Day 16…Monday 14th May

The penultimate day.

Danby Wiske to Grosmont (14 1/2 miles - total so far 192)

After making a donation to our cause, our host of Sunday evening, Jack Lawson of Sycamore House, Danby Wiske, kindly dropped us off at one of the many crosses which stand in this part of the world, in this case one called ‘fat Betty’ although it is actually a white cross.

The conditions were quite atrocious with heavy rain and strong winds hampering our every step. We crossed Great Fryup Deal heading for Glaisdale, (once prosperous in the iron industry and which helped to establish the Iron & Steel industry in nearby Middlesbrough) via Ralfs Cross. This is all North York Moors National Park land and features the longest continuous area of heather anywhere in England. At Glaisdale we met Joe, a fellow walker from Washington DC whom we had last seen when we dropped him off at his digs on Saturday evening . The cold and wet which had continued throughout the day now began to subside somewhat and we were treated to some late afternoon sunshine. The river Esk was a raging torrent but a joy to see after the long dry spell we have had recently.

We entered the beautiful village of Egton Bridge which has links to Nicholas Postgate and the Catholic Recusants, and then on to Grosmont where we arrived just in time to see a steam train of the North York Moors Railway pulling away (saved from Beechings axe back in the 60’s) leaving it’s trademark cloud of steam.

We look forward to completing the walk tomorrow and thank everybody for their good wishes and prayers thus far.

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