Hi everyone!
We had a no school uniform day yesterday! I now have another £200 for the RNIB!

Thanks again for all of your wonderfull support! I have raised over £1000 for RNIB, I could'nt have done it without you!

Day 14: Journeys End.

Glaisdale to Robin Hoods Bay ( 19 miles )

Yesterday we walked out of Glaisdale and onto a road that led us a few miles onwards to a pretty village named Grosmont. We stopped there to buy some energy supplies and an ice lolly. We then turned off up from the hill and onto a heather moor, surprisingly the sun was out! 

Leaving Glaisdale Village

We proceeded up a long, steep hill ( you will never believe my descriptions until you see it yourself! ) that seemed to go on for ever that led right out of the little village. Finally we reached the peak of the hill and took in the great views.

Looking back down Glaisdale from the top of the hill

We then Thomas Traversed over a thick moor ad reached a main road that lead to all of the seaside towns. We crossed this and joined a little road that lead to a little village named Little Beck.

One last moor in the rain

 After a rest we entered Little Beck wood and followed a woodland track up a hill by the time we had our waterproofs on as (surprise) it was raining really hard. Eventually we reached a beautiful waterfall that had a nice cafe.

Foss Falls

After Foss Falls we proceeded out of the woods and along a long stretch of road to Hawkser. We hit a caravan park that lead up onto the cliffs of the North Sea. Only 3 miles to go!

Nearly there ...

 And then what a sight for sore eyes (and Mam's sore feet)!

The North Sea Cliffs!

We walked along the beautiful cliffs for 3 miles soaking up our achievement. I felt like the seagull above me : soaring, and flying ,dipping and swooping, but most of all, on top of the word.

Less than a mile to go (Robin Hoods Bay in the distance)

Slowly we descended into Robin Hoods Bay. The village was a sight we all knew we would see, but for some strange reason it seemed unreal. We walked onto the beach and threw our stones that we had carried from St Bees Head into the water (see the video) and dipped our boots in the North Sea, and by this we can say we have walked from one end of the country to the other.

The end of the road

 Even Pads was sad!

Job done!

So that's it folks!  It has been great blogging and I hope you have enjoyed it a much as I have!


Thanks as always for all your support,
Caitlin xx

Day 13: 18 Moor Miles

Claybank to Glaisdale (18 miles)

Hello fellow blogees and blogetts!

As my title explains we had 18 moor miles to walk! (a) We actully did have 18 miles to walk ( 18.2 to be precice ) (b) We had to walk this over vast streching moorland ( get it? moor land? ha ha!.


Today was the penultimate day of the journey, so we thought we would make the most of our last full day of the last day of the hols.  We set off up the hill ( Round hill ) leaving Claybank behind us. Happily we proceeded up until we reached the main height of the day.

Looking across the moors

Then we joined onto an old Rosedale Ironstone railway track that led us around and over a hill, and  down to the White Lion pub in Blakely. By this time it had started to rain, so thankfully we went inside and enjoyed a nice hot meal.


After our stop we joined the main road and went across moorland ( AGAIN! ) until we dropped into Glaisedale and the village. Yet again another typical English August day! Nice breeze, Strong breeze, Drizzling rain and Heavy breeze, rain, wind, and some more wind!

Looking down Glaisdale

Tomorrow is the last day, Robin Hoods Bay here I come!!!!

Caity  :O)

Day 12: A day of ups and downs!

Ingleby Arncliffe to Claybank Top (12 miles)

Hello loyal blog-followers! As I said today was a day of ups and downs, both physically and mentally. The physical part consisted of a total of six uppy down hills along the Cleveland Way. The mental part was that there seemed to be an endless chain of hills. We left our B&B in good spirits at 1030.

Leaving Ingleby Cross

We began to climb the first hill (Beacon Hill) and stopped for a rest thinking we were very high compared to yesterday's flat fields.

The broad paths looking towards the Cleveland Hills

We walked down from Beacon Hill and onto Huthwaite and then onto Livemoor and Cringle Moor

Looking West from the top of Beacon Hill

 (we've come a long way)

The pavements on the Cleveland way

On the top of Cringle Moor we discovered something amazing ... THE NORTH SEA!!!!!!!!!

North Sea Ahoy!

The North Sea (behind Roseberry Topping)

Finally we climbed to Hasty Bank and the Wainstones before walking down to Claybank Top and the journey's end.

The Wainstones

PS. We have checked Paddy's paws and they seem in working order, especially as he continues to be at least 5 yards ahead of us each step of the way.

Highlight of the day: seeing the North Sea.

2 more days to go!
Caity
There might not be wifi at the next stops but I will update as soon as possible!

The end of the day

Day 11: The long and winding road ...

Catterick Bridge to Ingleby Arncliffe (18 miles)

There was a lot of walking on roads today.

Minor roads

Main roads

The A19

And if all that was not enough there was even a ...

Today was the longest single stretch of road on the whole walk (9 miles). After all the mountains and valleys with the great views it felt like we were just marching along between the hedges. Left, right, left right.

The farmers were busy in the fields and the rain kept away (most of the time). We stopped at a pub in Danby Whiske (Sherpa Dad's idea) which had a great sign (look at the bottom) ...

Still a long way to go ...

but on the other side

Left, right, left, right along the road until we eventually turned into the fields. We then had a five mile walk through fields and farm roads before we had to run (yes run!) across the A19 to our B&B.

At last the end of today's journey

My feet are very sore and tired (nearly as bad as my Mams) but only three more days to go. Over the Cleveland Hills tomorrow and onto the North York Moors!

Thanks again for all your comments and support.

love Caitlin

Highlight of the day: Eventually getting off the roads

Day 10: Through the fields and far away...

Reeth to Catterick Bridge  ( 16.5  miles )

Hello fellow bloggers! Today's plan  was quite an easy day however tomorrow is very hard. The walk from Richmond to Inglby Cross is 23 miles, knowing this we split the day so when we reached Richmond we proceeded on to Catterick Bridge , which is a further 5 miles, making tomorrow a lot easier (I hope).

The view up Swaledale

We walked out of Reeth and down the road until we reached  Marske and the were some curious spectators looking over a wall onto the path....

My ever growing fan club

We then walked through lots of pretty green pastures and wheat fields.

Over the fields

... until we hit the road and saw a sign...

But no time to stop as we had a long way to go.

On the way we passed some loyal fans of Pads and they had even named a bridge after him! He was just bothered about the cool beck below... 

Paddy's Bridge

We crossed some more rolling fields and then there was a quick uphill clamber to the road. Then we followed a long down hill road into Richmond were we stopped for food and a well earned rest.

Reaching Richmond

Next we had the long walk to Catterick Bridge. We followed the beautiful Swale down and around and pretty much through lots of fields to Catterick.  We then got a taxi back to Richmond and enjoyed a nice hot bath!

Ingleby Cross here I come!

Caity

Highlight of the day: The break  at Richmond!

Day 9: You Take The High Road ...and I'll take the High Road.

Keld to Reeth (12 miles)

Two choices today! The first choice was to go the nice short route along the River Swale to Reeth. The second choice was to go up over the tops of the hills ( adding on an extra 2,500 feet to clamber over. ) No prizes for guessing which route we had to take! Yep! You got it! The  higher, harder route. Dad's main excuse of the holiday is : " If you are gonna do it, you got to do it the 'right way!' ( hmph! you trying to say we are not doing it the 'right way?' )

We walked down out of Keld and followed the road until we came to a slippery side path that led up to the hills and above the Swale. We took the path and started to clamber over to the top, passing eerie abandoned mines, while all the time The Swale was shadowing beneath us.

Leaving Keld

The Swale at Keld

On the way up we passed rusty metal objects that were very interesting!....

Anyone seen the AA man?

As we climbed the hill we passed the 100 mile mark since St Bees Head (it seems a long time ago).

Once we had reached the summit we dipped down into a valley and crossed a bridge running over a stream leading onto the Swale ( way down in the valley below. ) We then started to clamber up to the top of the next peak and passed land that had been eaten away in earlier days by the hushes used to find metal ore seams. When we reached the top  of this peculiar looking landscape it looked  rather like the surface of the moon!

Astronaut Caits ready for space .. but is space ready for HER?!

We walked along a flat terrain for about 2 miles until we reached  an old ore iron smelting mill. We passed this quickly and soon came to a small bridge by the road named Surrender Bridge. We stopped there in  our hats and sun glasses and our factor 50+ slopped all over ourselves thinking we couldn't ask for better weather! Then the rain came down. And boy did it pour! There was a quick flurry to get waterproofs, backpacks, and boots and to get out of this dark raincloud that seemed to of hit us.

The Iron Ore Smelting Mill

We plodded down into Reeth and Dad ( who had walked ahead ) was waiting for us with drinks, crisps, and a ice cream for me!

End of the day on the green at Reeth

One  step closer to Robin Hoods!

Caity :o)

Highlight of the day: Breaking the 100 mile barrier!


P.S Thank you to everyone who has posted comments so far as they really cheer me up. Keep them coming!

Day 8: For Peat's Sake! Bog off!

Kirkby Stephen to Keld (12 miles)

Of course not you dear readers! The weather today was.... well- put it this way we still have a lot of factor 50 left!

Starting off at Kirkby Stephen Market Place

We started off in Kirkby Stephen and crossed the River Eden, going over Frank's Bridge. We then slowly started the long plod up to Nine Standards Rigg.

.Me and Sherpa Dad on the way up the hill to Nine Standards Rigg

We reached the standards (nine big cairns) after about 2 hours of hard walking. It was great up there but was a little windy, however the cairns protected us from most of the gale.

One of the Nine Standards (and me)

Nine Standards

A little news bite: all of the rivers we have passed so far on our journey have been flowing against us into the Irish Sea, however as we crossed the nine standards ridge  all of that changed, as the rivers flow with us towards the North Sea.

We stayed there for a while and had a greatly deserved rest. We plodded on over all of the peat and bog ( Paddy loving it!- not taken enthusiastically by us ) Oh - and to make it worse it was raining ( no surprise... ).

The endless peat bogs

 We eventually hit a little path that led us onto the main road to Keld ( still in the rain ). We hit the pretty village, that was soon made even pretier by the steaming bath that awaited!

The usual weather

Marching down Swaledale to Keld

See you in Reeth! Caity :o)~

Highlight of the day: Keld is halfway!

Are you all having your day off as well. No comments, Come on folks! You are forgetting that your comments are my lifeline! BOO :o( (sad me)

Anything but walking...

Day off. Service shall be resumed tomorrow.

in need of a clean!

I hope you'll join me in Keld (if they have wifi)

Highlight of the day: Being Lazy

Day 7: Chocolate Heaven!

Orton to Kirkby Stephen (12 miles)

Today started like a dream! Me going mental in a chocolate shop... Can you picture it?!

Kennady's Choclate Factgory, Orton

So we all started the day on a high, hmm maybee not mum who had to carry it all.... a LOT of weight!

Starting at Orton Church

We were joined today by Helen who had trusted Sherpa Dad to navigate us ( obviously not read my blog.. )

Helen (she was really nice)

We have met loads of great people on the way and I'll tell you about them all later.

It was rough road for about 3 miles and then a Thomas Traverse over heather, for about 2 miles. Then we hit the road and walked down it till we hit a big hill we climbed over.

Smardale

It was great when we met Grandad who had come to meet us from Kirkby Stephen.

Me and Grandad (part of the laundary team)

There is not much to say now apart from we went into the B&B and were greeted by cake, tea (in china cups my pinkie finger needed to be in the air, it was so posh!) and strawberrys: YUM!

And a special Thanks to the Laundry Team: Grandma, Grandad, and Margeret, Who met us for a meal.


See you on Sunday as I have a day off tomorrow! perhaps a spot of shopping who knows?

Love Caitlin

Oh and its Hayleighs birthday today so Happy Birthday to the best big sis in the whole world! Love You Loads!

Highlight of the day: Meeting the laundary team