Day 18: Blakey Ridge to Grosmont

Subtitle: Hamlets and Piglets

This little guy greeted us about the time we left the hotel. I wonder if the Famous Grouse scotch is looking for new bottle artwork?

 Paul and I got up and at 'em after breakfast and walked down the road about 2 miles to intersect with our pathway nine miles across the moors to Glaisedale. Along the  road is a "fat" rock called Fat Betty. It is a tradition for coast to coast hikers to offer a sweet of some sort to the rock (which we did) and to take one for yourself from the prior offerings (which we didn't do.)

 Today's moors were a bit lower in elevation and thankfully didn't have much wind. We saw some wildlife--grouse and even a friendly frog and enjoyed the colors of the heather which stretched out before us. This section of  North Yorkshire is the largest biosphere of heather moors in England and they do go on for an impressive while.

A grouse in action

A look out over the moors to the North Sea in the distance.

Paul fell in love with these "twins."

I almost stepped on this little croaker.

Close up of heather

 Finally, we reached the end of the moorland and headed off the high plains down to the hamlet of Glaisdale. We met numerous Brits having picnics on the moors and an advanced age lady who clued us in to eat at the Tea Room just off the path. The town of Glaisdale is a pleasant place with a few houses, a hotel, a couple of churches, a post office, the village store and the tea room.

A good place to be a piglet and have a sammie!

We enjoyed a yummy sandwich at this small tea room in Glaisdale. The proprietor had only opened it 10 weeks ago. It had a beautiful deck so we could enjoy the view and the weather. Well fueled, we then made our way to the end of town and the "beggar's bridge.: The legend has it that in the 1600s a poor young man named Tom Ferris wanted the hand of a lovely girl in town. However, he had nothing to offer and the father refused. So off he want to sea to make his fortune (apparently as something of a pirate.) He captured a Spanish galleon and came home a rich man. The girl had waited for him and they married. He was the benefactor of the church in Hull and at the time of his wife's death, built this bridge across the river in Glaisdale in her honor. You could wade across the river in the modern day without much trouble...in fact, I stood out in the middle of it to make this photo. But it makes a romantic story! Who knows? It could have been raging in the 1600s.

The beggar's bridge

St Hedda's Church in Egton Bridge

From Glaisdale, we entered the woods and hiked UPHILL (on this highly theoretically downhill day) to the city of Egton Bridge. Unfortunately, somewhere around this point Paul started to develop what seemed to be a case of shin splints. So I went the extra length to the St. Hedda' church--about 5X the size of the churches we've been in recently. And very lovely. The roof was a departure from the spiked rooves we've seen, but still arched and incredible.

From Egton Bridge, we walked down an old toll road to the city of Grosmont (pronounce GROW MONT--the "s" is silent...of course, it is.) The old toll house is still there with all the former prices of the road's use posted on the side.

We finally made it to Grosmont and discovered they have a steam train still in operation run by about 170 volunteers. Paul was reading to me about it at the Station Tavern and we were sitting outside at a picnic table when the train whistle blew and it pulled into the station. The are several engines, all polished and pretty. The train will take interested parties on a two hour ride.

The toll house on the "toll road" between Egmont and Grosmont. No cookies though!

The steam railway in Grosmont--run by volunteers!

We are staying tonight at Lisvane House, a lovely Victorian B&B. They serve breakfast but not dinner. We went downtown ( a couple of blocks from here) to the only place for piglets to eat besides the tavern: The Geallery B&B. It's a beautiful new B&B run by a local artist, so really wonderfully decorated. In fact, had we known about it, we would have stayed there, even though Lisvane House is nice. The Geallery had a decidedly modern flare and spacious stylish rooms. Oh, well...next time?   They serve you a local feast. We had chicken and wonderful healthy veggies. Not a drop of gravy or a French fry in sight for a change! The food was served in the lovely pottery of the artist.  Sometimes it's nice to be a piglet in a hamlet!

Paul's Ponderings:

A 15 mile day today for our last big day of hiking.   Only about 16 miles left to go in total.   Tomorrow it's off to High Hawsker, then on to Robin Hood's Bay the next day.    Oddly enough, we saw some donkeys today for the first time on the hike.   More hiking around high moors with purple and orange heather all day, followed by some downhill to Grosmont.   We met some very nice folks from Australia and New Zealand (Gordon and Carrie) a few days ago that we keep running into that we had dinner with tonight at the Gallery.    Great fresh food looking out a small balcony toward the sunset.   A great setting for a meal and while the pub would have been good, this was better.  We found out from our hosts that over 7000 hikers come down this path per year.   During the hoof and mouth disease problem of 2001, it caused huge problems for the businesses, because the footpaths closed down.   

We've been so lucky on weather on this entire hike....minimal rain, lots of sun, and only a bit of wind.   We hope that will continue for two more days!