Goodbye Robin Hoods Bay, Hello Spain

Way back in Patterdale we noticed someone with a large pack that had a white waterproof cover – Steve and I took to calling him “white pack”. We took his picture for him (with his camera) on Kidsty Pike and said hi to him a few times along the way. We didn’t really speak to him until we got to Keld Lodge where we learnt his name was Mike and he was doing the Coast to Coast the hard way – carrying all his gear including tent (only around 2% of the 6,000+ people who do the walk do it this way).

At Keld Lodge Mike regaled us with stories over a few ales. Turns out he had worked in Australia near Coober Pedy cooking for some jackeroos who were rounding up cattle in the outback. He had also travelled the world on his motorbike which he was having trouble starting. He was walking to his parent’s place near Robin Hoods Bay where his motorbike and most of his other belongings were. So Steve offered to have a look if it could be organised either the day we arrived or before we left for Scarborough the following morning.

Mike found us at Robin Hoods Bay (not a big place) and said he would take us to Scarborough train station the next day if Steve looked at his bike. He took us to his parent’s place where he introduced Steve to his old Honda…and his old (some brand we don’t know – Jawa?)…and his old MG…and his old Vespa…and his grandma’s old Morris 1100…and his old (foot powered) scooter…and his old ski sled…oh, and his mum Maureen (his dad was playing golf).

We had a cup of tea and scones (requested by Steve) with Mike’s mum Maureen (a very nice lady) while Steve gave Mike’s Honda a thorough going over. Unfortunately it was declared dead but Mike still stuck to his end of the deal (as we suspected he always would) and drove us to Scarborough while singing Two Little Boys and assorted Monty Python tunes.

What we haven’t mentioned until now is that if you look closely at some of the photos you will see (despite the make-up) that Sylvia is sporting two black eyes. (Almost three weeks later they still haven’t completely disappeared). On day 6 (Sat 22/8) walking from Shap to Orton (just outside Oddendale) she took a tumble and landed fair and square face first with her nose taking the brunt of the fall. Lesson for walkers with hooks on their boots – no matter how sore your ankles don’t leave the top hooks undone or you too could find your right lace hooked onto your left boot and the road rapidly approaching your face. Anyway Mike bought her a little pendant of Whitby jet because he thought it was good that she hadn’t abandoned the walk. There is a runic symbol on the pendant that means “Safe Travel”.

It was a short train ride from Scarborough to York where we had to change to a train going to London Kings Cross. We asked the station staff which platform and waited patiently while organising lunch and coffees. Just before the train pulled in there was an announcement over the intercom made by someone from the same school that all train announcers go to that we couldn’t understand which caused some people to start running to another platform. When the train pulled in I asked which carriage we should get on only to discover that although it was going to Kings Cross it wasn’t our train! We had to be where the others had sprinted to which was across a bridge.

Just to add to the panic, our train was just  arriving so I sprinted across the bridge and stood holding the door to our carriage open. This left Sylvia, Steve and Carol manhandling a trolley with four large backpacks down a lift, sprinting the underpass and going up the lift on the other side. We threw the bags onto the train and as Carol was getting on they shut the doors behind her almost pushing her onto the train – disaster averted.

The train ride to Kings Cross took around 3 hours but – how cool is this – it had a wi-fi connection to the internet. This gave us a chance to post another day’s events to our blog and Carol managed a post or two to theirs.

We stayed overnight at a guest house near Stansted Airport called The Willows. This was only 20 minutes from Anni’s current digs so she came and picked us up for dinner. We had a very pleasant meal at a small pub called The Three Horseshoes. (Steve – if you are reading this I have to apologise. Although I got all your Robin Hoods Bay photos it seems that I missed adding in your photos from the Willows and The Three Horseshoes that night – SORRY!)

The next morning it was up early and on the plane to Oviedo in Spain!