Gary's Coast to Coast Walk 2012: Day 12. A Day of Two Halves!

Friday 17 August 2012

Day 12. A Day of Two Halves!

Started walking at 8am this morning. Decided to extend today to make tomorrow shorter. Walked up steep climb first thing up onto Clay Bank Top. Grey clouds were gathering as I walked east. The track was clear, level and wide and it was fast walking. Good job as at about 9.30 the clouds rolled in and stayed with me all morning.

Not sheep, not cows but Grouse today

The wind picked up and was blowing fast and the rain was horizontal. I walked fast to get to the Lion Inn, 9 miles away. I got soaked to the skin, even the inside of my boots were wet! The cloud was down and I could not navigate except to follow the path. I squelched into the Lion inn car park at 11.30 to find Dad in his car and we went inside to regroup.

We both agreed that it would be almost impossible to camp at the Lion Inn in those conditions so we agreed to find a B&B to stay in. We struggled for a while as it's Friday, but eventually found one. After changing clothes I set off again at 1.30pm to finish the last few miles which I did at 3.45pm, hence a day of two halves! 14 miles walked in total today.

A long trek across the moors today

The view down Great Fryup Dale

Fat Betty

According to the interweb "Fat Betty ( sometimes referred to as White Cross ) stands just north of, and is easily accessible from the road that leads from Blakey Rigg to Rosedale Abbey, at the junction of the Danby, Westerdale and Rosedale parishes. The head of the cross is an ancient wheelhead painted white, set into a large stone base. It could possibly be Norman and is only one of two known wheelheads on the North York Moors. It perhaps takes its name from a cistercian nun, Sister Elizabeth from the Priory at Rosedale These nuns wore gowns of undyed wool and were referred to as ' White Ladies'. Another tale is that a local farmer's wife, Fat Betty, fell from their horse and cart on a dark, foggy night. When he arrived home and noticed she was missing from the back of the cart he retraced his route across the moor and all he could find was the large, squat stone". I wonder?!

Gary highly recommends vaseline for chaffing! He also reports to have 2 little toes that are "the size of golf balls", due to blisters. Apparently, Compeed stick is like vaseline for blisters, (Thanks Jackie!)

Gary's hoping that the weather will be a bit better tomorrow - for his 14.5 mile walk to Littlebeck.
Ukulele song of the day is appropriately enough, "Button Up Your Overcoat"

***DONATION UP DATE*** NEW TOTAL £1,342***HUGE THANKS TO EVERYONE***

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Thanks for taking the time to visit my website.

So why am I raising money for the Miscarriage Association?

Someone has to. They need a relatively small amount of money to keep going every year, and the work they do is really essential.

In 2009 and 2010, Helen and I lost 2 babies in the space of 5 months. The loss we felt was immense and still is.

So, in 2012 I will be completing Wainwrights Coast to Coast walk, from St Bee's Head on the Cumbrian coast, to Robin Hoods Bay on the North East coast, a walk of approximately 200 miles.

It should take about two weeks and I will be camping whenever possible to keep the costs down.

You can donate by jumping to my JustGiving page

Don't feel you have to give lots -

every penny really does help.

Send the website address to everyone you know - all I need is for 1000 people to give £1 each and I've made my target.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Thank you so much.

So Who's the Fat Bloke?

Hi. I am a 38 year old primary school teacher who lives in Cropston, just north west of Leicester with my wife, Helen and 5 year old son, Lachlan. I've been walking in Leicestershire, Yorkshire, the Lake District, Cornwall, Derbyshire and the Malvern Hills, and love being outdoors. I've been camping in most of these places and in Norfolk and Devon. I enjoy playing the Ukulele as often as I can, singing, darts, golf and growing my own veg.

I'm looking forward to completing the walk, blisters and all, and being able to say that even while enjoying a great outdoor experience, I can raise money to help others who have been through the same experience as Helen and I. And yes - I will be taking my Ukulele with me and I'm hoping someone might sponsor me for a song played at each stop along the way!

What is Wainwright's Coast to Coast?

The Wainwright Society says this about the Coast to Coast:

'A Coast to Coast Walk was devised by Wainwright himself, and set out in his 1973 guidebook to the route.

The route is a 192-mile (although according to a recent re-measuring the real distance is almost 220 miles) unofficial, long distance footpath in Northern England. It passes through three contrasting national parks: the Lake District National Park, the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and the North York Moors National Park.

Wainwright suggested a way of breaking the walk miles into stages, each of which to be completed in a day. With one or two rest days, this makes the route fit into a two-week holiday. However, Wainwright explicitly stated that he did not intend people to necessarily stick to these stages or even to his route: for example, by reducing day-lengths to 10 or 12 miles, the walk becomes a much easier three-week trip with time to 'stand and stare'.

In 2004 the walk was named as the second best walk in the world according to a survey of experts.'

I'll be breaking the walk into 14 stages, walking an average of 14 miles a day. However, this varies a lot - my shortest day is only 8 miles and my longest day will be 20 miles.

Whichever way you cut it this walk is one of the best long distance walks in the world and I'm very lucky (as well as a bit bonkers?) to be attempting it this August. Let's hope I enjoy walking it as much as I've enjoyed organising it!