Walking in Yorkshire: Summary

I must say, I am enamored of this form of holiday making: each day started with a splendid breakfast after which it was spent outdoors, walking for 6 or 7 hours, surrounded by spectacular scenery, with about an hours break for lunch at some cafe or pub along the way. When, at the end of the day I reached my lodging, tired and sweaty, my suitcase had " magically arrived". I would take a hot shower or bath, massage my feet, and if there was intenet download some pictures to facebook, before going for supper to a nearby pub. By 8:30 to 9pm I crawled between the sheets, and slept like a dream until 6:30 or 7, so that I could do 20 minutes of yoga to stretch and limber up before breakfast.

Lucy adjusted quite well to the change in routine. I doubled her food, feeding her both morning and evening and carrying dried fish to give her at lunch time. After her evening meal she went straight to sleep and didn't move until she saw me preparing for our day's walk. Then she was all excited and tried to pull off my clothes as fast as I was putting them on! As the days progressed she was less and less inclined to bother about people patting her, or dogs coming over for a sniff. Maybe she was tired. Maybe she just realized that everyone was friendly.

I need to spend a few minutes describing the "full english breakfast". It is a meal that makes anything but a very light lunch superfluous. It starts with fruit, cold cereal with either milk or yogurt, orange and/or apple juice, coffee or tea, and toast with butter and jam (one place had nutella and honey as well). Then comes the hot breakfast: fried eggs, bacon, sausages, tomatoes and mushrooms. Sometimes there are also beans, hash browns, and black pudding. Or you could have kippers, a kind of salt herring, and if you didn't want cold cereal, they were happy to make oatmeal porridge for you instead. The fruit was prunes, grapefruit, melon, strawberries, cherries or a combination of these. one place had fruit salad. The breakfast was always delicious and it was invariably a feast!

And though I walked alone, I kept meeting others who were walking the same path or a similar one. Sometimes they stayed at the same lodging, other times we met on the road or at the cafe which was generally strategically located for lunch. That first morning at breakfast, I met the younger english couple with the black dog, whom I was to meet again and again along the way. The second night and a good bit of the third day I spent in the company of a group of 5 australians. There was also another older english couple whom I met again and again. Then there were the 2 elderly gentlemen from the Netherlands, and the couple from Colorado. And so, though I mostly walked alone, by my own preference, there was almost always someone familiar to talk to over breakfast and sometimes over supper as well.

I am certain that this was just the first of many long distance walking holidays. The Cumbria Way in the lake country has been warmly recommended, and then there is the coastal path of Cornwall. i would dearly love to explore Ireland and Wales as well...

Walking along the Yorkshire Coast

The last 2 days of my walk went south along the Yorkshire coast from Saltburn by the Sea to Skarborough. Actually I only walked as far as Robin Hood's Bay where I had left the car, but because Mickledore had been unable to find accomodation there for me with the dog, my last night was in Scarborough. But more on that later. 

The landlady at The Victorian Guest House had taken a real shine to Lucy and after my delicious breakfast where I only ordered the eggs and bacon but skipped the sausages she said: "You should have taken the sausages as well and let the dog have them!" 

The first day was a day of cliffs and beaches and historical landmarks. We were constantly passed by runners walkers and other dogs. Lucy isn't bothered anymore. I forgot to put on sunscreen and got sunburned. 

The charm bracelett. A tribute to iron mining that used to go on in this area.

This farm facinated me, the way it sat isolated at the edge of the cliffs, far from any neighbors, with sheep and horses grazing in the fields around. I would love to live like this!

Straithes where I had lunch, a delicious salad sandwich and banana smoothie at an outdoor cafe near the harbor. 

My last day was the longest day of all - and the sunniest. Luckily I remembered to put on sun screen today.

I had spent the night at Runswick Bay. The couple with the black dog whom I had met several times along the route were in the same accomodation. I had been a bit envious that they could let their dog off leash as it just stayed glued to their side. Today I learned of the foibles of their dog. While I could just leave Lucy in the hotel room and go out on my own for dinner and for breakfast in the morning, they could not leave their dog alone because it would scratch on the doors. Anyway, the walk from Runswick Bay started along the beach and we had been told by the landlady that the tides were good for walking in the morning. Apparently at high tide it is impossible to cross the beach without getting wet feet. However when we left, the people with the black dog and I with Lucy, the tide was out. And here I let Lucy off the leash for the first time on the beach and it was great to see her frolic about, and play with the other dog. When we left the beach I took her back on the leash however, where she stayed for the rest of the walk.

Whitby, of Dracula fame, is a fascinating town, and the Cleveland way takes you right past St Mary's church, and the Whitby Abbey ruins, which I took the time to visit. Other than that the path followed the cliffs, where there was the constant sound of breakers, and sea birds wheeling in the air. Sheep and cattle grazing on the cliff-side meadows. Now and then the path would dip into a little ravine where a stream - or beck, as they call it here - cut it's way down to the sea.

Celtic cross outside St Mary's church.

Whitby abbey seen through a whale bone arch.

After 7.5 hours of walking, as well as 1,5 hours sightseeing in Whitby, I was hot and tired when I got to Robin Hood's Bay, and found my car parked where I'd left it 5 days ago by the village church. A half hours drive took me into Skarborough where I was lucky enough to find a parking space very close to Robyn's guest House where I would be staying.  The landlady was very friendly and took me up to a room at the top of the house. After a shower I went to eat at a sweet cafe called "the coffee pot" just down the road. Though this B&B had the best internet of all of them, I went straight to bed when I got back from dinner. Lucy had gone to sleep already, under the bed.

I was wakened at about 5 am by a dog fight in the street below. I had left the window open because I wanted to hear the sea gulls. I ended up drowsing away another 2 hours while listening to the cries of the sea birds.

At 9am I pulled out of my parking spot, armed with the driving instructions which my landlady had printed for me. 5.5 hours later found me pulling into Harwich International Port.

The voyage was uneventful, and my trip ended with the 8 hr drive home through Denmark and Sweden. And then my first ever long distance walking experience was over.