My Advent Calendar - Day 17

December 17^th

Welcome to Day 17 of my Advent Calendar, where I am reliving my Coast to Coast adventure!

Day 10

~ A long day ahead, Tiredness begins to kick in, Flat land and fields, ‘Campers’ has his just reward, Hannah needs tea, We are followed by a dog and told off by its owner, Crossing the A19, A pleasant pub B&B to end the day ~

In most guide books this day is billed as a 23 miler, although you can split it with a stop in the middle. We had pressed on the night before and reduced the distance to about 21 miles, still a considerable distance. The reason why it is so long is because the land is flat and fairly dull. The path passes through field after field and not much else.

            Our bags seemed heavier again, although we were through the pain barrier by now, instead tiredness was beginning to kick in as the number of days of walking entered double figures. There was still plenty of mud around, and despite our two mile head start we were soon being overtaken again. We also met two girls, about our age, who were walking the wrong way. They decided to walk East to West and we shared stories for a while. We were pleased to see that they were also carrying their gear, and camping.
            There were more ‘nice little places’ scattered between the fields and in one we stopped for lunch. We saw several other people including Mr and Mrs ‘we have two different guide books’ who had enlisted the help of their (adult) sons. ‘Campers’ was also back, still wearing the same red t-shirt. He told us that he had blisters and we were silently pleased, seeing it as retribution for his abusiveness to anyone Coast to Coasting the hard way (or the real way as Hannah and I like to call it).
            The day dragged on as did the miles and Hannah began to crave a cup of tea, having not had one in days. There was nothing for it, however, than to press on, knowing we had a nice stop ahead of us.
            Other notable incidents from the day included a close brush with some cows as we crossed their field. The problem was, beyond it was a railway line, which you can’t exactly just run across. We made it though. Later we walking through a farm when a small dog started following us and refused to be sent back. We decided to ignore it and carried on down the lane. Eventually a woman came running after us declaring that it was our fault her dog had pursued us down the drive.
            Eventually we heard the sound of heavy traffic ahead and new the end of our day was near, before that though we had to dodge the heavy traffic. We had tried to avoid rush hour but failed and had to wait a considerable time before the A19 cleared enough for us to cross. Having made it across we were then nearly run over by a car coming out of a lane!
            We polished off the final half mile to Ingleby Cross and The Blue Bell, where Hannah had booked us a night inside. We dumped our bags, showered and went into dinner. Hannah had some tea and the world was back to rights. More people showed up, including the young couple from our very first night. We were shattered though and soon kicked off to bed, knowing the final stage of our journey was now just outside the door. The next day we would set off onto the moors.
 

This could be just about anywhere between Richmond and Ingleby Cross.

 

The Blue Bell.