W13 - Ingleby Cross to Great Broughton - fantastic views

Wainwright came back with a bang today. Whilst the Lake District was a big climb up and long walk down, the Cleveland Hills are more subtle. You never go more than 350m up in one go but its all ups and downs (a bit like the Old Grand Duke of York). So stats wise we did 14.8 miles and the equivalent of 142 floors. The walking is generally forest or moorland: quite stunning. Also we were right on the ridge edge so you could see miles into the distance e.g. the chemical works at Wilton, the steel works at Hartlepool and the sea. We have only 40 miles left (and 3 days of walking !).

Longer version
We stayed at Park House just outside Ingleby Cross. The food was both delicious and mammoth - both dinner and breakfast. I think in Yorkshire they like the plate piled high with extras in reserve. We had dinner with two couples from Poole Dorset and 3 Irish men from Belfast.

In the morning we headed up the first of probably 6 up and downs - switch backs on legs is how Andrea described them. The North York Moors is the most forested of our National Parks and we certainly spent quite a bit of time in them as shown here with the huge pine trees (btw at this point we were a bit off track but don't tell Andrea)

Soon we were climbing again and the views were brilliant (although a bit overcast). The hills were basically covered in either ferns or moorland - a bit of a Wainwright theme. But I think he got you up here so you could look at the views. here we are at the top of one of them

On another hill you maybe able to just make out 2 lads from Middlesborough who came up to wave the English flag to celebrate the Brexit result- one literally ran passed us on the up section which was a bit soul destroying:

Last view for today (honest):

So a good day of walking with just a little shower (we have been so lucky). Andrea is getting so much faster going up the hills it is quite unbelievable. Also unbelievable is that we are told there is only one big hill to go !!!

Nothing quirky today although we did see an Austin 7