15/05/2007 by AOS.

I would like to express, on behalf of the National Board of Trustees of the Apostleship of the Sea in Great Britain, and all our colleagues in the North East Region and indeed all ports around the country, our congratulations and thanks to Veronica and Eddie on the day they have completed this most monumental task of the Coast to Coast Walk.

Naturally, like all charities we hope to benefit from sponsorship monies pledged, but in this case, we have also gained from the significant amount of awareness raised, not only of the plight of seafarers who give so much to keep us supplied with 95% of what we consume, but also of the work being done on a daily basis by this charity.

We extend every good wish to Veronica and Eddie, and of course our heartfelt thanks.

Commodore Chris York
National Director
Apostleship of the Sea “Stella Maris” GB

Posted in Progress report | No Comments »

15/05/2007 by the walkers.

Grosmont to Robin Hood’s Bay or ‘One more mountain to cross’
by Veronica Yarwood.

We climbed the steep hill out of Grosmont and caught our first sight of the famous Whitby Abbey, and, as if pre-ordained, could see two ships out at sea, one a tanker and one a container ship, there to remind us perhaps of why we had chosen the AOS as our charity to benefit from our now almost competed walk. On the open Sleights Moor, we encountered two sets of standing stones known as Low Bride Stones and High Bride Stones. To the south is the Fylingdales Early Warning Station. We descended to Blue Bank, built in 1759 as the first surfaced road in the Whitby area.

The hamlet of Littlebeck is very charming and is the destination tonight for our fellow walkers from Cheshire who will complete their walk tomorrow. Littlebeck is home to Ventress, (formerly Sgt Ventress the character in the TV series Heartbeat which is filmed in Goathland only a few miles away).

We made our way to a huge boulder known as the Hermitage before coming across the waterfall of Falling Foss. From here we crossed Smeaton Low Moor to gain access to Ruswarp Road. Eventually we reached the A171 Scarborough - Whitby road and forged onwards to our destination Robin Hood’s Bay.

This pituresque resort was once a fishing village used as a smuggler’s cove. It’s houses and shops are perched precariously at the waters edge. Many of it’s red bricked houses are so small and narrow that they have a ‘coffin window’ above the door to enable coffins to be removed. This is a truly magical place.

We were greeted upon arrival at Robin Hood’s Bay by our friends and neighbours John and Margaret who had dropped us off in St Bee’s at the start of the walk and now met us to take us home after a days rest here. We were also delighted to see John and Carole Hodge (AOS volunteers from Darlington) with whom we had dined in Kirkby Stephen, and Jimmy and Ann Christison (AOS volunteers from North Tees & Hartlepool) who had greeted and dined with us at Richmond) together with Tony McAvoy, AOS NE Regional Co-ordinator with whom we have kept in constant touch throughout the walk and who has been so supportive of our efforts.

We walked the mile or so down to the waters edge and at approximately 3.25pm, in the pouring rain, we dipped the toes of our boots in the north sea to symbolically complete the walk and in so doing fulfil an ambition, a dream, and may I say that we were both thoroughly elated with the sense of achievement.

We have so much to savour and enjoy, and while we are so delighted we have achieved our goal, we are sad that it is all coming to an end. We have had a wonderful experience, met some fascinating people, been in some great B&B’s and viewed some awe inspiring scenery.

“These boots were made for walking and they have plodded from sea to sea”. “Mountains and hills praise the Lord”.

I hope that as a result of our efforts, the sponsorship for our most worthy cause, the Aposleship of the Sea, which does so much to assist and serve the seafarers of all nationalities and creeds who visit our shores, and who provide so much of our daily needs, will increase tenfold to enable the work of this most wonderful ministry to continue well into the future.

The blog will continue with highlights of the walk; what have Robin Hood and Captain Cook to do with it…? Don’t miss it!

God Bless and many thanks for all your prayers and support

Posted in Progress report | No Comments »

14/05/2007 by AOS.

Apologies; today’s walk should read from Danby Dale to Grosmont.

Posted in Progress report | No Comments »

14/05/2007 by AOS.

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.

Posted in Progress report | No Comments »

13/05/2007 by AOS.

Clay Bank to Danby Dale 10.5 miles

After a very enjoyable evening meal and overnight stay followed by a healthy breakfast and having our clothes washed (with special thanks to Tony, wife Lynne and son Stephen), Tony dropped us off at Clay Bank Top where we were able to resume our walk.

We particularly enjoyed the views of Roseberry Topping which is a prominent mountain projectory and is famous as a local landmark.
We followed the old ironside railway believing this to be an easy stretch, when in fact we were climbing as high as 1250ft above sea level. We passed Carr Ridge and Urra Moor before crossing the Cleveland Way, (another well known walk in these parts) and arriving at the (famous) Lion Inn, Blakey Ridge on our onward journey to tonights stay at Danby Dale.
Today we experiencd very heavy rain and got thoroughly soaked but our spirits remain high as we approach the final leg of our journey.

Posted in Progress report | No Comments »

12/05/2007 by the walkers.

Ingleby Arncliffe to Clay Bank – 11 miles

Today we raise our glasses to Veronica’s niece Janet Hill who married Christopher Wilson in Waterside RC Church, Derry City, Northern Ireland. Loving congratulations to you both; we toasted you special day at dinner tonight.

As we were leaving our B&B in Ingleby today the host mentioned to us that as a child forty years ago she lived at Siddle Grange Farm near Ingleby and she remembers, A Wainwright’s wife dropping him off by car to track the walk named after him. It is this book that we are using now as our guide – our Bible.

Today’s walk took us past Arncliffe Hall, and Osmotherley, the site of Mount Grace Priory, into Scarth Wood Moor where we followed the Cleveland Way, Carlton Moor and Cringle Moor. We were in the North York Moors National Park with its heather-clad moors, extravagant scenery and wide panoramas. The walled patterned field of the Dales gives way to rolling moors. We encountered another long distance walk – The Cleveland Way.

We met up with several walkers whom we had seen in the past few days and were rewarded with stunning views over the moors and our first glimpse of the North Sea; our final destination.

Three of our fellow travellers from Cheshire departed at Clay Bank. Tony McAvoy (AOS NE Regional Co-ordinator) picked us up to stay at his house for the night and in doing so also gave Joe Young another walking companion from Washington DC, America a lift to his digs.

We then attended Mass at St Bernadette’s parish Nunthorpe in the southern suburbs of Middlesbrough where Monsignor David Hogan, Gillian Henderson (AOS Parish Contact) and parishioners, many of whom had sponsored us, made us welcome.

Posted in Progress report | No Comments »

11/05/2007 by AOS.

Danby Wiske to Ingleby Arncliffe (9miles - total so far 156)

Our walk today was across a much easier stretch than we have experienced recently. However, we also experienced the first sustained period of rain and were very grateful for the trousers donated by ‘Regatta’ which proved to be an absolute boon as we tramped through the wet grass.

Unfortunately Veronica slipped on the wet ground and gashed her shin, but after treatment and putting on a dressing, she will continue the walk in the morning. We crossed the East Coast main railway line at Danby Wiske and then saw low flying helicopters involved in some sort of manoeuvres. We crossed the A167 at Oak Tree Hill, near to the site of the Battle of Standard 1138, and walked through pasture like terrain crossing becks and the river Wiske as we continued. The signs for the walk in this area are excellent and you can’t really go wrong.

Later we crossed the A19 and arrived in Ingleby Arncliffe for our overnight stay.

Posted in Progress report | No Comments »

11/05/2007 by AOS.

Richmond to Danby Wiske (18 miles - total so far 147)

We chose not to follow Wainright’s route for this particular leg of the walk. Passing through the Vale of Mowbray, we were conscious of the different terrain and landscape we were now encountering and much of the walk was through farmers fields where we no longer saw sheep but cattle in abundance. The cows seemed keen to get to know us and we had to take evasive action on more than one occasion feeling quite intimidated by their demeanor. (I was reminded about the saying that ‘the farmer allows you to cross his field for free, but the bull charges’!)

We crossed the A1 at Catterick and in what had become increasingly blustery conditions we saw many fallen branches and could smell the clover, barley and of course the oil seed rape which is so prevalent at this time of the year. We also heard cuckoos and woodpeckers seemingly encouraging us on our way.

At St Mary’s Church, Bolton on Swale we came across an obelisk which bears a plaque to one Henry Jenkins who died in 1670 at the grand age of 169, and subsequently passed Kiplin Hall built in 1621 by James the first for his Secretary of State. This is the finest example of red brick Jacobean architecture.

On the final leg of our walk today we came across a hangar in a field in which there was a Piper Club aircraft and we learned from it’s owner that at one time it was used to count reindeer over Lapland.

Posted in Progress report | No Comments »

10/05/2007 by AOS.

Reeth to Richmond 11.5 miles (Total 129.5 miles)

We stayed at Scarr House in Grinton, at the same B&B where we stayed when we did the Herriots’ Way walk several years ago. Mrs Kath Brown drove us into Reeth for our evening meal where we met eight new sets of walkers.

We set off from Richmond along the river Swale initially before turning off after a short distance to the 12th Century Marrick Priory, a Benedictine convent, which now serves as an outdoor centre. Through Steps Wood with its lovely blue bells, marsh marigolds and onto Marrick, crossing Ellers Beck.

The only farm tea room en route was closed; just our luck! We therefore stopped off at the 12th Century church of St. Edmund, and had our “butties” packed lunch.

We entered Richmond at Whitcliffe Wood, entering the Gateway to the Dales, whilst saying goodbye to North Yorkshire National Park.

Calling at a coffee shop in Richmond, a couple of customers showed interest in out walk. They gave us a generous donation, read the article from “Northern Cross” and thanked us for the A.O.S. leaflet; it turned out they were prison officers from Durham.

Later Veronica called at a hairdressers in Richmond and after giving the A.O.S. leaflet to the interested stylist, the young girl remarked that she had already read about us in her church.

Later we enjoyed the hospitality and meal with Jimmy Christison (AOS Ship Visitor at North Tees and Hartlepool) and his wife Anne who had travelled to Richmond to meet up with us.

Posted in Progress report | No Comments »

08/05/2007 by AOS.

Keld to Grinton (11 miles - total so far 118 miles)

Another good days walking in fine conditions. Today we met a man from London who is doing the Pennine Way walk.

Posted in Progress report | No Comments »