Coast 2 Coast (on my own 2 feet!) 5th

Thursday, April 21, 2011

The day after. Where did the sea go?

Thank you!

Well unless I think of more to say it only remains for me to say a big big thank you to all of you who sponsored me or encouraged me or helped me along the way with your kind words and support.

My journey is over, but by making it, £1620 has so far been sent to the Outward Bound Trust. And its all thanks to you. The journey for some other young people can now begin! And what a journey awaits them . . . .

Thank you all.

Simon

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Day 15 : Cont

Day 15 : Complete : Coast To Coast Done!

Well I made it! The last few miles were foggy so I actually didn't see any sea until I was just a few feet from it in Robin Hood's Bay. But I'm all done and finished safely. And what a truly magnificent two weeks! Hardly any rain, just day after day of sunshine. Surroundings to stop you in your tracks as the tranquil, timelessness beauty of what is in front of you etches itself into a corner of your soul. A couple of the most peaceful, happy weeks of my life. Seriously!

I dipped my boots in the sea and after some self-debate lobbed my pebbles, carried for so far in my jacket pocket, into the sea. They can churn away there for eternity and their secret can slowly turn to sand and be lost. I know they are there. I will remember.

I have climbed mountains folded up from rock formed of the bodies of billions of tiny creatures that swam in ancient seas. I have splashed in sunlight through streams that just days before blew through cloudy skies and fell as rain. I have wandered in woodland alive with spring growth and sunk into bogs holding the decaying remnants of endless plants that grew and faded. I have seen lambs so new they could barely stand and have watched them die alone and bewildered days later. I have touched the deserted ruins of mines that were once alive with commerce and industry. I have walked high cliffs offering refuge to calling gulls but that in a short decade or two will be tumbled rock on the beach.

Nothing I have seen along the way was permanent yet everything is forever. And that was the interconnected, everlasting joy of it all.

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Today was a very varied day with initial very steep road walking out of Grosmont through fields and up into the open moor. Then across the moors and down into Littlebeck, departing through it's magical ravine and cascading stream filled woods. Climbing back up to Sneaton Low Moor and on to the quite boggy moorland near the Graystone Hills to the west of the Robin Hood's Bay road. Some track, lane then road walking through Hawsker before arriving at a fog bank shrouding the cliffs to the north or Robin Hood's Bay. A cliff walk in the fog to arrive at the quaint and picturesque village of Robin Hood's Bay.

Finished!!! Fantastic beyond words!

More pics and words later!

Day 15 : A final walk to the coast, 22k

So the last day has arrived! So long expected and so long and increasingly dreaded. The final 22k to the sea. After so long and seeing so much, it seems hardly possible that it ends today. But it does.
So today sees moorland, woodland, waterfalls (probably watertrickles!) and a high level coast cliff walk. And if I'm not mistaken, a beer, or two !
So for one last time. Onward!