I've made a decision. I'm convinced that Alfred Wainwright actually had a pretty sadistic streak! After a nightmare day yesterday, he 'treated' us to some very stiff climbing today, very stiff indeed. Today, we entered the Cleveland Hills in the North Yorkshire Moors and after the boring tedium of yesterday, we were back to beautiful scenery. But this beautiful scenery had a sting in the tail.....the climbs! We covered 12.5 miles today and I swear that at least 9 of these were uphill, 3 were steeply downhill and no more that half a mile was actually flat. I don't know how many hill tops we passed over, but there were a lot!

Before I go on, you might be wondering about the reference to 'Cleveland' and 'Family Guy' in the title to this entry. I'm afraid that it's nothing more than a pathetic Kilby play on words.....'Cleveland' as in the hills of course, but also 'Cleveland' as in a character in the animated TV programme, Family Guy. Has Cleveland (the character) ever been on the C2C........I suspect not, bearing in mind that he is only an animated character of course.........but he does walk of course.......and that's good enough for me!

   
We all slept very well at Park House and Beverley and her team (her family actually) looked after us really well. Despite our long day yesterday, Steve, Tina and I still didn't fall into bed until knocking on midnight, after a couple of drinks, some planning for today's walk and some necessary catch-up on our various forms of personal media. Breakfast was excellent and we didn't rush today......we only had half of yesterday's distance to do today, of course! After today's group photo, Beverley sent us on our way with a nice hug and we were off with our latest start time of the walk to date, at 9.50! Because we knew it would tough climbing today, Jane, very sensibly, took the Packhorse bus again today.





 



 AND.......we started climbing immediately. We rejoined the C2C path right outside the entrance to Park House and one good thing about doing the extra mile last night.....we have one less mile to do today. So, we reckon it's about 12.5 miles today and the route takes us up through Arncliffe Wood, onto Scarth Wood Moor, Live Moor, Carlton Moor, Cringle Moor, Hasty Bank and finally to Clay Bank Top, in essence working our way alone the length of the Cleveland.

 

As we climbed our way up through Arncliffe Wood, our first 'view' of any consequence, was back across country towards Richmond. And somehow, the boring flatlands of yesterday, looked far better from afar! It was at this point, the C2C joined the Cleveland Way, the path running through the Cleveland Hills and we would be following this path for the rest of today and a good chunk of tomorrow.As we climbed relentlessly, onto Scarth Wood Moor, we got our first view across the valley to Middlesborough and further still Roseberry Topping, the cone-like high point, at the north end of the Cleveland Hills.

 

But, the climbing continued. We turned a corner (around the start of Live Moor) and whilst the Cleveland Way had become a stone slab path (of sorts), the next two or three hundred yards seemed to go straight up! This was 'very steep' and on reaching the top of this section, we were greeted with a path across Live Moor which seemed to go up for ever.....just 'upwards to steep' this time. And that was pretty much the rest of the day, across Live, Carlton and Cringle Moors and never, ever have I seen so many 'false summits'.......just when you thought you were reaching the top and some relief, on it went, up and up. As for the descents, they were rapid and very steep and you really had to keep your wits about you.


But, don't get me wrong. This was a hard day, but also very beautiful. The views across to Middlesborough, Teeside as a whole and even the chemical works and wind farms were spectacular and, somewhat surprisingly, there were loads of bumble bees about.....Tina tells me they are buff-tails! And, of course, the Moors have their own beauty and whilst it was very up and down, there is something quite magical and probably reassuring about seeing your path stretching out ahead of you, down the hill and up and over the summit of the next hill. And the real highlight of these climbs.........reaching the top of Carlton Moor and getting our first glimpse of the NORTH SEA......the holy grail of coast to coasters!



There was another highlight, for Tina especially! The chance to have a coffee stop. In fact, our first chance since Honister Pass on day 3 (which seems like a lifetime ago) to taste fresh coffee. The Lords Stone cafe, about 3 1/2 miles from Clay Bank and although it involved a short detour, we had to do it.........and very good it was too....and what's more, Tina treated us. Getting started again was a bit tough (as usual), but we knew we weren't too far away and we had got a handy caffeine boost.

 
 
As it happens, that 3 1/2 miles seemed to go on for ever and ever, but we reached our initial, target the Wainstones.........a load of large rocks which seem to have been randomly dropped around the peak of Hasty Bank. Here, we had to phone our accommodation for that night in Chop Gate (about two miles off the path) to come and pick us up from Clay Bank Top.  

 

Now, just one comment about these Wainstones. Steve was leading us along the path at this point and as you do when you are following, you tend to follow the person in front as opposed to the path itself. Well, we get to the Wainstones, which are really quite amazing, take a few pics and then keep walking to a point where I could get a decent phone reception. Before we knew it, we were climbing up the side of the stones like Chris Bonnington. I thought that, blimey, this is a very difficult section for the Cleveland Way, but after a stumble and near fall at one point (would have been painful, but probably not dangerous if I did fall Mand!), we reached the top of the stones, only for Steve to say 'Oops'! He'd taken us the wrong way.....the proper (and perfectly safe) Cleveland Way path went the other way round the stones.

And as if to rub it in further.......it started raining! Our first real rain of the whole trip and so, it was on with the wet weather gear and a then a further 20 minutes or so to Clay Bank Top. Surprising, bearing in mind its name, we were descending steeply again and this time down slippery wet rocks. But we made it safely and there was the welcoming sight of Wolfgang (the owner of the Buck Inn at Chop Gate) to meet us.
  
Wolfgang and Helen have been running the Buck Inn for 3 years and we settled in very quickly, showered and changed and then into the bar for a well deserved drink and catch-up with Jane and other fellow coast to coasters also staying here - including the two mature (apologies guys) honeymooners who got married on the day we started the C2C and the two young Yorkshire mums who are doing the C2C for charity and who have raised nearly £5000, so far. The camaraderie on the route is, I'm sure, a feature of many of these sort of treks, but it is very endearing and good fun swapping stories with fellow travellers.
 
Only 3 legs to go now. Another 12 miles or so knocked off today and 162 done to date.Tomorrow, we have a relatively easy 9 miles to Blakey Ridge AND my mate, Pete Wedgbury is joining us for this leg......the forecast is rain!!!

What interesting facts shall we have today? Well:

* Roseberry Topping is 1049 feet high;
* The Cleveland Way is 110 miles long and runs from Helmsley to Filey Bridge;
* Cleveland is a character in both Family Guy and The Cleveland Show.