After completing the first section of the Cleveland Way from Helmsley to Sutton Bank, it was time to head back out again.
This time Richard and I were joined by Liz, and the plan was to walk from Sutton Bank all the way to Osmotherley — around 19km.
On paper, this one didn’t look too bad. As we were about to discover, the Cleveland Way and I have slightly different ideas about what “not too bad” means.
Back to Sutton Bank
We started from Sutton Bank, picking up the Cleveland Way where we’d left it after the first walk.
The weather wasn’t exactly offering us the famous “Finest View in England”. There was plenty of mist hanging around, but even through it we could see some wonderful views across the
And before too long we were properly out onto the moors. The landscape opened up around us, with long tracks, dry-stone walls and huge stretches of heather. When the mist lifted enough to see across the landscape, the views were incredible.
And then there were the flies
There was, however, one slightly less enjoyable feature of the day.
Flies. An insane number of flies.
For long stretches of the walk they seemed determined to accompany us. The only real respite came when we reached the higher, more exposed parts of the moors where there was enough breeze to keep them away.
I’ve rarely been quite so pleased to feel the wind.
A tougher walk than expected
The route guide had suggested this section shouldn’t be too difficult, but as the kilometres accumulated my legs were beginning to disagree.
At around the halfway point I was uncomfortable enough that I decided to take some pain relief.
That’s always a bit of a marker for me. I expect some discomfort when I’m walking, but needing pain relief usually tells me I’ve pushed things quite a bit further.
Still, we carried on. And eventually we reached a very welcome sign.
Osmotherley — 2 miles.
Two miles. Nearly there.
Or so we thought.
The longest two miles
Those last two miles were probably the hardest part of the entire walk.
By this point our legs were already tired, and the route seemed determined to make us work for the finish. Long stretches of stone steps took us down, followed inevitably by more steps taking us back up again.
Down. Up. Down again. Those two miles felt more like four.
Eventually, though, Osmotherley appeared and we made our way into the village.
The three of us found ourselves sitting outside a pub in the square by the Market Cross, all looking and feeling fairly broken. There wasn’t much debate about how we felt.
“That was enough.”
And it really was.
19km done
We’d covered 19km in 5 hours 20 minutes.
Given how hard those final miles had felt, I was pretty pleased with that.
It had been considerably tougher than I’d expected, and my legs had definitely had enough by the time we reached Osmotherley. But the views, the open moorland and the heather had made it a fantastic section of the Cleveland Way.
It was absolutely worth the effort.
When I got home that evening, though, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to the following morning.
Normally, if I’ve reached the point of needing pain relief during a walk, experience tells me I’m going to know about it the next day.
But apparently my legs hadn’t read the script. I woke up the following morning feeling remarkably good. Good enough, in fact, to take the dogs for a walk into town and stop for a coffee.
I’ll take that as a win.