We started in Helmsley Market Place, before making our way past the castle to the official start of the Cleveland Way.
Why the Cleveland Way?
The idea started quite simply. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.
I have FSHD — facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy — and for me that comes with quite a lot of pain and fatigue. Either of those can sometimes stop me in my tracks.
So I knew when I decided to take on the Cleveland Way that there would be times when I’d be uncomfortable. In some ways, that was part of the challenge. I wanted to see whether I could keep going through some of that discomfort and achieve the goals we’d set ourselves.
Once I started telling people what I was thinking about, my friend Richard immediately said he’d like to do it with me. Richard is a few years older than me — in fact, he got his driving licence the year I was born — so between us we’re perhaps not the most obvious candidates for taking on a 109-mile National Trail!
It then occurred to me that the walk could be about something more than simply proving something to myself.
I’ve been surprised by just how little known FSHD is in the UK. Around 8,000 people are thought to be living with it, yet most people I speak to have never heard of it. By comparison, conditions such as motor neurone disease (MND), which affects more than 5,000 people in the UK at any one time, have a much greater public profile.
So I’m also going to use this challenge as an opportunity to raise awareness of FSHD. If a few more people know what those four letters mean by the time I reach the end of the Cleveland Way, that will make the challenge even more worthwhile.
Helmsley to Rievaulx
From Helmsley, the first few kilometres gave us a gentle but steady climb. Richard and I soon settled into good conversation as we made our way uphill past Duncombe Park, before eventually descending towards Rievaulx.
We stopped for a while beside the River Rye — a chance for a breather, to take in the surroundings and, as it turned out, prepare ourselves for the more challenging part of the day.
From Rievaulx came the uphill stretch through the woodland, eventually bringing us out onto more open ground around Scawton and Cold Kirby.
One thing we couldn’t help noticing along this part of the Cleveland Way was the sheer number of game birds. We were also fascinated by the amount of set-aside around the edges of the fields. It made this section feel quite different from the earlier part of the walk.
And then we kept going…
From Cold Kirby we headed towards Sutton Bank Visitor Centre, which was supposed to be our finishing point for the day.
We’d planned to stop there after 12km, but we’d made good time — around three hours — and I was still feeling pretty fresh.
So we decided to carry on.
Another 3km took us across Sutton Bank, past the White Horse and on to the gliding club, where our lift was waiting for us.
15km in four hours.
Given that I’d started this challenge wanting to prove to myself that I could do it, finishing the first day having walked further than we’d planned felt like a pretty good start.