Distance: 10.5 miles
We exited the Yorkshire Dales yesterday and entered the third and final national park on this journey, The North York Moors. With our UK friends who joined us for this day’s hike, we started off on a 30 minute walk from Osmotherly to the C2C trail, which then treated us to a bluebell carpeted forest.
We enjoyed one more glimpse of the genteel, green, English countryside before tackling the vast bleakness of the moors.
For a portion of this day’s walk, the Coast to Coast Path joined a segment of another primary trail through the North York Moors, the Cleveland Way. Much of the Cleveland Way is paved with large stones to protect the moors that it traverses.
In the winter and spring the moors seem empty and lonely. In the Fall, however, the heather is in full bloom, creating a lavender blanket over the moorland.
The only spot to stop for lunch on Cringle Moor was Lord Stones, a restaurant which attracted walkers, motorcyclists, cyclists and folks out for a Sunday drive. And, as we waited for our lunch, our Vermont friends from earlier at Reeth and last year’s C2C walk appeared. It is always good to encounter friends on the way – we had a great chat.
After lunch, the rest of Cringle Moor was ahead of us. As we moved out, our morning walk’s over Carlton Moor was clearly visible behind us.
Old boundary stones marking land ownership were common on this trail.
From the top of Cringle Moor, we had a far-reaching view of our afternoon’s walk toward Kirby Bank and to the top of Hasty Bank.
The prize on the way up Hasty Bank was the chance to explore the Wainstones, a limestone rock formation that beckons one to do a little bouldering.
From the summit of Hasty Bank, the Tees Valley below looked like a patchwork quilt.
We completed the walk for the day at the intersection of the B1257 road and the C2C path. Our British friends accompanying us for this day had placed one of their cars at that location as their ride back to their homes; they drove us to our next B&B, Ingle Hill B&B, in Great Broughton, two miles down the road. Margaret Sutcliffe, our host at the B&B, had tea and cake waiting and very thoughtfully offered to do our laundry – a real treat! We had a lovely farmland scene and a view of Clay Bank Top to enjoy from a bedroom window.
After settling in, we walked into town for a wonderful dinner at the Bay Horse restaurant in Great Broughton.