Day 14 Great Broughton to Blakey Ridge
Monday 3 June 2024, 9.5 miles
The Wainstones Hotel had a car to take us back up the road to our finish point from the day before at Clay Bank Top. From there, we paused to take a selfie with the steep climb in the background and then started to plod our way up the steep ascent to Urra Moor along the stone packhorse track. and then an easy traverse on to higher ground.
You work your way round the top of the high moor then once up on the top, the route follows the track of an old Victorian railway which was put in to take the iron stone down from the high moor to be processed lower down the hill. It is easy walking for the rest of the way and no navigation required as you stick to the old track-bed for mile after mile. We had a glorious sunny day for this stretch and it was very pleasant strolling along. The Cleveland Way peels off to head north just by Bloworth Crossing and its railway embankments. From here the Coast to Coast route carried on along a forgiving cinder track.
With the sun shining and the views opening up to your right it is easy to just stop and watch the day go by. We saw a bit of wildlife on the moor and could hear a lot more. It seems hard to reconcile being on the high moorland and yet looking down at the rolling farm and dale down below. It is a bit like a preview of your final two days on the C2C.
After a while you start to pick out a building on the ridge ahead; but it doesn’t seem to get any closer. About 5 miles further down the track we eventually came to the short climb up to our stop for the night, the Lion Inn. The Lion Inn has been here since 1,553 AD though it has been modernised and grown since the inn was first established. It really is the only place to stop on this part of the route, so was bursting with Coast-to-Coasters; but there were quite a lot of other people in the restaurant who had driven there. It is obviously a popular spot. It has a place in the history of the North York Moors and well worth the stop for the night. It hosted rock concerts back in the day and everyone of a certain vintage in the North East tells a tale of being stuck there by a huge snowfall after a seminal concert and having to stay the night until rescue by the snow blower the next morning!
Strangely enough the book I took along with me, to read on the trek, one of S.G. McLean’s “The Seeker” series, featured the Lion Inn as part of the storyline so the Inn was clearly here in the late 1600’s.
Our room here was nice, the food and beer were excellent.
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