Ingleby Cross to Clay Bank Top (20km)

Happy Birthday Stacey!

Day 6 - Ingleby Cross to Clay Bank Top

I had good reason to be fearful of them hills.  Today was an exceedingly tough day.  The hardest walk we’ve done since the Lake District last year and it would have been on par with the toughest of those days.

Our B+B hostess, Christine graciously dropped us off at 8:15am back on the A19, thankfully on the opposite side of the road so we didn’t have to take our lives in our hands and dash across four lanes of busy traffic.  The day started in brilliant sunshine along a sedate track through the villages of Ingleby Arncliffe and Ingleby Cross.

Once into Arncliffe Wood however, the track started rising steeply.  On the way up we passed the historic Arncliffe Hall and it was almost like stepping into a stereotype as the lady of the manor wearing gumboots ushered her dogs out of the Landrover parked on the gravel drive to the sound of her neighbour shouting across to her, ‘Phoenicia thank you for the mushrooms, they were gorgeous….’  Who on earth is called Phoenicia?!  It’s obviously mandatory for posh living…

We continued puffing uphill with our own posse of flies – as impressive a cloud of flies per person as any Australian summer day, probably thanks to the warm weather and abundance of livestock in the area.  The trek uphill revealed a beautiful glimpse back to the flatlands we plodded across yesterday.

View back to the Vale of Mowbray

And then we made our grand entry into the Yorkshire Moors National Park and Scarth Wood Moor, the first of many for the day.   As the C2C route joins other popular long distance treks through this part of the world (the Cleveland Way and the Lyke Wake Walk) a rough stone path takes you across the moor to avoid damaging the fragile heather. 

Stone pavement across the moors

A descent and more woods was followed by another steep ascent onto Live Moor where the landscape opened up into a brilliant palette of purple heather. High octane buzzing from bumble bees accompanied us on our way and butterflies wafted sedately over the flowers as the path gradually rose towards Carlton Moor.

The ascent to Live Moor

View towards Carlton Moor

From the summit, a rolling green carpet of fields down below and … our first glimpse of the North Sea!!  That blue haze on the horizon is the Promised Land of the East Coast.

A glimpse of the east coast!

It was another steep descent down the other side, which we did in anticipation of stopping at the well advertised Lord Stones Café at the bottom of the hill.  You could almost hear our hearts breaking when we got there only to find the café closed for refurbishment.  

Yet another descent

We made do and found a grassy spot to have some lunch not really understanding why so many fellow walkers (and there were many walkers on the track today – it was almost like a highway) kept overtaking us.  We soon found out.  Just through another gate we were confronted with yet another climb up a steep slope to a stone seat and view plaque atop Cringle Moor where most walkers (and day trippers) chose to flop and have their lunches.

Ross still managing to smile through the pain

If only that was the last of the ascents.  The fourth ascent up to Cold Moor was by far the toughest.  Tired legs turned to jelly up the steep and seemingly never ending stone steps up the hillside – no pictures I’m afraid as Ross and I were too busy dying at this point.  And no guesses that there was yet another descent on the other side.

Picking my way down the steep stone path

En route to the next hill

If there’s anything worse than climbing four hills, it’s the prospect of having to climb a fifth.  But that’s the sight that confronted us – yet another steep uphill slope.  At this point I was thinking it is just as well Wainwright is dead because I felt like hunting him down and killing the man myself.  The last of our chocolate provided essential fuel to get up that last slope to reach the crowning Wainstones.

At the Wainstones and trying very hard to smile

Then it was a blessed descent with the knowledge that any minute we would see the road at Clay Bank Top and at 3pm Christine would be along to collect us and return us to the world of hot showers, a hearty roast dinner and a soft bed!