30 Cumulative Time: 83:20
Today was one of my favourite legs of the walk and I woke to brilliantly clear sunshine, not knowing that it was going to turn out to be one of the hottest days of the year. To start with I had a walk of just over a mile to get back onto the C2C/Cleveland Way route. Osmotherley was one of a number of “off-route” places that I stayed in along the way. It was such a nice day and I couldn’t really complain about going the extra mile. As had become the practice, I caught up with Trevor early in the day but this was to be the last time that I saw him and I can only assume that our plans diverged from here on although we would both finish in Robin Hood’s Bay. It really was a fantastic day as can be see from the following pictures.
The route started back through Arncliffe Wood before breaking out
onto the open moors with views to the north looking over Roseberry
Topping to Tees-side and the North Sea beyond. It was an undulating
walk to start with which then developed into a series of steep
climbs and descents. As it was such a warm day I took the chance of
a rest at the Lord Stones Café about half way along the route. It
was busy with day-trippers, cyclists, motor cyclists and walkers of
all shapes and sizes. Whilst the refreshments (tea & scone) were
welcome, the toilets were quite unpleasant.
Leaving the café there was a steep climb (400ft) to the summit of
Cringle Moor and an equally steep descent off the other side. As one
up and down completed then another lay ahead; this time Cold Moor
and The Wain Stones. Thankfully, the finish at Clay Bank Top was not
too far away. It was here that I needed to ring my B&B in Great
Broughton (2 miles along a busy A road) for a lift. However, having
recently developed the skill of “thumbing a lift”, I thought that I
would give it a go. I must say that it wasn’t an ideal location,
just over the brow of a hill, double white lines and opposite the
entrance to the Clay Bank car park. Added to this there seemed to be
a vintage motorbike run going on with a series of old bikes and
equally old riders whizzing past me and then turning into the car
park. Stood in my less than ideal roadside position, I witnessed a
crash between two of the old motorbikes. As they came over the brow
of the hill they moved to the centre of the road to turn right into
the car park. Well, one of them did this but as he made the
manoeuvre a rider approaching at speed from behind clipped
handlebars with him, sending the first bike and rider crashing to
the ground with the overtaking bike and rider wobbling off down the
road. I ran to help him pick up his bike and move it to the side of
the road. Meanwhile the overtaking rider (they were friends)
returned to assess the damage which was restricted to a few bruises
and a broken pedal.
I’d had enough excitement for one day and had no success in thumbing
a lift so I gave Andrea a call at my B&B to see if she could come
and pick me up. I told her that I was wearing a red England football
shirt and wouldn’t be difficult to spot. She was there within a
short while and took me back for a welcome cup of tea. Her B&B
(Newlands House) was fine scoring 7/10 and she only asked for a
couple of pounds to provide the pick up and drop off the following
morning. I had a nice evening meal in the Wainstones Hotel just
around the corner from her place.