Wuth Walks: Coast to Coast day 12: Blakey Ridge to Egton Bridge

Just in case you expected us to be in Grosmont tonight we are not. Trevor and I, along with our guide, Dave, are overnighting in Egton Bridge some 2kms short of Grosmont while the rest of our party are staying in 2 B&Bs in Grosmont. That is really spreading us around. It means that we hasve done a couple of ks less than the rest of the group and will need to do the extra bit before meeting everyone else tomorrow morning. Given that the last day is supposed to be pretty tough I could have done without the additional couple of ks. It certainly made todays walk a bit shorter which I am not complaining about.

When we checked outside this morning we were confronted by low cloud (or fog) obscuring our view. Such is life. By the time we had breakfast and got ready to leave the fog had lifted a little.

The Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge

Today there was to be a grouse shoot somewhere in teh vacinity of the Lion Inn as a number of expensive vehicles and well healed people were congregating in the car park as we assembled ahead of our departure.

The grouse shooting party

Today was listed as a "long moderate" day with a height gain of 100m and distance of 15 miles. Well, the height gain was a little underestimated. It turned out to be 210m, still a piddly amount, while our distance ended up being 17.92km, just a fraction over 11 miles.

View across the very isolated Blakey Ridge

On leaving The Lion Inn we walked along roads for the first few miles before taking tracks across the heather. There was the odd patch of bog to keep us on our toes. The surface was quite rocky in places which was hard on the feet.

We stopped at "Fat Betty" to maintain a Coast to Coast tradition of both leaving a food item and taking one. Most of the food items are lollies however someone had left an apple.

Trevor (on the right) of Fat Betty while Michael gives her a hug

We stopped briefly at a building that had 1801 above its door. All but on door and all the windows have now been stoned in. What the original purpose of the building was was unclear. Today it is probably used as a refreshment venue for shooting parties.

As we crested the various ridges we were presented with some delightful vistas. It was a pity that the sun was not out as the photos will not do the scenery justice.

We passed through a couple of woodlands during todays walk. Pockets of woodland still exist although some appear to be under threat.

Heather

While the heather is a little past its best it is still in flower with hillsides dotted with patches of purple.

We descended from the Glaisdale Moor into the village of Glaisdale where we purchased pies from the local butcher. Dave had indicated that we could get drinks at the pub and we expected this to be nearby but that was not the case. It was probably a good 2km away in another village. Some of us opted to get coffee at the pub while the rest continued on to have a short break at Beggars Bridge, another of the packhorse bridges which still survive. We caught up with the group and there was a serious group photo session with Dave taking photos with at least a dozen cameras.

Trevor outside the arncliffe Arms where we enjoyed a cup of coffee

Beggars Bridge

The Coast to Coast group (left to right): Michael, Mike, Ray, Lucy (peaking over the bridge), Dave, Cynthia, Rich, Elizabeth, Trevor, Phil and Lorraine

From the bridge we entered woodland which runs alongside the River Esk.

We emerged a short distance from Egton Bridge. We were taken over the river using stepping stones and then Trevor and I were shown where our B&B was. While our guide Dave walked on to Grosmont with the rest of our group we checked out the local pubs and recrossed the river using the stepping stones.