The distance
to Runswick Bay is about 17 miles and involves several climbs. Strong gusting
south-westerly winds are also forecast, although Ben is at pains to point out
that most of the walk is in a south-easterly, and sometimes easterly, direction
so we shouldn’t be going directly into the wind. However, to reach Runswick Bay
in time to meet our pre-ordered taxi at 2:30 will necessitate an 8 o’clock
start, and breakfast is available at O’Grady’s at 7. In yet another break with
tradition, Mike orders beans with his full English. It’s been a very good place
to stay and we’re on our way, with a complimentary bottle of water (flavoured)
each, in time to get back to the sea front just before 8. The exertions of
yesterday, and perhaps the prospect of those of today, have created a slight
weariness within the team, but thankfully the first five miles are flat and
scarcely affected by the wind. John is keen to spend as much time as possible
on the sand (or shingle), but the rest of us stay on the sea front until the
end of the first hour when we join John on the beach at Marske and continue to
Saltburn. We now have our first climb – some steep steps onto the cliff edge
path, followed by a relatively gentle ascent to Hunt Cliff. Here we encounter
the predicted strong gusts of wind but, as forecast by Ben, they tend to be
from our right rather than in our faces. For a while, the path runs alongside a
railway (a mineral line serving a potash mine further down the coast) but then
moves back to the cliff edge. We come back down to sea level at Skinningrove,
and go through an old jetty and the village itself before again going up some
steep steps to the top of the hill on the south east side of Skinningrove and
then climbing the hillside to reach the cliff top at Hummersea. Thankfully,
this is followed by a reasonably flat mile or so before we have to climb again
to reach Rock Cliff which, at 203 metres above sea level, is apparently, the
highest point on the east coast of England. It suddenly strikes us that this is
our first cliff top walk of any length (with intervening descents and ascents) since
the South West Coast Path, but our climbing for the day is not over. We come
back to sea level at Boulby, and walk through Cowbar into Staithes where a
steep lane leading out of the very attractive village, and a track to our left,
lead us back up to some hillside fields and the edge of a farm. To rejoin the
coastal cliffs, we need to walk along a fenced path of about 150 yards in length
between two of the farm fields. This should be a grass path, but it is almost
entirely filled with what looks and smells like slurry. John’s comments about
the farmer as we spend nearly 5 minutes squelching our way through the muck do
not bear repetition. Needless to say, much of the next half an hour is spent
walking off piste wherever we can to find some long grass which might take at
least the surface dirt – and some of the smell – off our footwear. Our attempts
are reasonably successful and we’re soon through Port Mulgrave (without,
despite its name, having to descend again to sea level) and approaching
Runswick Bay shortly after 2 o’clock. A hotel comes into view where the end of
the track meets the road at Runswick but, unfortunately, this is the Runswick
Bay Hotel (and is closed) rather than the Royal Hotel where we’re supposed to
be meeting our taxi. We need to go down a hill to the bay itself where we find
our driver waiting. It’s not quite 2:15 and he’s perfectly happy for us to go
to for a drink before we leave. The Royal takes a bit of finding (it nestles
among some tightly packed cottages) but we have time for a pint and a change of
footwear before returning to our transport at the appointed time of 2:30. A
very cosy drive over the moors and through Pickering to York is accomplished by
our Romanian driver (what’s Romanian for Colin?) in just under 90 minutes which
enables us to have a farewell drink with Mike in the York Tap at the station
before John’s train leaves. Ben and Gary manage to squeeze in a further half
before their train leaves 15 minutes later. First walk of the year, and 35
miles accomplished. Not bad.
Day 104 – Hartlepool to Redcar
The
first two walking days of 2018 are in mid-April due, among other things, to Ben
having secured some work at Roehampton University during its Spring Term.
However, given that we’ve only just entered the first relatively settled period
of an otherwise very wet so called spring, this is probably a blessing. Ben and
Gary travel to Hartlepool on a direct train from London and en route meet up at
York with John (who spent the night with his son in Birmingham) and also Mike
Jopson who lives just outside York and is joining us for these two days and
possibly for some future days in the area. We arrive in Hartlepool at 11:10 and
are back at our 2017 end point by 11:30. Mike hasn’t chosen the most scenic of
sections to start his walking experience with us. We get about an hour of beach
action between Hartlepool and Seaton Carew, but then need to move away from the
sea in order to get through industrial Teesside. Initially, this involves
crossing some dunes and Seaton Carew Golf Course, and then around five miles
alongside the A178 to Middlesbrough. Apart from crossing the road on several
occasions (and John taking two or three interesting diversions along unofficial
and rather damp grass paths) in order to keep as far away as possible, but not
very far, from haulage traffic, the only point of any note is the sighting of
several seals in and alongside Greatham Creek which we cross about half way
along the road. Subsequent study of a local map reveals that this is not a
million miles away from an area called Seal Sands (eat your heart out Chris
Packham) which, despite its name, still seems to be in the middle of a huge
industrial estate. Anyway, at long last – i.e. shortly after 2:15 – we turn off
the A178 to reach the Tees Transporter Bridge. This is a gondola suspended by
cables from the main beam which can carry about six cars plus pedestrians
across the Tees in 2 or 3 minutes. For us pedestrians, this comes at a cost of a
mere 60p each, so we decide not to bother asking about concessions. On the
south side, we go around a small dock leading off the river and pass the
Riverside Stadium which we think might be the first professional football
ground which we’ve seen, whilst walking, since we left Poole Harbour 7 years
ago. A couple of hundred yards after the stadium we turn right, cross the
Middlesbrough to Saltburn railway line, and then turn left – resisting any
temptations of the Navigation Inn – onto a narrow track. However, although we
are now thankfully away from roadsides and on what is the start of a section of
the England Coast Path, our surroundings still aren’t particularly picturesque.
To our left is the railway with what look like disused steelworks beyond, and
the coast even further beyond. To our right are a series of storage depots,
with fuel pipes running outside them, and a particularly malodorous biofuels
plant. But after 90 minutes or so, we’re on the outskirts of Redcar and, having
crossed some fields, we reach the Cleveland Golf Links and our first view of
the sea since leaving Seaton Carew over 4 hours ago. Unfortunately, the tide is
in (can’t have everything I suppose) so there’s little opportunity for any
evening beach action before we reach our overnight stop, O’Grady’s, a pub with
rooms 200 yards from the sea front, at about 6 o’clock. We’ve walked almost 19
miles in around six and a half hours so it’s perhaps not entirely surprising
that, in a break with tradition, we have two pints before freshening up. For
£35 per night B&B, the rooms are incredibly good value. Supper is also
excellent, particularly the cod – which may or may not be from Whitby – and is
washed down with a couple of bottles. Ben retires before stickies, and the rest
of us have just the one double Talisker each before climbing the wooden hill at
9:30.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)