The Lyke Wake Walk (Part Two)

It was 3:30 a.m. on a warm summers morning, I'd only had approximately two hours sleep and was about to embark on one of the toughest walks that I had ever done, forty-two miles across the North Yorkshire Moors in twenty-four hours or less. I must be mad, but it's a challenge walk that I have always wanted to do and it's the only way to gain membership to the elite Lyke Wake Club.

The team consisting of myself and twelve other Staff members and Cadets from Bromley Volunteer Police Cadets were posing for photographs by the Lyke Wake stone at Scarth Wood Moor near Osmotherley before setting off on our epic adventure. At 3.44 a.m. we set off by torch light in high spirits following the road northwards before turning east and climbing gradually up onto the moor.

The first few miles of the path followed a series of short sharp ascents and descents along the ridge of the Cleveland Way with panoramic views across the plain towards the bright lights of Middlesborough. We were all feeling the burn in our calves and thighs and some of the less experienced walkers were finding the terrain tough going. The stunning views of the sunrise along the ridge more than compensated for the pain though.

After approximately ten miles we reached our first check point at about 8:00 a.m. However we were ahead of schedule  so had to sit around for a little while until our support vehicle made it's way to us with food and water. We had walked a quarter of the distance  and apart from a few aches we all felt in good shape. After eating our breakfast courtesy of the Youth Hostel and replenishing our water we crossed the road and ascended back up on to heather covered moor.

On this next section the going was much easier because we followed the path of an old railway track. Some of the younger members took advantage of the easy going and decided to speed march to a junction where our route split from the Cleveland Way. They would live to regret this decision later in the day. The sun was fully up now but fortunately there was a lot of cloud cover and a steady breeze blowing towards us. Part of the way along this track I hit the wall and we had only travelled approximately one third of the distance. With gritted teeth I started reciting my old walking chant (One two three four....I love the Marine Corps) over and over to myself and after an agonising couple of miles I got my second wind, thank God!

Several miles and some hours later we reached the Lion Inn Public House on Blakey Ridge where we were met by John and Ed our support team who walked out to greet us and lead us to the minibus. The aches and pains in our legs and bodies were now starting to kick in, after sitting down to eat our lunch we got up feeling like octogenarians. Anyway Ultreia (Onwards) as they say on the Camino, we hobbled off along the road which followed a drawn out hairpin bend along the ridge. Our legs soon loosened up but half an hour later after following the hairpin it seemed that we had hardly covered any distance as we looked back across the narrow valley towards the Inn.

At a junction in the road we headed off across country again into an area shown on the map as being several miles of a large boggy morass. This was going to be tough going I thought to myself. However the Spirits of the moor were on our side, while the rest of the country had suffered from intermittent rain in the previous weeks, up here in North Yorkshire it had stayed dry. Apart from the odd section of dark muddy bog the peat was dry and springy underfoot making it heaven to walk on. Morale was still high as we trudged into the next checkpoint for a well earned rest; some of the team took this opportunity to change their socks and footwear.

Eastbourne Airbourne

Mrs C and I went to the coast yesterday to Eastbourne to see the annual air show called 'Eastbourne Airborne' which is one of the few free air displays still going strong. Although we have lived in East Sussex for eight years this is the first time that we have managed to visit this show and it was well worth the effort.

When we arrived in town we decided to get something to eat so I suggested that we do the traditional sea side thing.

"Why don't we have fish and chips and eat them as we walk along the prom"

Mrs C replied "I'm not doing that we'll get attacked by penguins"

"I'd pay money to see that" I said "As they live in the antarctic"

"Not penguins, I mean sea gulls" she retorted as we both fell about laughing.

So instead we had an excellent lunch at 'Bills' sitting outside on a pavement table watching a constant stream of people heading for the beach equipped with camp chairs, binoculars and cameras with very large lenses.

After lunch we made our way to the promenade where we eventually found a place to watch the display from, standing room only at this stage. We arrived just as the RAF typhoon Eurofighter was showing off it's speed and agility and I was thinking that I would not want to be on the receiving end of it's payload of weaponry. In complete contrast the next aircraft to pass was a spitfire the iconic plane from the Battle of Britain which was well received by the spectators who waved as it finished it's display.

For me though the highlight of the show was the Vulcan Bomber a relic of the cold war of the nineteen-sixties and seventies. This was the only one of it's kind still flying and  Eastbourne Airborne was to be one of it's last air displays as soon it would be grounded due to there being a lack of spare parts to keep it air worthy.The last time that a Vulcan was flown in anger was during the Falklands war when a single aircraft flew non stop from the UK undergoing several air to air refuelling's to bomb the runway at Port Stanley which was occupied by the Argentinian forces.

A very nice lady standing next to us made me smile with a story that she related to us about an incident that she had just witnessed a little further along the prom towards Beachy Head. It occurred at a section of beach that was taped off as a sterile area for parachutists to land safely after their display. Apparently a rather arrogant man decided to go swimming from this area and refused to leave the water when challenged by the life guards. A spectator seeing this altercation picked up the swimmers pile of clothes and towel and threw them into the sea to much applause from the rest of the spectators. This got the swimmer out of the water pretty quickly and although I can't condone the actions of the spectator it does seem like a kind of poetic justice.

We had a great day out at Eastbourne starting with a delicious lunch followed by  the brilliant Air show and on the way home we called in at Mrs C's mother for afternoon tea. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

Little Dog has gone

It's raining outside as I sit here writing this short post for my blog which seems quite appropriate really as we had to have Little dog put to sleep last night. I am not writing this post because I want sympathy, only to say that even though she has gone I will keep the blog title in memory of her. This morning however the old homestead seems really quiet and empty without her curled up on the sofa next to me snoring loudly.

We've known all summer that Little dog was approaching her final days and that it was just a matter of time. She was nearly fifteen years old which is a good age for a Springer Spaniel. She had slowed down a lot, had cataracts in both eyes, was partially deaf and very wobbly on her feet but still got very excited when I produced her lead ready for her walk.

Little dog has been off colour for the past few days and yesterday evening she developed breathing problems so we took her to our Vets where the decision was taken to put her to sleep. She passed away very peacefully with Mrs C and myself stroking her head and back and shedding a few tears.

We thought that we were going to lose her last August after her severe ear infection but thanks to the professionalism, care and dedication of our Vets we had Little dog Hollie (Kennel club name 'Starfly Em') for an extra year for which we are eternally grateful. So a big thank you to all the staff  at Uckfield Vets, Starnes, Blowey, Wood & Turrell.

The Lyke Wake Walk (Part One)

Some years ago I read about a challenge walk across the North Yorkshire moors from Osmotherley in the west to Ravenscar on the coast in the east. The crossing covers a distance of forty two miles sticking principally to the heather clad high moorland with very few roads. The name of this crossing is The Lyke Wake Walk and it gets its title from the practice of carrying the dead from outlying hamlets to holy ground where the deceased would be given a Christian burial. In the old Yorkshire dialect a Lyke is a dead person and a Wake is the practice of keeping watch over the deceased until they are buried.

This was a walk that I added to my Bucket list along with the Camino de Santiago de Compostella and The Pennine Way. Being an Ex-Serviceman and Police Officer I tend to have a very dark sense of humour and the thought of following an ancient coffin road really appealed to me. My good friend and walking pal Neill approached me a few months ago and asked if I was still interested in completing this challenge as he was planning on undertaking it with a team of Volunteer Police Cadets from Bromley. Like a fool I committed myself to this challenge.......and if we had known what we were about to go through we should all have been committed under the Mental Health Act for even thinking about it.

To complete the challenge and be eligible to join the exclusive Lyke Wake Club you must succeed in walking the distance within twenty-four hours. This would be a fairly easy undertaking if the route ran through Norfolk, Holland or Denmark. Unfortunately it doesn't, it runs through some pretty tough terrain with a great number of steep ascents and descents and a very large peat bog in the middle of it. The weather can also cause problems for prospective walkers so a rucksack containing waterproofs, spare fleece, hat, gloves, water, food, emergency bivvy bag, first aid kit, map and compass also had to be carried.

The walk can be done either unsupported or supported with a back up team in a vehicle who can meet the walkers at check points along the route with food, drinks etc. Being responsible adults (I know I can't believe that I said that either) we decided to have a support team in a minibus. They would meet us where the route bisected a number of small roads of varying distances apart along the way. The furthest distance between the check points was ten miles and the shortest was 1.3 miles, but this was at the very end.

We spent the night before the start in the excellent Youth Hostel at Cote Ghyll on the edge of Osmotherley only a short distance from the official start line at Scarth Wood Moor. We were due to commence the challenge at 3.30 a.m. so decided on an early night, however as every body was hyped up for the off we didn't manage more than about three hours sleep. There was also a group of teenagers from a church group in Florida staying at the hostel and we stayed up later than we intended talking to them. They were very pleasant with superb manners and they also promised to keep the noise down when they went to bed so as not to disturb us. But as you know, teenagers are teenagers no matter where they are from and although they tried their best to whisper it was a very loud whisper. I woke up at two a.m. to the low base throb of a music system that one of them had forgotten to switch off. So much for feeling refreshed ready for the day!

Note: The two maps shown above were taken (with thanks) from the Lyke Wake Club website and the satellite view was taken from a photograph on the wall of Cote Ghyll Youth Hostel

Kingstanding - The Pigsty

Up on top of the Forest at Kingstanding there are a lot of derelict buildings, many of which have been boarded up and fenced off as they contain asbestos, a legacy of when they were built during the war. All of the buildings served important roles in supporting the radio transmitters and each one was given a designated number which can still be seen painted on the brickwork today. Some of them have also been given unofficial names as well such as the rotunda and the cinema. 

The majority of these buildings are located within the inner compound set around the road circuit in close proximity to the bunker. There is one very small building though that is set apart form the rest standing all alone in the outer compound half way between the inner and outer fences. An overgrown concrete path leads directly to it from an old rusted up gate adjacent to the bunker. Designated Building 35, however on the old maps it is actually named as The Pigsty and is still known by that name today.

I know very little about what Building 35 was used for but I do know for certain that it was never a home for pigs. In it's hey day the pigsty was surrounded by several large aerial masts which give a clue as to what purpose it served. I understand that it was used either as a switching system enabling different transmitters to be connected to, or disconnected from the circuit for maintenance purposes, or as an antenna tuning station.

You can't enter the pigsty these days because the locks have seized up with age, however it is possible to look inside through the missing window panes and broken door slats. Inside you can see what appear to be large radio valves and other paraphernalia from the golden age of wireless telegraphy.I love the history and the feeling of abandonment in this place and also the wonderful colours and textures caused by years of exposure to the seasons. Hopefully my photographs convey this scene of dereliction accurately.