'On the Buses'........a popular sitcom of the 1960's and 1970's or perhaps, a plaintiff cry from a bunch of tired old coast to coasters! Trouble is, buses are few and far between, out in the wilds of the North Yorks Moors so, as Bruce and Tess might say, .............'Keeeeeep Walking!!'. 

 

But, back to 'On the Buses'.....did you know that, at its peak, the show was watched by over 22 million viewers globally. There were some great characters such as Stan Butler played by Reg Varney, Jack Harper played by Bob Grant, Olive Rudge played by Anna Karen and Arthur Rudge played by Michael Robbins - absolutely politically incorrect by the standards of today, but enjoyed by millions. Anyway, for many their favourite and certainly most enduring character was Inspector Blakey played by Stephen Lewis; downtrodden, always messed about by Reg and Jack and perpetually miserable, Blakey's catch phrase of 'I 'ate you Butler' really found its way into the lexicon of day to day life, although probably only if you happen to be aged 55 or over!


You'll be pleased to know, that it was none of Blakey's miserable characteristics that reminded me of today's leg, but remind me of it, Blakey did. And the reason, of course, is that we are off to Blakey Ridge for the next leg; effectively, a 9 mile stroll across the moors. So the male children of our party have moved from Norman Wisdom, through Pete & Dud to a sad old bus inspector from nearly 50 years agon, with regular cries of 'I 'ate you Butler' ringing across the moors! As they say, 'Little things...............!'.

Inspector Blakey was, of course, always trying to get the buses to run on time and punctuality was particularly important today. We needed a lift back to Clay Bank Top and Wolfgang wanted to do this at 8.15, meaning that we would get to CBT before 8,30. Trouble is, Pete Wedgbury was meeting us at CBT at 9.30 and we didn't fancy waiting round for an hour. Pete and his wife Gill had come north for a couple of days and were staying at the Lion Inn, our next stop and Pete had arranged to get a taxi to CBT, at a cost of £40 I might add. With the rain pouring down overnight and still bucketing this morning, I suspect Pete might be regretting the decision to join us today! Anyway, after a bit of pleading with Wolfgang, he very kindly agreed to take us at the slightly later time of 8.45......but no later!! 

So, we had to be on time and we made it, surprise, surprise......Blakey would have been proud! Wolfgang was an amazing character, born and raised in Heidelberg, but spent many years in Australia before moving to the UK. But as he himself said, what else would a mature German, with a socialist nature be doing at his time of life, but running a pub and B&B, in one of the most isolated parts of the country, in Chop Gate. But running the Buck Inn he is and a lovely host he is also, with a wicked sense of humour!

 
Group photo taken (Jane was back with us today), we got into Wolfgang's motor (what a luxury to be driven!!) and off we went to CBT. We arrived just after nine and decided that Tina and Jane would set off, while we waited for Pete. Unfortunately, they were back about 20 minutes later, having realised that they had taken the wrong path! I'd like to say, dear reader, that tiredness must be playing a part in these minor, but frustrating errors, but as you know, they have been a bit of a feature from the Get-Go! Off they went again, but still no Pete. 9.40 and still no Pete, then my phone rang.....it was Pete, asking where we were. He had arrived at 9.15, but the taxi was in a parking area about 200 yards down the road and round the corner,! Fortunately, the taxi driver had waited until Pete had safely met up with us and kindly drove up to where we were.

 

Anyway, a few minutes later, we were on our way. The route today was said to be fairly straightforward, with an initial climb for about a mile up on to Urra Moor, where we had our last views back towards Middlesbrough. We continued along the Cleveland Way through Bloworth Crossing, a junction on the former Rosedale Ironstone Railway and soon afterwards we left the Cleveland Way, our guide for the last couple of days, and continued along the disused railway line over Farndale Moor and High Blakey Moor, right up to Blakey Ridge and our accommodation for the night, the Lion Inn.

















The walk itself was fairly uneventful with lots of typical moorland flora and fauna either side of the path and quite a few grouse flitting about here and there. There were, however, some good views from time to time, particularly down to pretty Farndale. We probably first saw the Lion Inn about a mile out and this relatively short leg came to an end around 2pm, on arrival at the pub. It may have been a shorter and certainly less challenging walk, but for all of us, the legs are now really feeling the effort of the cumulative miles racked up on the C2C and it was really good to have Pete with us today to help us along! We probably bored him silly as we battered him with story after story from the walk so far, but, what the heck.....it really helped while away the time on this leg!



The Lion Inn is an amazing place. Completely isolated and in the middle of nowhere, the pub & restaurant is pretty big inside, but very attractively done. And very, very busy.....where do all these people come from? Our rooms were very comfortable and, joy of joy...............a BATH! Somewhere to soak our aching bones for a while, as opposed to the showers that we have mainly had.

Another welcoming sight on arrival at the Lion, was Pete's wife Gill, although it was 'air-kisses' only, with Gill not being impressed with our two week beard growth (Tina and Jane excluded, of course....their beards weren't too bad.......sorry ladies!). The 6 of us ate together that evening and 'enjoyed' some of the largest plates of food I have ever seen!

 


9 miles completed today, taking us up to 171 in total and we are now down to only 30 to go over the final two legs. Tomorrow, it's about 14.5 miles down the apparently pretty, Esk valley to Grosmont, although how much we will see will be debatable, because the weather forecast is pretty foul - in fact, as I type this at 6 am on Saturday morning, it's absolutely lashing down outside....deep joy!!! But it's the home stretch now, so who cares........we may feel a little different tomorrow night, of course!!
 



 Today's QI 'Facts from the Tracks' are:
 
* The Lion Inn can trace its roots as a settlement back to the Bronze Age and as an Inn to the 1550's;
*The Rosedale Ironstone Railway was an 11 mile goods only line running from Battersby in the North Yorks Moors to the Rosedale Valley iron ore mines. It opened in 1861 and closed in 1929;
* Other than the Willow Grouse, all male species of Grouse are polygamous!