Report by Paul Coates pictures by Col and Sherlock

Thursday 16th.July 2009

Roxby, Borrowby, Low Borrowby, Borrowby Dale, Hinderwell, Runswick Lane, Runswick Bank Top, Cleveland Way, Port Mulgrave, Staithes (Cod & Lobster), Staithes Beck, Cowbar Lane, Red House Farm, Dalehouse Plantation, Mines Wood, Easington Beck, Roxby Woods, Roxby Park, Manor House Farm, Roxby (10 miles).

Sunny morning, cloudy afternoon. Very warm & humid.

John, Chris, Paul, Col, Paul Craggs, Stu, Paul 'Sherlock' Holmes, Ray, Jack, Bob.

Stu, John, Paul.

It was a 7 o'clock start today as we had over 80 miles to drive to get to our start point in the tiny hamlet of Roxby, situated up in the north east corner of the North Yorkshire Moors. It was John's turn to be showing off his new car today, a Skoda. It was an alleged 5 seater but those clever people at Skoda seem to have a perverse sense of humour by fitting a third seat belt in the back without providing any leg room for more than two passengers. Either that or they can't count. Sherlock also had to instruct John on the art of opening and closing the windows using the key fob. No doubt Sherlock will have been on a course to learn such things, probably on a day when he should have been out walking.

photo by Sherlock

There was a bit of floundering about at the beginning of the walk as we tried to locate the exact route of the path. It didn't help that the sun was in our eyes as we peered into the distance trying to locate the stile. Where was Keith and his SatNav when we needed him?

Walking sticks had a starring role during the early part of the walk. Col had mislaid his stick near Borrowby, but didn't realise this until a couple of fields later. This means Col has done more than the 10 miles the rest of us have done as he trudged off to retrieve it. Last time we were in this area he did some extra mileage as his then new hat escaped from his rucksack and attempted to throw itself over the cliffs, that is until Col back tracked to rescue it. It must be the sea air.

A little later Craggsy broke his wooden walking stick (with the foxes head handle) while negotiating a slippery and rocky path in Borrowby Dale. Just a few steps later he crashed to the ground (measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale) as he realised that the missing 2 foot of his walking stick had been a vital aid to him remaining upright. In disgust he hurled the remains of his splintered stick into the undergrowth.

Before the village of Hinderwell the pace could be best likened to 'steady' with a hint of 'meander' (although Jack would claim 'dawdle' a better description). The weather was very hot and humid plus there were a couple of deep wooded valleys to ascend into and slog out of, so steady was about right for the conditions. However once on the Cleveland Way path along the cliff tops the pace quickened as a cooling breeze kept the flies away and the temperature slightly lower.

photo by Sherlock

We were soon ensconced in the almost empty Cod & Lobster in Staithes with only its two barmaids and the local female bar-fly to keep us company. We last visited this hostelry in June last year and she was sat on the same bar stool as then, probably nursing the same drink, but this year with the addition of a dog strategically placed to trip up unwary customers. It's one way of starting a conversation.

It was fortuitous we arrived when we did as within 15 minutes the pub was full to bursting with happy chatty eaters and drinkers plus various barking dogs and yelling kids in attendance. We're fed up with the school holidays already!

Stu ordered his usual pudding & cuppa. His first choice of sweet was 'off' so he elected for jam sponge & custard but insisted that the skin remain on the custard, or else.......

Staithes (photo by Col)

During the morning there had been hushed talk in various quarters of a possible Lyke Wake crossing in 2010. But once in the pub, and fuelled by strong drink and cheese & onion crisps, Bob could contain himself no longer and blurted out those immortal words 'anyone fancy doing a crossing next year?'.
There are a few of our group who haven't had the dubious pleasure of struggling across 40 miles of moorland between Osmotherly and Ravenscar, but there are more who have. So there were more volunteers to support the Lyke Wake Walk virgins than to actually do the walk. But it's too late now, those words have been spoken, and like a Ghurkha unsheathing his sword and having to draw blood, the walk will have to be done!

A tough day for the FAC	An easy day for the experts

Staithes is a maze of narrow streets and winding alleys so finding the correct one that would lead us to our path was, at best, tricky. Eventually map reader Paul found a way across Staithes Beck via some concrete stepping stones which in turn led to a steep path up towards the cliff tops. When he was asked why he hadn't chosen one of the two bridges crossing the beck further downstream he claimed that the view of the jumbled architecture of Staithes was far superior from this vantage point.

Not unlike the first half of this walk there were two (different) steep sided wooded valleys to slip & slide into and struggle & swear out of. However it will be the valley at Mines Wood that will be forever burnt into the memories of those present today. The track through the wood was easy to follow but we knew there should eventually be a track branching off to the left. As we approached where we thought this particular path should be we could see no sign of it. A tractor came bumping along the forestry track so we flagged it down and enquired of the driver if he had any clue as to where the path was located. He vaguely waved in a southerly direction and continued on his way (probably laughing maniacally).

Bellflower (photo by Col)

A sketchy path of sorts was found which led us deep into the wood. Struggling under fallen trees and avoiding a variety of nettles and thorns we came upon a steep downward slope. This slippery path would have been almost impossible to descend had it not been for a length of thick blue rope that had been threaded between the trees alongside the path. So gripping this rope we descended even further down into the dim and humid undergrowth believing that if a rope had been thoughtfully provided then, indeed, this must be our path. At the bottom of this steep slope was a drop of about 3 feet into a stream and one by one our intrepid group landed feet first into the swirling beck with a splash and a curse. In the dank and gloomy valley bottom we were surrounded by dense undergrowth and a maze of trees. There appeared to be no way up the other side of the valley but by using handily placed tree roots and rocks we began to climb out of the slippery sided valley. A decent path suddenly came into view among the trees so with much relief we made our way along it towards the daylight.

After bursting out into the sunlight it slowly dawned upon on our by now hot & sweaty group that we were right back where we had started from some 20 minutes earlier.

The FAC beside the seaside (photo by Sherlock)

All that toil and struggle uphill and down dale, all that splashing about in the stream whilst being devoured by innumerable types of biting insects and being stung and scratched by various species of plant. Just then Col noticed a yellow way marker hiding in the undergrowth and almost to a man the cry was "why didn't you see that earlier you blind eyed bugger?". Well someone had to be blamed.

Although this path led inevitably uphill again, followed by another similar heavily wooded and steep sided valley to negotiate, after what we'd just endured it was (almost) a piece of cake. We finally collapsed in a heap, each with a posse of flies buzzing about our sweaty heads, in a field full of sheep where we had our break and took stock of our escapade. It was suggested that if Keith had been with us with his SatNav then we wouldn't have taken the misleading path down into the hidden hell hole of Mines Wood, but then it wouldn't have been so memorable and strangely exhilarating. Now we know why the word 'adventure' appears in the middle of FAC.

Named after an over-rated Theakston's brew (photo by Col)

After our well earned break it was still upward and onward all the way to Manor House Farm, and then just when we thought there couldn't be any more uphill's there was the final 1 in 4 crawl up to Roxby village. We like climbing, we do, us!. With all the uphill's we'd done during the afternoon we fully expected a 500 foot drop back down to the cars.

On the drive up to the moors in the morning we passed by hoards of queuing camper vans outside Pickering Showground waiting to gain entry into the Northern Motorcaravan Show. We really didn't want to get stuck behind any of these travelling roadblocks so we planned an alternative route home via Thornton-le-Dale, Allerston, West Heslerton, with a lovely drive over the Yorkshire Wolds to West Lutton, Sledmere and finally onto our usual route at Wetwang. A great ride home through stunning countryside. This is a walk we won't forget in a hurry.