Day 11: Little Beck to Robin Hood’s Bay

Stayed at: The Bay Hotel

The day started with a lovely home cooked breakfast, kitten antic watching and a warm hug from our hostess to send us on our final leg.

We took a public track from the farm to join up with the main path but somehow managed to zig when we should have zagged and found ourselves on the wrong side of the river. As 2 first-born daughters, we decided to forge our own path and find somewhere to cross rather than going back.

We eventually found our way, it was however rather a clamber down and up the steep riverbanks, across slippery rocks and through spiky holly bushes. The mosquitoes loved it!

Back on the C2C path proper we thoroughly enjoyed the peaceful and gorgeous Little Beck Wood for a mile or so before joining the road up to the final moor we had to cross.

Sadly there had been some large wildfires last year so the heather was missing or blackened and the few trees looked in pretty bad shape. It was clear works are being done to restore both the moor and the path but our feet were grateful the giant piles of new stones had not been laid yet and we could tread more comfortably on the flat path.

After a few more miles we played Frogger for the last time and followed the road to Hawsker. There was a nice looking little honesty shop but we decided to press on being only a few miles away from our final destination.

We walked through a caravan park to the coastal path then proceeded to marvel and gawk at cliffs and clear, almost still, water as far as the eye could see. The sun was shining, the water was blue, the breeze was cool – it was a spectacular final walk.

We checked in on our luggage storage before descending into the old town of Robin Hood’s Bay and our lodgings for the night at the Bay Hotel, home of Wainwright’s bar.

In keeping with tradition we dipped our toes in the waters of the North Sea and threw in the pebbles we had chosen from the Irish Sea 192m/309km ago in St Bees.

Having arrived a tad early to check in to our rooms there was nothing for it but to grab ourselves a pint and sit outside in the glorious weather watching for fellow walkers arriving and congratulating them.

Jeremy and Janice whom we had spent a lovely evening meal and breakfast with as fellow guests the night prior were first to arrive.

Some time later ‘Simon/Andrew’ (aka: Will) strode in and his lovely parents were there to help him celebrate the accomplishment.

We half expected to see Martin the Kiwi who we had crossed paths with several times but we somehow missed him coming in.

As afternoon turned to evening the locals emerged from their shops to join tourists and walkers around the dock. We were still wearing our matching shirts, hats and earrings so made friends easily. It turned out the man who lives in the house directly opposite the Bay Hotel was originally from Pennsylvania so hearing Heather’s accent he invited us to sit with his group of friends on his porch?/cobblestone sidewalk.

We spent FAR too much time gasbagging and drinking before eventually making our way in for food but a fun time was had by all.

It was a wonderful end to an incredible and challenging two weeks that we will not likely forget for a very long time.