Day 20 Glaisdale to Littlebeck

Expectations

Today’s route goes via Grosmont, famous for its station and steam trains being featured in Harry Potter movies. Expecting a straightforward walk, except for what sounds like a looooooong slog on a steep road out of Grosmont. Where are our broomsticks when we need them?

7.75 miles from Glaisdale to Intake Farm in Littlebeck.

Realities

A much better day than yesterday! Total walk of 8.70 miles, so more manageable than the last two days. And more variable too. Wainwright clearly got his groove back.

FL took the bus to Grosmont (where we met up for lunch/a snack) and then a taxi to Intake Farm at Littlebeck.

RL and CL walked the 1.3 miles down from their lodgings to Beggars Bridge. We all set off from there, heading through slightly muddy woodland (it had rained all night, but had stopped by the time we started walking and ended up being a glorious, sunny, not-too-hot day.) Parts of the woodland were paved, luckily.

We encountered a HUGE tractor on a narrow country road, wide only enough for the tractor and not really us too. The tractor didn’t slow at all….closest I’ve ever been to a moving tractor.

The village of Egton Bridge was lovely, as we’d heard.

We stopped into the Catholic Church–what a cool reprieve that would be on a super hot day!

Then continued on to Grosmont (pronounced Grow-mont, we think!) where a steam train was about ready to leave. Met FL on the platform and we all watched the train set off.

Then we found a combined cafe and art gallery for lunch/snack. Loved the oil paintings depicting various landscapes we’ve crossed over the past weeks.

We left Grosmont suitably refreshed and headed up the road toward (I’m not kidding!) Eskdaleside Cum Ugglebarnby! It was billed as being a relentless climb, but we must be so fit by now that it didn’t seem all that much of a struggle.

Halfway up, we could see Whitby and the North Sea, clearer by far than our glimpses yesterday. Seems unreal that we’ll be there tomorrow, our (current!) adventures over.

Once we reached open moorland, the view was even clearer:

We considered cutting across to avoid more road walking, but couldn’t see a clear path. So we stuck to the road for a while longer (or at least the verge…and the road was not busy, so not too bad) until we got close to a high point. D, M, and CL cut over at that point, and flew the drone from the top.

We all cut across the moor from there to the A road, as a result of which we could just cross the busier road instead of walking along it. A bit of excitement though when we realized there was a wire fence between us and the road. We scaled it anyway.

Then the decision whether to short cut straight to Intake Farm or go via Littlebeck.

Given the less-glorious forecast for tomorrow, I figured we should see the village today and maybe shortcut tomorrow in the rain. Hadn’t quite factored in how far down the bottom of the valley the village was and therefore what a climb it would be back up to the farm. Still, better at the end of today’s short mileage than the beginning of tomorrow’s longer trek.

Arrived to a very warm welcome, tea and cold drinks and cake, and better yet, our host Judith sitting on the floor and chatting about the workings of her farm (didn’t get a photo of her, unfortunately!)

Dinner was family style, with a couple of other guests. Great homemade food!