Unless otherwise stated, report by Paul Coates and pictures by Keith Bilton.
photos by Paul Holmes
Thursday 27. March 2008
Ugthorpe, Ugthorpe Hall, Travellers Rest Farm, Wilks Farm, Southgate Farm, Broom Hill, Thorn Hill Farm, Westonby Farm, Church Cliff, Egton Lane, Egton (Ye Horseshoe Inn), Egton Lane, Church Cliff, Westonby Farm, Moor Side Farm, Barton Howle, Coquet Nook, Farm Track, Ugthorpe. (9.5 miles)
Sunny to start, clouding over later with a couple of light showers. Cool wind in the afternoon.
Chris, John, Paul, Col, Paul Craggs, Paul Holmes, Stu, Ray, Jack, Bob.
Paul, Ray, Paul Holmes.
There was to be a full turn out of 12 of us today, but Nathan was called away on chain saw duties and Keith had raging toothache
The journey north was the complete opposite to the ride out to the North Yorkshire Moors of a fortnight ago, as reported by Keith. All those trucks, tractors and other snail like road users were out in force today. They must have known Bob was back from 'Naam. We even managed fog on the high moors, getting stuck at the level crossing gates in Grosmont, plus an attack of temporary traffic lights in Pickering. And so at the late hour of 9.30 we eventually managed to start the walk.
Only 2 missing today!
The area around Ugthorpe is not one we have visited too often. There are plenty of farms to negotiate and unmarked paths to meander down. After frequent stops to consult the map, complete with a couple of 'off route' experiences, we realised that our planned destination of Egton Bridge would only be reached after an interlude of time travel. And so it was decided that we'd be more likely to reach the nearer venue of Ye Horseshoe Inn at Egton before closing time.
I'll be buggered if I know where we are,
I'll pass the map to Coatsey!
The recently melted snow had left the paths in a muddy state, but this just added a touch of realism to Bob's tales of his adventures in Vietnam. Paul's map reading abilities seemed to have deserted him as we seriously went astray around Broom Hill. His excuse for leading our intrepid group through a particularly nasty hawthorn hedge (although it did include a stile, obviously placed there to mislead the unwary rambler), a muddy and uneven downhill section, followed, almost inevitably, by an equally uneven, but less muddy, uphill section, was to give Chris's dodgy foot a good work out. It's pleasing to report that Chris's once ailing foot passed this stern test with flying colours. Unfortunately none of the others seemed to appreciate this selfless act by our now red-faced map reader.
Stu skillfully negotiates barbed wire (gut on the right belongs to J Kendrew).
We eventually reached the pub at Egton to be met by a roaring fire and a fine selection of ales. We even sent the absent '3 pints' Bilton a text reporting the beers on offer in Ye Horseshoe Inn, only for him to respond with a text so vulgar we could only assume he must be sat nervously at the dentist's awaiting his extraction. We tried not to laugh (much). Jack Rhoades was in charge of the beer kitty and we were taken aback by his request for each of us to put a further 50p each into the pot to ensure we could afford a second round of drinks! After the drinks were purchased and the remaing money counted up it was discovered that we would all recieve 70p back. Plainly JR's maths are on a par with Paul's map reading.
The world famous ' pas de deux' from Tchaikovsky's 'Swan Lake'
We began the second half of our walk by retracing our route back to Westonby Farm. Just near to the farm we were met by the strange sight of a farmer carrying a hammer and a gas canister. He claimed he was out mole hunting and Jack enquired if the hammer was to be used for stunning any escaping moles. Even more strangely the farmer then explained that it wasn't actually a hammer, but a wooden stake with a lump of sugar beet at one end. At this point he swung the wooden stake and launched the sugar beet over a nearby fence. We decided that now would be a good time to make our excuses and leave. These countryfolk have some peculiar hobbies.
Maybe we should use Jack's Market Weighton Map!
The highlight of the day occured between Moor Side Farm and Barton Howle. We came across a particularly deep and muddy pool of water blocking a gateway. Jack was first through, keeping a steady course along a narrow grassy bank alongside this uninviting sloppy mess.
John was next, but rashly decided to steady himself by grasping a handy wooden post. Unbeknown to him the post had been undermined by the standing water and it began to lean alarmingly towards the mud and water. His choice was either keep hold of this fast descending post and end up face down in the mud, or let go and jump in feet first. He chose the latter.
I'll get the wife to clean 'em!
Cameras were quickly produced, although Sherlock took that long to get his camera out of his rucksack that it would have been quicker to sketch the muddy scene.
Once the laughter had died down, the walkers following behind thanked John for alerting them to this treacherous route and wisely chose another course.
The rest of the afternoon passed without incident and we reached Ugthorpe just as the sun was breaking through the clouds. If we ever do this walk again we really should start our journey from Hull a little earlier, provide John with a pair of wellies and keep the map well away from Paul.
Craggsy, still trying to get bit by a domestic animal in an attempt to go sick.
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