Egton Bridge to Robin Hood's Bay (26km)

Day 9 - Egton Bridge to Robin Hood's Bay

"The last stage, but don't be fooled into thinking this is a mere formality as the climb out of Grosmont will soon demonstrate.  It's a long stretch ... with enough ups and downs to ensure that you arrive in Robin Hood's Bay suitably dishevelled."

(H. Stedman (2012).  Coast to Coast Path, p233) 

We made the most of our serene breakfast in the warm conservatory of the Old Mill because we knew we’d have a long day ahead.  On leaving Egton Bridge at 8:30am it was an easy walk to the neighbouring village of Grosmont, a well known railway junction and home of the North York Moors Railway.

Steam trains at Grosmont station

In typical Wainwright fashion, rather than taking the sedate route along the Esk Valley to the coast, he had to take the trail over every hill in the landscape.  And so it was that fresh out of Grosmont we were confronted with yet another vicious climb first thing in the morning – this time a grueling walk up the extremely steep (1 in 3 gradient in places) Fair Head Lane to Sleights Moor.  It was like the hill that kept on giving because beyond every crest the path would just continue winding uphill – think Mount Street in West Perth but 5 times as long. 

Ominous grey clouds had been our companions from the time we left Egton Bridge and by the time we reached the moor, it was extremely overcast and muggy.

Crossing the moor to Littlebeck

The path descended into the tiny village of Littlebeck, famous for its garden gnomes, annual Rose Queen festival, and the Devil’s Hole – a place along the stream where the informer who betrayed Nicholas Postgate (see yesterday’s post) drowned himself and reputedly no fish have been caught there since.  Littlebeck is perhaps better known however for its beautiful woods which the trail passed through.  The gloomy light didn’t show off the forest’s best colours but the dense green vegetation, grand old trees, moss covered stones and winding path were still pretty special.

The path into Littlebeck Woods

Negotiating steep track in the woods

The woods even revealed some quirky places like ‘The Hermitage’ – a massive hollowed out boulder constructed for the Littlebeck schoolmaster, George Chubb in 1754.  It is not clear why it was created, it seems an awful lot of effort for nothing more than a folly.  

The Hermitage

Deep in the woods we came to Falling Foss and its welcome tearoom where we joined other walkers and Saturday day trippers for a beautiful fresh baked scone and flapjack.

Falling Foss

With still a long way to go we continued first along the road and then a punishing trek across the moor.

“(the) long, final moor of Graystone Hills, a sting in the Coast to Coast’s tail.”

(M. Wainwright (2012) The Coast to Coast Walk, p174)

The walk across the moor was particularly tough on already weary feet but now the wind picked up strength as well and raced unimpeded across the scrubby and non-too pretty heather and grass clumps.  At least the ground was dry as we imagined this place would be extremely boggy in the wet (like Stanley Pond – see post from 30 August 2012).  Down down down an interminable rough stony track to the road and the wind by this stage was whipping the hedges on either side, blowing loose leaves about and buffeting us. 

Hope was rekindled when we passed our first road sign with the magic words ‘Robin Hood’s Bay’!  As it was now 1:30pm and we’d been walking for a few hours, we flopped on the nearest park bench in the unremarkable village of High Hawsker quickly downing some sandwiches before getting blown out of town.  The now thick and oppressive dark clouds overhead suggested that it would be wise to don a raincoat before we set off again - for our last push to the coast!

And then a glimpse of the sea – no longer just a blue sliver on the horizon but a real heaving entity.  From the sublime to the ridiculous we had to walk through the beautifully manicured grounds of a seaside caravan/holiday park to reach the last of the trail along the coast.

Seaside holidays in the UK

The cliffs and North Sea 

“Stunted trees remind walkers lucky enough to have a still, peaceful day that this is a sometimes tempestuous stretch.  It also involves a final tribute to the genius of Alfred Wainwright.  He did not design the coastline, but he lit on a destination which hides until the great walk’s very last mile.  Only after you round Ness Point…do the superlatively pretty roofs and gardens of ‘Bay Town’ appear, perched right above the sea.”

(M.Wainwright (2012) The Coast to Coast Walk, p178)

And so our Coast to Coast walk ended the same way it began – with a walk along imposing sea cliffs in overcast and blustery conditions. It was certainly tempestuous.  For the final few kilometres around the coast, the clouds finally unleashed their fury.  The wind can only be described as ridiculous and the rain came from every direction.  The North Sea was dark and angry but occasional breaks in the cloud did bless us with a very special sight over the cliffs.

At the end of the rainbow lies Robin Hood's Bay!

And finally emerging from the gloom, the red rooftops of the Promised Land.

Robin Hood's Bay

Reaching the town just after 4pm we opted to go immediately to the fabled Bay Hotel and Wainwright’s Bar at the bottom of the old town.  The rain had stopped fortunately as we made our way down the steep and winding street to the slipway where we walked onto the beach and completed our all important rituals! 

Not quite keeping to the tradition of casting a stone from St Bees on the west coast into the sea on this side of the country, we tweaked things a little.  Instead, the second of the quartz pebbles collected from John Forrest National Park in Perth left Ross’ pocket and went into the sea.

Ross casts his pebble into the North Sea

My own little piece of the Darling Range followed before something much more symbolic.  A shiny white pebble from my Dad’s garden in Dianella which I’d been tasked with carrying along the eastern part of the C2C on his behalf.  He may not have been able to join us in person for this section of the walk but a little part of him did come on the journey and after a monumental trek across half a planet and now half of England it joins its fellows in the North Sea.

The white pebble from Dianella

Into the North Sea

And as for us – weary after an extremely long day and an eventful, glorious, frustrating, beautiful, painful but ultimately satisfying 9 days, we reached The End of the Coast to Coast walk.

The End