Day 14 – Osmotherley to Urra

Osmotherley to Urra (near Clay Bank Top) 20.3 km. It was quite a hard day with a number of climbs (5 I think plus the last hill in Urra before the accommodation) – total climbing 927m longest climb 213m longest descent 155m.

We were back up on the moors with some pretty awesome views and perhaps because the weather was slightly warmer, and not as wet, the heather seemed to be more in flower than earlier.

As well as the gurning shots Frank had developed a routine of taking photos of our morning tea and lunch stops. On this particular day we were sharing the views with two young women (may have been sisters) who were doing part of the Cleveland Way (which is also part of the Coast to Coast). We asked them if they would take a photo for us and below left is the result (I think they thought we were a little mad :-)

We stopped at Lord Stones Cafe (which is partly built into the hillside) for bacon butties (which are now bacon buns) . We were a bit surprised (if not shocked) to find that it had quite a large car park and was obviously a very popular spot with the folks from miles around. At least we didn’t have to queue for food for forty minutes like the people in front of us did. I got talking to a nice guy in the queue who was waiting for a chip (hot chips not crisps) bun to fuel him up on his 55km run for the day. Turns out he was in training to run the Coast to Coast in September and was hoping to complete it in 36 hours! Made me feel quite unfit :-)

This leg was made that bit harder by having to walk another couple of km from Clay Bank Top (one of which was along a very busy road with no footpath) to get to Maltkiln House at Urra which is  about one mile off the C2C. When I booked they inferred that all we need do was call for a lift, but when Frank called the night before to book dinner (nowhere near to eat) and arrange a lift the lady of the house told him we “wouldn’t need a lift”. By the time we got there Carol and I both thought otherwise. They were nice friendly people but the place could have done with a good spring clean – especially the tiles on the shower.

The top window on the right was our shared lounge area and the location of the shared bathroom.  Our window is the one to the left which was above the dining room where we had dinner and breakfast. The window bottom right was Carol and Steve’s room. We got the feeling it was a converted barn and the door on the end of the building was probably where they unloaded hay. It was a nice old building and in a beautiful (if off the C2C) spot.

UK Coast to Coast - Osmotherley to Urra (Day 14)

Gurning Shot of the Day – Alec Falconer Memorial Seat