Danby Wiske to Osmotherley

DAY 11 - TUESDAY 20 JUNE

Over breakfast Doreen was trying to persuade us to take on a Vegetarian B&B.  We agreed that if we did, she would be our mentor.

It was sad saying goodbye to Frank and Doreen.  They were such lovely hosts.  They really made us change our perception of Danby Wiske!

We headed off with Frank waving goodbye from the front door.

Rather than go on the road we decided to take another detour using a footpath across some fields.  Last year the route had been pleasant and straightforward, walking through fields of wheat – unfortunately the farmer had decided to rotate crops and change what was grown in his fields – now we had to battle down the side of fields of rape seed oil and nettles.

In the third field the path went straight through the centre of the crop.  The path looked very overgrown with no visible way through the rape seed. Although it wasn't raining the crop was very wet and the coarse stalks scratched our skin, it was like walking through bramble bushes. We decided to put our waterproofs on before wading further into the path.  The rape seed had been bent over by storms and now grew over the path it was still about 5 feet high though and you couldn't see what was on the ground, we ended up constantly tripping up.  It was a hard battle to get through and very tiring.  I was so relieved to get out the other side!!!  Kev wasn’t so fortunate – his boots had come undone part way through the field.  Unable to bend down to tie up the bootlaces, he had ended up with sodden feet.

The path finished with a scramble through a rubble tip by the side of a garage.  Nice!

Further on where the path crosses a train track we knew that a lot of fellow walkers had been fooled to follow a track to a locked gate and climbing over in order to cross the track, ending up on another footpath off route, instead of walking along the edge of the field the steps which led to a safe crossing. I remembered how, last year, as Kev was about to climb the gate I had spotted the steps further down the track.  Someone had obviously noticed this as there was now a big sign saying “Hikers this way”.  We stopped to wait for the Middlesbrough train to go past, which had failed to hoot.

The next hazard was crossing the A19.  We were lucky, there was a gap in traffic so we were able to get safely across the busy dual carriageway.

Once over the road we stopped on the other side of Ingleby Cross to have lunch.  Our first stop in the sun for over a week.  It felt good!

At this point last year we had taken a diversion to see Mount Grace Priory, only to find that it was closed, as we had plenty of time on our hands  today we  decided to take the same detour to Mount Grace Priory – only to find  again that it was closed!!!!  We walked away cursing our luck, but fortunately met a couple of walkers who told us that some workmen had let them sneak under the barrier to have a look around.  The bloke came back with us as we walked back to the entrance and after a quick word with the workman we were sneaking under the barrier for a private, tourist free visit, although we felt it would be stretching the favour too much if we stopped for a picnic.

After looking around Mount Grace Priory, we continued to Osmotherley, stopping at a teashop for a cup of tea, this was owned by a greasy looking bloke, who looked very disappointed that we did not want any food.  At the back of the shop, but slightly up some steps, was a very big dog, which the owner kept stroking.  I was relieved that we had only had a drink there.

We then made our way to Three Tuns Restaurant where we were booked in for the night – or so we thought.  This provided our first heart stopping moment of the walk – the guy couldn’t find our booking!!!  Visions of sleeping on a park bench flashed through my mind.  Fortunately a few minutes later, he led us to our room – which was part of an old cottage complex next to the restaurant and was gorgeous (just no sound proofing). 

Todd, American Girl and Yorkshire Guy were eating at Queen Catherine (where we stayed the previous year).  We stopped for a chat and quick drink before checking out the village's award winning toilets – this time though they were not covered in graffiti on sticky post it notes so no opportunity to leave any messages.

We had dinner at the Golden Lion.  I threw caution to the wind about there being any gluten in them and decided to go for lentil burgers – not a good idea – as i suffered a little bit that night.  Should have gone for the salad and mash option – I was drawn by the jacket potato and peas which accompanied the burgers – fatal and  illustrating how careful I do have to be  with food and cannot stray from the diet.

All through the night it poured it down.  I had visions of us setting off as drowned rats and squelching through over 19 miles.  Fortunately though at about 5am it stopped.

Kevanliz@aol.com