Coast to Coast Day 18: Grosmont to Robin Hood’s Bay

This is what we set out for when we left St. Bees. With the finish this close, my family’s primary focus was finishing. With what looked like being the longest day with plenty of climbs, we decided to leave early at 6am. Of course, it was very light, but everything was very peaceful. The initial hike out of Grosmont was by road, so it wasn’t like Kidsty Pike and actually easier than we had expected. While many had recommended stopping at the Falling Foss Tea Garden, it wouldn’t be open when we would get there. While Little Beck Wood sounded nice, we realized we could save at least a mile by missing the wood and cutting the corner by road. While the B road was quite busy, the time and distance saving was well received. We plodded on, enjoying the flowers and seeing some very healthy goats for the first time. We’d planned for lunch at the Coast Cafe Bar at a caravan park. Without knowing what to expect, our hopes were not very high, but the food was fantastic! It was one of the best meals of the trip, and a lot of that was because it was different, and with a good salad. Freshly energized, we headed to the cliff path and rejoined the Cleveland Way for the cliffside meanderings to RHB. It was another great opportunity for drone flying. With the gang’s patience running a bit thin, I walked ahead so I could get flying and be ready for group photos. I had high expectations of great cliff photos, but struggled to get them. They were ok or good, but I struggled to capture how we were on the edge of such a precipice! I had fun trying in a couple of places, falling behind the others who marched on when I was putting everything away. I tried to catch up, but they arrived at the hotel before I did, meeting up with Dean and Tracy. We all walked down the steep hill together and onto the beach. Of course, the tide was out, so we walked out across the sand to the water’s edge to cast our Irish Sea pebble into the North! The rapidly advancing tide made sure we dipped our footwear too. We had completed our Coast to Coast with a final day of 14 miles in 6 hours. Woo hoo!

We signed the register at the Bay Hotel, being the first of the day and surprised at the low numbers on previous days. While there might have been 20 people a couple of days earlier. It was just 4 the day before, and some days were empty. I sense many don’t sign the book. We had to ask a lovely couple to move away from the C2C sign so we could take our final finisher’s photo, before heading back up the steep hill to the hotel. It was great for Tracy to have joined us, showing determination to overcome her injuries and ensure Team Sloth was together at the end! And we all needed Dean’s jokes to get us back up that hill! While we could check in to the hotel, our luggage had not arrived yet, so it was a cream tea in our smelly hiking clothes first, and then cleaning up and relaxing. The hotel has fine views over the bay, but the outside temperature dropped surprisingly quickly when some clouds rolled in. The fine views were also a treat during a lovely dinner, where we made our plans for tomorrow and reminisced about all of our previous days’ walking, hotels, meals, and people we’d met. Tomorrow’s weather forecast looks great for sunrise, so perhaps I will make it at 4:45am for a final drone flight…

The walk is over but the trip is not quite, and nor is this blog. While the blogger is exhausted, he feels there is more to do to finish his task. I expect there will be some adventure on our way back to Heathrow which will be worth telling. Also, I want to write a “highlights” as a way to help me process the trip, and then a “reflections” which will suggest how others might avoid our scars, while also ruminating on what we learned about ourselves and what that might mean for whatever is next! If you have travelled with us this far, hang on a bit more. But that will be later, and sleep is tonight’s priority!

Check out the overview video of this final leg at https://www.relive.cc/view/vWqBgWYZjYv

This page is linked to from my England’s Coast to Coast home page.

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