The Lyke Wake Walk

On Saturday the 4th June three of us set off to walk the 42 mile from Osmotherly to Ravenscar Mast, this walk cuts across the North York Moors from east to west. We were well looked after by my wife who first made sure we were deposited at the start by 4 am. The first leg, some 11.5 miles, to Clay Bank was walked in full sun and had this been later in the day it would have been uncomfortably warm. We completed this stretch in just under 4 hours and were welcomed with tea, dry socks and trainers for the next part. The next section is probably the worse of the lot, it contains a steep pull up to Urra Moor and roughly 6 miles of disused railway track. This cinder track to the Lion Inn has to be the bleakest of the whole walk but we made short work of it and were soon approaching the inn. On our arrival there was no sign of our support so we took the opportunity to sample a glass of refreshment. It was at this point that the weather changed, when we went in the pub it was largely sunny with occasional broken cloud, when we emerged again it was cold damp and thick of blown fog. The road round to the Shunner Howe track was a drag with cars appearing out of the mist traveling too fast with no lights. This passed after about an hour and we were then back on the moors, the ground underfoot was soft and easy to walk on. We yomped across Shunner Howe to the Haymer road and more clean socks, tea and eats. The next hour saw us pass the Blue man-in-the-moss and over Wheeldale Moor with it's tracks full of rocks. The descent down to the stepping stones needed care, safely across we had another short break before topping Simon Howe and descending to the Whitby to Pickering road at Eller Beck. We were now all feeling the effects of our efforts and the fog had given way to rain. A change of clothing, footwear and more eats set us up for the last push over Jugger Howe and on to the mast. We seemed to concentrate more on our aches and pains but before long we were descending to Jugger Beck, over the river and pulling up the other side. Most times this would be a time for celebration but in these conditions it was all we could do to keep focused on the mast. Incidentally you can normally see the mast for about the last twenty miles of this walk, but today we were 400 yards off before it came into view.
We were pleased to get in the car for the last time knowing that it was all over. Yuk!