Day
9 - Wednesday 21st July
St Giles Farm to Ingleby Cross
19miles: 9h 30mins
Woke at 4am and the rain had stopped. Slept again until 6:15am.
Got up and packed. A dull, grey, damp morning. Excellent breakfast.
What a lovely lady. Left around 8:35am. Karel left shortly before us and
the two US ladies were taking the Sherpa bus for today's leg. Steve and
Stella waited for me to pay (£15) and seemed happy to walk together.
Today was to be a trudge to a pub for lunchtime followed by - a trudge to
a pub for evening! There was an 8 mile section of road but we chatted away
about anything and everything and by 12:30 saw the White Swan ahead of us.
We stopped for lunch and my feet enjoyed the rest. We were joined shortly
by Karel who we had seen in front of us before entering the village (Danby
Wiske). He had been to look for a bank since he needed to change some money!
I exchanged 50euros for him so he could buy some lunch. Later, Bob and Dan
arrived - two people Steve and Stella had last seen high up on the moors
a couple of days previously. We chatted to the landlady who was very friendly
and she showed us the garden where you can now camp for £2.50p. When
we left, a good hour later, Karel was already away. He was only going as
far as Oak Tree Hill and this is the last I would see of him. Crossed the
East Coast Mainline shortly after leaving Danby Wiske. Through a particularly
muddy section we met two lads going the other way. It was only their 3rd
day so they were making superb progress. Exchanged info about camp sites
etc. After this we saw no one else that day doing the Coast to Coast. By
Northfield House we were 'attacked' by two dogs that took no notice of the
shouts from the owner who was too lazy to get up and come out of the garden
to fetch them. Crossed another railway line, 'literally' which gave some
relief to the boredom but it was a humid warm afternoon and feet were aching
and sore. At long last we could see the A19 in the distance and eventually
reached it and the Service Station. Here occurred the greatest disaster of
the journey. I went to the toilet and put down my camera whilst washing my
hands. Almost inevitably I left it lying there and a few minutes later when
I went back for it, as I expected, it was gone. It was not the camera per
se but the loss of the photos which was so distressing. I felt quite distraught
to the extent that all I wanted to do was give up and go home. We finished
the last half-mile to the Bluebell Inn in Ingleby Cross and set up camp
(£2). It was 6:00pm so had taken 9½ hours including
the stop for lunch. Not bad going. Pitched tent and made a cup of tea for
all of us. I was over the worst of my loss but it would still nag at me for
several days. I had a good wash (shower not working) and changed into my
'evening' clothes and rang Gemma and texted David. By this time Stella and
Steve had gone into the pub where they were already eating a meal. I ordered
a pizza and chips and joined them. I had already accepted tomorrow's offer
of 'Sherparing' the tent to Clay Bank Top and they now said it would be nice
if we could finish the walk together. I was more than happy with this. The
company and the lighter load helped and whilst in the mornings their pace
was slightly quicker, in the afternoon they were if anything slower but it
appeared to be all pretty even. We conversed with a US woman and her two
daughters. Steve and Stella had met them several days previously. They had
been skipping bits of the walk and using the Sherpa to keep the 'legs' down
to 10 miles. Despite this they were still suffering! Into my tent at 10:00pm
and slept well despite a lot of traffic noise both from nearby local roads
and the A19 ½ mile away. Good pub but not particularly good camp site.
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