Friday 17^th September

Our accommodation gets a 7/10, losing points for poor TV reception and being so far from the walk.

Today is the big one for us as we are doing 20 miles over very hilly terrain, time will tell how we manage but we feel quite confident when we set off. As the accommodation is so far from the walk, the lady gives us directions to rejoin the walk without having to retrace our steps, it does not put any greater distance onto the walk thankfully but does include an initial very steep climb which the Canadians seem to manage very easily, surprising,  as they say they have not done long distance walking before. As we get onto Urra Moor, there is nothing but heather as far as the eye can see, I would have thought it quite possible to get lost if you did not follow the waymarked tracks.  We arrive at Bloworth Crossing, where the Canadians now a dot on the horizon follow the line of the old railway, as we turn northwards  towards Burton Howe at 1419 feet, then Tidy Brown Hill with views over Battersby. We can still see the Bilsdale TV transmitter mast where we started our day. Downhill at last into Kildale where we have an ice cream at the Post Office and then go on to the Café where we get our passport stamped again.

At Captain Cooks Monument with Roseberry Topping in the distance and the North Sea just coming into view.

A cup of tea gives us much needed strength to climb up to Captain Cook’s Monument, at 1064 feet it gives an incredible view over Great Ayton and toward Roseberry Topping where we take another wrong turning. We had decided not to climb Roseberry Topping but to continue to Newton Moor, as there were no waymarked signs we finished up at the foot of Roseberry having descended a very steep hill, at the foot of Roseberry we realised our mistake and had to retrace our steps and climb back up the hill adding a further 1 mile to our journey, but it was 1 mile of steep decent and ascent!

On entering Guisborough Woods we see a sculpture of a signpost with a haversack hanging from it, all made in what appears to be lead, the sign reads TEES LINK, although we did not know it at the time it transpires that The Tees Link is a 17km trail which connects the Cleveland Way at Highcliff Nab to The Teesdale Way at Middlesbrough Dock. The Tees Link accommodates long distance walkers as part of the E2 European route from Harwich to Stranraer. Now that IS some walk.

  Further on we reach High Cliff Nab a landmark for miles around and its quite impressive when standing next to it, although it is simply a scar of orange coloured rock. It is also thought to be the site of a Stone Age camp. The views from the Nab are impressive, you look down onto Guisborough in the foreground, while you see Tees Bay and the industrial Teeside in the distance. The track thro Guisborough Woods was very muddy due to the tree felling operations being carried out, this does not make for easy walking. Our final destination for today, Slapewath, is visible in the distance and we can hear the traffic on the main Whitby road but it does not seem to get any closer, we are now both getting very tired as we enter unknown territory having only ever walked a maximum of 16 miles before, getting lost in the numerous paths of the woods does not help, but eventually we reach our accommodation, the Fox & Hounds Inn where we collapse onto our beds to recuperate.

It is the Ryder Cup golf on Ceefax and the radio so we follow the success of the first days play intently both before and after dinner. The restaurant was superb, with a carvery including the biggest turkey I have ever seen, so I had a few slices of turkey, Brian had the roast beef and that should give us strength for tomorrows long walk.

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