Ryedale District

I survived the night at the Lions Inn. I had supper with a group of gregarious Australians from Perth. They are doing the hike in 18 days but some of them have been bothered by blisters but are too scared to wear their sneakers. On the other hand I have been wearing sneakers for the last two days and bandaged my blisters and they seem to be healing up nicely. I also got to pet Dexter the dog who is hiking the trail. I survived the night as the pub which had been built onto over the last 500 years was not up to current code. There was only a very skinny window in my room which I wouldn't have been able to squeeze through in the event of a fire. The was a rabbit Warren of halls to the emergency exit. The only consolation was that there hadn't probably been a fire there for the last 500 years so the chance of a fire the one night I stayed there would have been pretty low.

The weather called for clear skies and no rain today but when I awoke it was another incredibly foggy day. After breakfast withe the Aussies, I set into the fog on the Yorkshire moors. I had to follow the main road for a good half hour. Fortunately there was grass on the side of the road so I could walk there. The cars were just flying by. The crazy thing too was that there were free range sheep wandering around. There is no way the drivers would have been able to see white sheep in the fog in time to stop. Thank goodness for my GPS which I just followed. I missed a medieval milestone marker called fat Betty as it was impossible to see anything. The tradition is to leave a food gift for another traveler. I ended up giving two Cliff bars to Dexter's owners later in the day.After an hour and a half, I caught up with Dexter and his owners Joanne and David who both work in the corporate world. Joanne worked for Molson Coors in logistics and it was interesting listening to her talk about her job. I walked off and on with them for the rest of the day. They were taking more frequent shorter breaks for Dexter while I was taking less longer breaks. Finally by noon the fog began to lift as we descended down from the moors into the farmland of the English countryside. I talked to an English woman hiking the C2C with friends and family who was taking the train back to London for her sister's 50 birthday and then returning to finish tomorrow. I walked through the pleasant quiet towns of Glaisdale and Egemont bridge where some of my co hikers would be staying the night. The last part of the C2C seems to concentrate hikers down to the last 2 days in close proximity. Hikers doing the trip in 12 to 14 days are now catching up to me but not passing me as anyone this close will have one last day before the final last day.

I arrived in Grosmont and checked out the rail station where the Yorkshire steam engine runs on weekends. It brought back memories of my family's trip here to Yorkshire when we took the steam train to another station nearer to York. I miss those days with the kids. I continued on to my bed and breakfast in an old Victorian house where I will spend 2 nights in Grosmont cabbing back here tomorrow after finishing the C2C in Robin Hood Bay. I can catch a train here Monday morning that will allow me to connect to Middleborough, York and then King's Cross London. I did a much needed laundry at the B and B and now I am dining at the Station Pub. I can't believe that I only have one last day for my adventure. 24 more kilometers and I will be done. Hurray.Read more