Day 14: Clay Bank Top to Glaisdale

A long, beautiful but exhausting day.

We all managed to resist the ‘Walker’s Porridge’ at the Wainstones Hotel in Great Broughton.  Walker’s porridge is ‘The same as normal porridge, but with a shot of Drambuie on the side to give you a kick start”.  Erm…. with 19 miles to walk, I think we’d better not. Although, considering how I felt by the end of the day, perhaps I should have taken it.

Megan discovered that her little toe was about to fall off when she tried to put her boot on – it was very swollen with blisters top and bottom. Sherpa Van kindly agreed to take her to Glaisdale along with our luggage. I don’t think she’s ever travelled as excess baggage before, but she has now.  I think it was the right decision. 19 miles (after the accumulated mileage over the past 13 walking days) would probably have ensured she couldn’t walk the last triumphant day into Robin Hoods Bay with us – we’re trying to ensure that she can.

Today’s views were far-reaching, but became monotonous towards the end as it was flat paths across moorland once we had reached our maximum height.

We saw many grouse, amusing because they would just pop up out of the heather – you’d see one grouse, two more – then suddenly there were seven or eight of them.

May I help you? 

Adorable. We debated for some time over the collective noun for grouse, covey was suggested. My dictionary agrees it is used for small birds, especially partridge.  So - a covey of grouse?

A covey of grouse

We stopped at Blakey Moor for a drink (and some of us had chips) - this was our half-way point of the day - 9.5 miles. Ugh. 

I can see the pub from here

 It was a long slog down the hill to Glaisdale, and then another long slog out of the village to the Arncliffe Arms, where we were staying. 

As you may have guessed from the time stamp of this blog post, I was just too exhausted to write the whole thing on Day 14. I was further hindered by Arncliffe Arms' internet.  It was a bit sketchy ( a bit Zambian to be honest) so uploading pictures was almost impossible.  

Here they are now, and you'll have to read the next one to find out if we all made it to Robin Hood's Bay!