The Walk - Stage 15 - Blakey Ridge to Grosmont

Just looking at this elevation map makes me happy!

Good morning sunshine and blue skies!

I reached our goal of 207 miles toward the end of the day yesterday and Jo Anne reached it today. One mile for each year of our Mom, Dad & sister’s lives. I’m reminded of the 12 stones of Joshua 4, where the Lord commanded Joshua 

“Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests' feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight…these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

As we carry our stones from the Irish Sea, we will toss them into the North Sea, as a memorial to three harbingers of faith, whose legacy lives on. 

This is one of only two more days walking to Robin Hood’s Bay. Today is mostly flat and downhill but many miles. Jo Anne was a trooper and walked the whole day. 

After a few more miles of superlative moorland walking, the route drops off the high moors over Glaisdale Rigg and down to the village of Glaisdale, saying farewell to the wilderness, to follow the course of the River Esk east to Grosmont (pronounced grow-mont). 

After leaving the Lion Inn, start of the trail today, we walked for about 3 miles on the tarmac. Just as we were turning off onto another road we saw the foursome from OK and UT. They were so excited to see us because they had heard of all our troubles on the mountain two days ago. Only thing is, the story was quite amusing. Apparently I broke something and was taken to the hospital and Jo Anne left me there and went on with the walk. They were so relieved to see us both out and about and apparently none the worse for wear. We told them what had actually happened and they laughed and laughed at the way stories get twisted around. But we’ve made quite a splash over here (no pun intended). We heard that the storm has been dubbed “the hurricane” by locals, which is exactly how it felt. They also said that 50 mph winds can knock a person off their feet and 90 mph winds can uproot a tree. Our wind speeds were in between the two and even the locals said it was most unusual, because they didn’t subside like wind gusts but were continuous. Makes us more thankful than ever for our Father’s hand on us that day. Ok. Enough about that. 

The Lion Inn in the background 

It was here that we met up with the foursome and walked with them to Glaisdale. 

Trough House, an old shooting hut. 

Jo Anne, Carol and Steve from Utah, Carrie and Robbie from Oklahoma, and another couple we have chatted with along the way. 

Moorland crosses are a prominent and frequent occurrence on the North York Moors. There are more than 30 named crosses on the moors, probably a larger collection than anywhere else in Britain. Reminders of the crucifixion of Christ, they first appeared on the moors during the 7th century growth of Christianity in the region.

Most of the crosses have lost their crossbars over time, and are now simply bases or pillars.

An ungainly white-painted cross - known, for obvious reasons as Fat Betty and formerly White Cross. Here you are to leave a snack for weary travelers and take one someone has left for you. The only problem with that is the wind had blown all the snacks onto the ground right in the burn, so they weren’t accessible and just littered up the landscape. 

Danby High Moor is privately owned and managed. 

Great Fryup Dale

Bicycle on a pole 😁

Glaisdale is a sprawling village built on a series of hillsides that in the mid-19th century had a prosperous iron industry and established Middlesbrough as a steel-producing town of considerable importance. We stopped and sat on a bench to have our lunch. 

The River Esk (a Celtic word for stream), is the only river in Yorkshire that flows directly to the North Sea. So, if we get lost, we can just follow the river and eventually end up at the right place, right??

Beggar's Bridge is the handiwork of Tom Ferris, a local man of modest means who fell in love with Agnes Richardson, the daughter of a wealthy farmer from Egton. The River Esk is difficult to cross, but to see Agnes, Tom had to negotiate its watery ways. Agnes' father, however, seeing little in Tom's prospects, did his best to end the relationship, inevitably forcing the couple to meet in secret. With so much opposition, it became clear to Tom that he had to make his fortune. He liked travelling and left Glaisdale to join a ship at Whitby. Before long he found himself fighting the Spanish Armada, after which he turned to looting Spanish galleons. Eventually he returned and became Mayor of Hull and Warden of its Trinity House. With his future assured, Tom built his famous bridge in 1619, and married Agnes. 

Railway Bridge 

Underwater trail

Walking from Beggars Bridge to Egton Bridge.  

Some of the stones were big as a car

This bench was a memorial to two dogs, Freddy and Willy. 

Wellingtonians 

Egton Bridge is one of Yorkshire's most beautiful villages, located on the banks of the River Esk, flanked by great stands of trees. The awesome, huge trees are called Wellingtonians. They look like giant Sequoias. A bit of googling confirms that's exactly what they are. In 1853, William Lobb collected seeds from the trees and took them to England for Veitch Nursery. In less than two years, the seeds produced seedlings which were bought by the wealthy British folk. It suddenly became a status symbol in England to have a giant sequoia. Seeing these trees, that are native to North America, inspired me to include a post I wrote several months ago about sequoias and regeneration. If you are interested in reading it, and I’ve done it up right, it should follow this post. (Between yesterday and today, under “older posts”) Just wandering thoughts I had when we were first planning this journey and there were fires burning all around. 

Egton Bridge was once renowned for its Roman Catholicism, so strong that it was known as 'the village missed by the Reformation'.

stepping stones across the river Esk

Dog going across the stepping stones 

Many walkers stop at Egton Bridge for the night but we are forging onward to Grosmont.

More Christmas - holly and taxus tree with red berries (English yew)

Almost there 

Llamas

Honesty box

Road tolls - guess it’s free for us 

Grosmont sign with bicycles. 

Grosmont is where we will spend our final rest day. You might wonder why we would take a rest day with only one more stage to walk, but this seemed like a very interesting location and we will spend our rest day taking a steam train around the area. It also shortens the distance for the final walk into Robin Hood's Bay.

Nestled in the village of Grosmont, in the heart of the Esk Valley, Grosmont House offers the perfect place to explore this stunning part of England.

View from my window 

Views from Jo Anne's window- the train is right there 

Quince tree in the yard 

They left jammie’s in the room and a large bottle of water and milk in the fridge. 

Today’s stats:

37,339 steps

15.9 miles

29 floors

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.”

Psalm 103:11