Too Old Codgers

Although Dave was doing a great job transforming the house and looking after guests, he was trying to do everything in the B&B himself and the kitchen wasn't his forte. Breakfast wasn't the best, but afterwards Dave redeemed himself by driving us back to Toft Hill to resume our walk.

We began with a steep walk back up the Cleveland Hills escarpment to rejoin the C2C. It was a bigger climb than up Dent on day 1, but we managed today's climb much more easily – we are now fitter than when we started the walk.

'Beginning the ascent back up onto the hills'

Near the top of the escarpment we entered the cold, misty drizzle again, and stepped back on to the rollercoaster. We went up and over Cold Moor, the Wainstones on Hasty Bank, and then climbed Carr Ridge to Urra Moor. The fantastically sculpted Wainstones loomed eerily out of the mist as we drew close to them. Once onto the top of Urra Moor we stayed roughly at that level for the rest of the day, making walking much easier.

'The eerie Wainstones'

'Climbing Carr Ridge, Hasty Bank behind'

'Easier walking on Urra Moor'

Ancient carved stone boundary markers across the moors acted as guideposts in weather such as we were experiencing when no landscape features were visible. On Urra Moor two of the boundary markers have a hand and a face carved on them.

'The face stone'

We saw lots of grouse as we traversed the moors, and heard many more. Interestingly we had seen none on the moors between Keld and Reeth where we saw many shooting butts.

'Grouse'

When the drizzle eased we stopped for lunch at a junction of paths on Cockayne Ridge. After lunch our route followed the bed of a dismantled railway that had been used to transport iron ore from the mines of Rosedale. Soon after joining the railway track we reached Bloworth Crossing where two roads across the moors meet, and where the Cleveland Way heads north while the C2C continues east.

'Bloworth Crossing'

'Easy walking on the old rail track'

After 5 miles on the railway track we rounded a bend on the shoulder of High Blakey Moor to see our stop for the night, Lion Inn, silhouetted on the horizon. We had been looking forward to reaching the Lion Inn because of its good reputation among C2C walkers, and because of its wonderful, lonely isolation on the moors far from any village. However a steep sided valley across the direct route to the Inn had required the rail line to be built in a long horseshoe around the head of the valley. This delayed our arrival at the Inn until 4pm, and by this time the mist/fog/cloud was so thick we couldn't see from one end of the building to the other.

'Lion Inn beckons from the horizon'

'Lion Inn disappears into the mist'

Once inside the Lion Inn we savoured the warmth and atmosphere. Having found our room, Mary showered then went to have a drink with Robyn in the bar. Graham decided to make use of the bath in our room and lay in the warm water for a soak. Mary was worried when he didn't appear after an hour so came back to the room to find he had fallen asleep in the bath, as only a Norwegian would (for anyone younger than 60, this is a Beatles reference).

We joined our C2C group for dinner. The food wasn't exceptional, but the company and conversation were. There was much discussion of the dessert menu. Mary, the only English person in our group, explained what jam roly-poly was and talked a Canadian member of the group into trying it with her. He thought it was awful, but Mary enjoyed hers.

'Graham soaks up the warm Lion Inn atmosphere and a beer in his Tees Hot Club Tshirt'

'Lion Inn dining room'

Next >>>>