Expectations
The last third of the flat farmland trek, ending at the foot of tomorrow’s climb up onto the North York Moors. Should be a straightforward day: 9.63 miles from Ashfield House/The Old School House Danby Wiske to Park House Ingleby Cross. Park House is one of the places that looked especially lovely in advance, so I’m glad we are all staying there…and we all have very high expectations!
Realities
Very short update via phone since my MiFi ran out of data and you can’t refill with a non-UK credit card. The support guy said “just nip into any store and you can do it there”. I’m in the middle of the North York Moors on foot. There is no such thing as “nipping” anywhere!
Luckily, not much to blog anyway. FL took a taxi from Danby Wiske to Osmotherly and walked into Ingleby Cross that way. The rest of us walked from Danby Wiske across more fields and down more quiet country lanes.
Glad for an honesty fridge at one farm, and amused by the skull-on-gate at the same place. Alas poor Yorick?
One notable type of path in this area is the “walk in a hedge”. It feels like you are walking in a hedgerow:
There’s also the “walk through a hedge”:
We survived the rail line:
Survived the dash across the A19 (basically a freeway):
Once we reached Ingleby Cross, we paused at the pub since it was too early to check in. Had a drink, then meandered on to our lodgings where FL had already arrived. We were still too early so lay on the grass in pleasant weather.
Park House is wonderful.
Greeted with a glass of Prosecco! Arriving at B&Bs at the end of a long walk is often a clash of expectations. The host wants to orient us. We want to collapse onto a soft surface of any kind and/or shower off the day’s grime asap. I thought Park House’s solution was brilliant–hand us a glass of alcohol so we sit and listen for a moment. Even with that incentive, you can see our weariness (and it wasn’t a particularly difficult walk.)
Tomorrow promises all kinds of excitement.
This entry was posted in Coast to Coast 2016