Coast to Coast walk Day 9 – Richmond to Ingleby Cross
Coast to Coast walk day 9 is the longest from a miles covered perspective with a trudge between the Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorks Moors. At the start of this day we are two thirds of the way to the coast.
Richmond by the way is where I bought my walking boots. The AltBerg factory shop is a fantastic spot and a go to place for serious walkers.
Update
We made this a slightly easier day for us by walking some of the miles the day before after we had arrived at Richmond. We met old pal Phippo and his mum Val at the Crown in Broughton on Swale (not sure of the name of the village – keep forgetting it – name of pub is right 🙂 and he gave us a lift back to Richmond.
Taxi picked us up from Willance House at 7am the next day and dropped us off where we had ended the previous one. It was a good job we started early. It was a beautifully cool morning in contrast with the rest of the day which got hot and airless.
Initially it was quite a pleasant walk through mixed farmland and country lanes. There were plenty of new birds to see and a site of scientific interest on the verge that had some yellow flowers that I had seen the day before but never before.
As we moved into arable country the trudge through fields and farm tracks was a long one and hard on the feet. For a long time we saw few people although we did meet a foursome coming the other way who were doing the walk East to west in 19 days – far more sensible. The night before they had stayed at the B&B we were using for the night. We met them at a picnic bench near a farm where the farmer had left a cool box of lucozade sports with an honesty box to leave £1.60.
Slow going as my feet were still hurting.
lots more to say. will update later
A couple of miles out from Ingleby Arncliffe we stopped for a breather and began to be caught up by some of the others we had bumped into on the walk. The two ladies, the Dutch couple Leo and Sandra and our Canadian friends Paul and Lori. Bear in mind we had an early start but were slower walkers than most. (This is down to me and my sore feet!)
We carried on in the company of Paul and Lori picking up the pace a bit after our rest stop. A Cliff Bar and an apple boosted my reserves. The last notable “incident” was the crossing of the A19. This was unbelievably dangerous. A real game of chicken. You wonder why they don’t build a footbridge. There must be tens of thousands of people crossing that road every year.
Our B&B was conveniently on the route into the village and run by a nice retired couple called Pat and Maurice. We waved goodbye to the Canadians who had a little further to go. Paul gave me some ibuprofen gel (Voltarol) to try on my sore feet.
Having showered and removed the bandages from my blisters we sauntered down to the Bluebell Pub – Ajax and Luke happened to be just outside our B&B when we went out. They were staying at a farm some way down the road & not massively enamoured with it.
The two ladies and the Dutch couple were in the pub. Prawn Cocktail, Steak & Chios and a cheesecake washed down with lager and red wine and then to bed.
| starting B&B | Willance House, 24 Frenchgate Richmond DL10 7AG |
| forecast/actual km | 35.18/ forgot to switch on runkeeper and found later via email that the batteries on my Pangea tracker needed replacing (did next morning) so will have to stick with the forecast version. remember we did 5 miles or so of today’s walk yesterday |
| forecast/actual time | 8h 26mins/ 11hrs + |
| weather | hot – poss hottest day of year so far. not enough breeze on the hot dusty farm tracks |
| forecast/actual ascent m | 245.7/ |
| breakfast | bacon sandwich, fruit and yoghurt |
| lunch | ham sandwich, cereal bar & apple (didn’t eat the carrot) |
| dinner | prawn cocktail, steak and chips, cheesecake, lager, red wine |
| finishing B&B | Ingleside, Ingleby Arncliffe Northallerton DL6 3LN |
Link to Coast to Coast walk Day 9 Photo Album. Photos will upload as soon as there is connectivity and I will move them into the shared album each evening when I get to the pub for dinner or if there is a decent connection, periodically as we go along.
While I am walking I will be using Runkeeper to live track my progress. You can find the link for each day’s progress at my twitter page or at my Facebook profile page. I will also be pinning photos within Runkeeper as I progress. I am also using a Fitbit Surge to provide me with additional monitoring data.
Don’t forget I’m raising cash for Cancer Research UK whilst on this Coast to Coast walk. JustGiving page here. The start date of the walk coincides with the anniversary of my mother’s death on May 1st last year. Mam was Chairman of the Marown & District branch of the IoM Anti Cancer Association.
Forecast numbers are based on Ordnance Survey mapped route. I add 1 hour for each approx 500m climb plus an hour for lunch.
A lot of people have helped me in the preparation for this walk. Firstly Mat Kiddie of Amigo who I met on a plane coming back from Mobile World Congress and who sent me a mobile battery charger. Then there is Aideen O’Colmain of Fitbit who very generously donated a Surge. Finally there is Dan Cunliffe and his team at Pangea who provided me with a mobile tracking device that allows me to track my progress independently of having to use my phone.
