MK Shrimper
Striker
Question from the office: Is Paul doing this on his own?
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Mr B's 620m Coastal Walk - Cancer Research UK
BrettieAngell
THE ROCK GOD
Yeah he is, he will be meeting up with people along the way I believe though.
MK Shrimper
Striker
Even more respect. Hope he has a fully charged Ipod!
Napster
No ⭐
Full of Muse I guess.
BrettieAngell
THE ROCK GOD
and Pantera!
Crabby Shrimper
President
Absolutely fantastic effort. Any idea when you'll be passing Cromer, in Norfolk as I'm up there a fair bit these days?
MrB
Life President
Passing Cromer Sunday 19th so if you're about let me know!
MK, got the gf coming up on the two Saturdays, meeting Mark Davies (ex of Southend employment) coming along for a bit of Sunday's walk and a couple of colleagues coming up for the leg from Mundelsey to Yarmouth. A certain Barry Harris was meant to be coming up for a leg but I destroyed his feet on a practice walk!
Been surprised just how nice the North East is, though I've now arrived in Middlesbrough which is far more like I was expecting!
Mr B reports:
Day 6 completed! Flying by now, almost a third of the way through. Today was a pleasant surprise, I'd prepared myself mentally for a down day after the last two days had been so nice but I got lucky again. I was pretty tired last night and knowing that I was going to cut a bit of the walk out approaching Middlesbrough I decided to allow myself a little lay in so didn't set off until about 10am. I'd run out of suncream so needed to pick some up, thought I'd head off and when I saw a Tesco or similar I'd pick some up. I headed East back towards the coast and didn't come across anything other than terraced housing and off licenses, more like the North I had pictured in my head! It was pretty gloomy and overcast so I wasn't too worried about the suncream situation at the time. I hit the coast and immediately picked up the coastal trail which was nice and clear and easy to follow and I was able to follow this pretty much all the way down to Seaham where there was a big beach well populated by optimistic locals hoping the sun would appear. He'd a quick break here and then set off further down the coast. There was the option for either beach or cliff face walking but I'd been warned that certain parts of the beach were pretty polluted and quite unpleasant so I stayed on the coastal path. You could sometimes see down on the beach the effect that years of coal dumping has had, didn't get the full affect as the tide was partly in. Hopefully now it's stopped the sea will slowly dissipate the pollution. I was getting hungry and there was nothing on the coastline until Hartlepool so I ducked in at Horden and picked up some food and then followed a walkable B road for a while before returning to the beach and following the beach for many miles up to Hartlepool. Again you could see the effects of the coal with large areas covered in black. Nonetheless it was a really nice walk, something idyllic about beach walking, no sound of traffic, just the sound of the waves gently breaking and the odd bark of an excited dog bounding past. Once again the time flew by on the beach and I just kept walking as far as I could. Turned out to be a mistake as I'd forgotten that the beach ended at a place called the Headland which was an area that jutted out from the harbour, very nice but no way to get to the town centre from there! So had to double back a couple of miles and follow the dock round but as it had been a nice walk and the sun had come out I wasn't too bothered, plus it made back some miles that I would lose from skipping the Middlesbrough approach. I headed down to Seaton Carew and got on the train, I was originally going to get off at Billingham and cross the Tees but given the small distance I decided just to carry on to Middlesbrough. Passing the industrial section to the East I'm definitely glad i skipped it, very unpleasant view with a musty industrial odour lingering. So instead of walking from Billingham I decided to take a stroll up to the Tees to have a look at the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge, one of only 11 of it's kind in the world apparently. A fascinating structure it transports cars and pedestrians across in a gondola 160 feet above the river! Not for the faint hearted. I did take a picture but it didn't come out annoyingly. Then headed down to the Lodge and now chilling out with the Olympics again.
So another good day, it's 3-3 now! Tough ones to come along the Yorkshire coast but I'm feeling good and my body has definitely settled down now and gotten used to the routine. Having said that my feet are very sore tonight but I think that's because I was on a roll and didn't rest when I should have done. I did have one stop when my big toe was getting more and more irritable, I assumed the chunky blister there had burst so dismissed it but eventually I had to check it out. Turns out the Compeed blister had come loose, squished up and was generally irritating my second toe! Removed that and all was well again and somehow the blister is still intact! It's a monster though. Am looking a bit pink without the suncream but I now have a new factor 20 which judging by the upcoming forecast will be needed! It was pleasant today even when the sun fully came out as there's a nice cool breeze rolling in from the North Sea.
Tomorrow won't be a great one, no choice but to head across the industrial zone towards Redcar to get back to the coast as to the South are the North Yorkshire Moors and I'm not walking through them! Once I get past that though it will be tough but should be some nice views! And at the end of it I get to see a familiar face for the first time all week which I can't wait for :-)
Day 6 completed! Flying by now, almost a third of the way through. Today was a pleasant surprise, I'd prepared myself mentally for a down day after the last two days had been so nice but I got lucky again. I was pretty tired last night and knowing that I was going to cut a bit of the walk out approaching Middlesbrough I decided to allow myself a little lay in so didn't set off until about 10am. I'd run out of suncream so needed to pick some up, thought I'd head off and when I saw a Tesco or similar I'd pick some up. I headed East back towards the coast and didn't come across anything other than terraced housing and off licenses, more like the North I had pictured in my head! It was pretty gloomy and overcast so I wasn't too worried about the suncream situation at the time. I hit the coast and immediately picked up the coastal trail which was nice and clear and easy to follow and I was able to follow this pretty much all the way down to Seaham where there was a big beach well populated by optimistic locals hoping the sun would appear. He'd a quick break here and then set off further down the coast. There was the option for either beach or cliff face walking but I'd been warned that certain parts of the beach were pretty polluted and quite unpleasant so I stayed on the coastal path. You could sometimes see down on the beach the effect that years of coal dumping has had, didn't get the full affect as the tide was partly in. Hopefully now it's stopped the sea will slowly dissipate the pollution. I was getting hungry and there was nothing on the coastline until Hartlepool so I ducked in at Horden and picked up some food and then followed a walkable B road for a while before returning to the beach and following the beach for many miles up to Hartlepool. Again you could see the effects of the coal with large areas covered in black. Nonetheless it was a really nice walk, something idyllic about beach walking, no sound of traffic, just the sound of the waves gently breaking and the odd bark of an excited dog bounding past. Once again the time flew by on the beach and I just kept walking as far as I could. Turned out to be a mistake as I'd forgotten that the beach ended at a place called the Headland which was an area that jutted out from the harbour, very nice but no way to get to the town centre from there! So had to double back a couple of miles and follow the dock round but as it had been a nice walk and the sun had come out I wasn't too bothered, plus it made back some miles that I would lose from skipping the Middlesbrough approach. I headed down to Seaton Carew and got on the train, I was originally going to get off at Billingham and cross the Tees but given the small distance I decided just to carry on to Middlesbrough. Passing the industrial section to the East I'm definitely glad i skipped it, very unpleasant view with a musty industrial odour lingering. So instead of walking from Billingham I decided to take a stroll up to the Tees to have a look at the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge, one of only 11 of it's kind in the world apparently. A fascinating structure it transports cars and pedestrians across in a gondola 160 feet above the river! Not for the faint hearted. I did take a picture but it didn't come out annoyingly. Then headed down to the Lodge and now chilling out with the Olympics again.
So another good day, it's 3-3 now! Tough ones to come along the Yorkshire coast but I'm feeling good and my body has definitely settled down now and gotten used to the routine. Having said that my feet are very sore tonight but I think that's because I was on a roll and didn't rest when I should have done. I did have one stop when my big toe was getting more and more irritable, I assumed the chunky blister there had burst so dismissed it but eventually I had to check it out. Turns out the Compeed blister had come loose, squished up and was generally irritating my second toe! Removed that and all was well again and somehow the blister is still intact! It's a monster though. Am looking a bit pink without the suncream but I now have a new factor 20 which judging by the upcoming forecast will be needed! It was pleasant today even when the sun fully came out as there's a nice cool breeze rolling in from the North Sea.
Tomorrow won't be a great one, no choice but to head across the industrial zone towards Redcar to get back to the coast as to the South are the North Yorkshire Moors and I'm not walking through them! Once I get past that though it will be tough but should be some nice views! And at the end of it I get to see a familiar face for the first time all week which I can't wait for :-)
Mr B Reports:
As I'm meeting Heather at Whitby I thought I'd start writing this one as I went. Started out early in Middlesbrough and headed out for the coast, trying to stay as far South of the Industrial area as possible. It was a pretty boring route out and I moved off my mapped route to get to the coast quicker just south of Redcar, from here I moved onto the beach and followed that down to Saltburn-by-the-Sea, a small seaside town. This is where the Cleveland Way hits the coast and rises onto the cliffs (having started in the North Yorkshire Moors). I grabbed a bit of food and climbed up to the trail which was clear and easy to follow but very undulating and I did turn my ankle and stack it at one stage! Luckily nobody saw me and it wasn't my dodgy ankle! After 4 miles the trail drops to the beach via some pretty steep steps down the cliff face, I took these pretty steadily given the high winds!
This led to another little mining town, Skinningrove. I was going to stop for a drink but it didn't look to welcoming with some burly Northerners standing on the edge looking suspiciously at anyone walking past! So I clambered back up another stairway onto the cliff face again knowing there was another village a bit further down. A little way down a wandering coastguard stopped me to warn me about some dodgy cliff area a bit further down. I didn't notice it particularly, the trail certainly went pretty close to the cliff face though, I've never been great with heights. But it always seemed safe, I'd have felt in more danger standing next to a tube track with Danny Cox after Leicester away....
Eventually the trail dropped downhill again, it was quite a steep slope which put a lot of strain on the knees. This eventually led down to the village of Streathe which looked a bit friendlier so a stopped here for a much needed rest and pint. Set off and was faced with another huge upslope back to the cliff face again. This was proving to be quite a test! Another few miles along the coast and yet another big drop into Runswick Bay. I walked along the beach before rejoining the path but naturally this meant another stair climb and this one was the most epic of the lot and I felt drained by the time I got to the top. Fortunately I only had another 6 or so miles to go and Heather had arrived at the hotel and this spurred me on to get to Whitby, though the 3 mile uphill walk at the end wasn't welcome!!
This was a lovely scenic walk (eventually) but also by far the most physically demanding after a relatively flat last few days. I feel pretty drained, especially knowing I have another 30 miles of this tomorrow! But it was nice to let my legs take some strain, I didn't really notice my aching feet that much for once! The mapped route was road for some reason so I reckon with the zig zags of the coastal path I've done a couple of extra miles at least today.
With Heather here I can change my bag contents over which will be nice, even the clean clothes were feeling pretty clammy after being in the bag with the used stuff! I can also shed a few items I don't need to hopefully make the bag lighter. My shoulders are feeling the effects of a week of carrying and like a finely tuned F1 car, a few lbs here and there make all the difference to performance! ;-)
Tomorrow will be tough again but Monday is now my designated semi-rest day so knowing I have that will hopefully give me the push I need.
As I'm meeting Heather at Whitby I thought I'd start writing this one as I went. Started out early in Middlesbrough and headed out for the coast, trying to stay as far South of the Industrial area as possible. It was a pretty boring route out and I moved off my mapped route to get to the coast quicker just south of Redcar, from here I moved onto the beach and followed that down to Saltburn-by-the-Sea, a small seaside town. This is where the Cleveland Way hits the coast and rises onto the cliffs (having started in the North Yorkshire Moors). I grabbed a bit of food and climbed up to the trail which was clear and easy to follow but very undulating and I did turn my ankle and stack it at one stage! Luckily nobody saw me and it wasn't my dodgy ankle! After 4 miles the trail drops to the beach via some pretty steep steps down the cliff face, I took these pretty steadily given the high winds!
This led to another little mining town, Skinningrove. I was going to stop for a drink but it didn't look to welcoming with some burly Northerners standing on the edge looking suspiciously at anyone walking past! So I clambered back up another stairway onto the cliff face again knowing there was another village a bit further down. A little way down a wandering coastguard stopped me to warn me about some dodgy cliff area a bit further down. I didn't notice it particularly, the trail certainly went pretty close to the cliff face though, I've never been great with heights. But it always seemed safe, I'd have felt in more danger standing next to a tube track with Danny Cox after Leicester away....
Eventually the trail dropped downhill again, it was quite a steep slope which put a lot of strain on the knees. This eventually led down to the village of Streathe which looked a bit friendlier so a stopped here for a much needed rest and pint. Set off and was faced with another huge upslope back to the cliff face again. This was proving to be quite a test! Another few miles along the coast and yet another big drop into Runswick Bay. I walked along the beach before rejoining the path but naturally this meant another stair climb and this one was the most epic of the lot and I felt drained by the time I got to the top. Fortunately I only had another 6 or so miles to go and Heather had arrived at the hotel and this spurred me on to get to Whitby, though the 3 mile uphill walk at the end wasn't welcome!!
This was a lovely scenic walk (eventually) but also by far the most physically demanding after a relatively flat last few days. I feel pretty drained, especially knowing I have another 30 miles of this tomorrow! But it was nice to let my legs take some strain, I didn't really notice my aching feet that much for once! The mapped route was road for some reason so I reckon with the zig zags of the coastal path I've done a couple of extra miles at least today.
With Heather here I can change my bag contents over which will be nice, even the clean clothes were feeling pretty clammy after being in the bag with the used stuff! I can also shed a few items I don't need to hopefully make the bag lighter. My shoulders are feeling the effects of a week of carrying and like a finely tuned F1 car, a few lbs here and there make all the difference to performance! ;-)
Tomorrow will be tough again but Monday is now my designated semi-rest day so knowing I have that will hopefully give me the push I need.
Don't forget you can follow all B's daily updates with photos, by joining this group on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/419038898124186/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/419038898124186/
I hope he had fish and chips in Whitby, some of the best in the country!
Gt Yarmouth Shrimper
President⭐⭐🦐
Mr B reports:
Day 8! Last night's report was posted in a bit of a rush, I was really late getting to Whitby after the coastal trail added so much to my journey, my initial estimate of 2 miles extra turned out to be closer to 4 and I was seriously dead when I turned up. But seeing Heather at the end of it was a serious uplift and we had a fantastic meal at the hotel. I slept like a log last night and ended up waking up a bit later than usual.
As I'd done the extra miles and knowing I was meeting Mark in Scarborough I allowed myself to relax a bit and instead of hitting the trail again I got Heather to drop me about 5 miles down the road at Robin Hood's Bay. I set off from here and managed to make an early mistake, the coastal guy's website talked about being able to walk quite far along the beach to then rejoin the trail. When he did that the tide must have been out as I did the same but got to an outcrop of rocks that you couldn't pass without swimming or wading up to your waist (as some people were doing!). I didn't want to get soaked so ended up having to double back and climb the trail from the start of the beach.
Once up the trail was clear and easy to follow again, a few steep ups and downs like yesterday but nothing too taxing for many miles. This was until I got to Hayburn Wyke, I could see the dip coming but the steepness took me by surprise. Stone based steps that were pretty muddy and slippery due to the shade. Descending was slow progress and naturally just like yesterday there followed a huge ascent again of similarly stony stairs and despite all my stair climbing I had to stop and rest a couple of times to get to the top. I have to say that some of the views on this trail are breathtaking, though at times I have no breath to take!
After this it was about 6 miles to the borders of Scarborough where I was meeting Mark. I'd been walking without a break for quite a while but I didn't want to be late so plowed on. When I eventually reached the final cliff outlet I was so relieved to see the beach and promenade knowing I would soon get my rest. I called Mark and we spent a few minutes confusing each other with descriptions of where we were. It didn't take long to realise that there were two bays in Scarborough split by a cliff, North and South. Naturally I was on North Bay and Mark was on South! No point them coming to me so I plowed on the extra 2.5 miles to get to South Bay which was damn hard having been so ready for a break! Eventually caught up with Mark, Rachel and little Hollie for an hour which was great, after 7 days alone it was a luxury to see familiar faces twice in 24 hours!
They set off and I headed back off down the trail. The trail ended in Filey but my mapped route cut off before that to get to Hunmanby. I decided to finish the trail and get into Filey. Time was pushing on and when I got to Filey there was a train heading to Hunmanby in about 10 minutes, for the sake of 2 miles I got the train as I was running on empty and I knew the connecting road wasn't pathed.
The hotel was about a mile walk from the station and what a pleasant surprise when I got there! I knew this was one of the nicer hotels I had booked and I knew I was chancing it when I asked about a discount. However it turns out that the owner has had many losses to cancer and was happy to accomodate me for free for the cause. She wasn't there tonight so I'm hoping she will be there in the morning so I can thank her personally. The restaurant in the hotel was top notch and I had an amazing meal. I'm now residing in a local pub watching the closing ceremony.
So 2/5 in and tomorrow I have the break day. My feet seem to have plateaued, they're going to hurt whatever happens but are more like a numb background pain that surfaces with a bite every so often as a reminder to rest them. But now my calves and shins are starting to rebel as well, any wrong step sends a twang up my calf and I'm surprised I haven't had any cramp yet. I think tomorrow will do them good but I will need to make sure they're stretched and it's the reason I'm doing the walk tomorrow rather than just going straight down and resting.
So almost halfway. I don't have the exact numbers but I believe I'm at about 240/250 miles which is not far from my original plan so I'm definitely ahead of my new asking rate of 28 miles per day. However the rest day will knock 20 odd miles off that so I'm going to need to stick as closely as possible to the other routes and hold the 20 or so miles I have in hand to make 560 as long as possible as I suspect I'll need them!
Don't expect much update tomorrow, not a lot is going to happen!
However once again I have to thank all of you for your support, it's pretty overwhelming and I'm amazed how much everyone is interested in what I'm doing. Thank you so much xx
Day 8! Last night's report was posted in a bit of a rush, I was really late getting to Whitby after the coastal trail added so much to my journey, my initial estimate of 2 miles extra turned out to be closer to 4 and I was seriously dead when I turned up. But seeing Heather at the end of it was a serious uplift and we had a fantastic meal at the hotel. I slept like a log last night and ended up waking up a bit later than usual.
As I'd done the extra miles and knowing I was meeting Mark in Scarborough I allowed myself to relax a bit and instead of hitting the trail again I got Heather to drop me about 5 miles down the road at Robin Hood's Bay. I set off from here and managed to make an early mistake, the coastal guy's website talked about being able to walk quite far along the beach to then rejoin the trail. When he did that the tide must have been out as I did the same but got to an outcrop of rocks that you couldn't pass without swimming or wading up to your waist (as some people were doing!). I didn't want to get soaked so ended up having to double back and climb the trail from the start of the beach.
Once up the trail was clear and easy to follow again, a few steep ups and downs like yesterday but nothing too taxing for many miles. This was until I got to Hayburn Wyke, I could see the dip coming but the steepness took me by surprise. Stone based steps that were pretty muddy and slippery due to the shade. Descending was slow progress and naturally just like yesterday there followed a huge ascent again of similarly stony stairs and despite all my stair climbing I had to stop and rest a couple of times to get to the top. I have to say that some of the views on this trail are breathtaking, though at times I have no breath to take!
After this it was about 6 miles to the borders of Scarborough where I was meeting Mark. I'd been walking without a break for quite a while but I didn't want to be late so plowed on. When I eventually reached the final cliff outlet I was so relieved to see the beach and promenade knowing I would soon get my rest. I called Mark and we spent a few minutes confusing each other with descriptions of where we were. It didn't take long to realise that there were two bays in Scarborough split by a cliff, North and South. Naturally I was on North Bay and Mark was on South! No point them coming to me so I plowed on the extra 2.5 miles to get to South Bay which was damn hard having been so ready for a break! Eventually caught up with Mark, Rachel and little Hollie for an hour which was great, after 7 days alone it was a luxury to see familiar faces twice in 24 hours!
They set off and I headed back off down the trail. The trail ended in Filey but my mapped route cut off before that to get to Hunmanby. I decided to finish the trail and get into Filey. Time was pushing on and when I got to Filey there was a train heading to Hunmanby in about 10 minutes, for the sake of 2 miles I got the train as I was running on empty and I knew the connecting road wasn't pathed.
The hotel was about a mile walk from the station and what a pleasant surprise when I got there! I knew this was one of the nicer hotels I had booked and I knew I was chancing it when I asked about a discount. However it turns out that the owner has had many losses to cancer and was happy to accomodate me for free for the cause. She wasn't there tonight so I'm hoping she will be there in the morning so I can thank her personally. The restaurant in the hotel was top notch and I had an amazing meal. I'm now residing in a local pub watching the closing ceremony.
So 2/5 in and tomorrow I have the break day. My feet seem to have plateaued, they're going to hurt whatever happens but are more like a numb background pain that surfaces with a bite every so often as a reminder to rest them. But now my calves and shins are starting to rebel as well, any wrong step sends a twang up my calf and I'm surprised I haven't had any cramp yet. I think tomorrow will do them good but I will need to make sure they're stretched and it's the reason I'm doing the walk tomorrow rather than just going straight down and resting.
So almost halfway. I don't have the exact numbers but I believe I'm at about 240/250 miles which is not far from my original plan so I'm definitely ahead of my new asking rate of 28 miles per day. However the rest day will knock 20 odd miles off that so I'm going to need to stick as closely as possible to the other routes and hold the 20 or so miles I have in hand to make 560 as long as possible as I suspect I'll need them!
Don't expect much update tomorrow, not a lot is going to happen!
However once again I have to thank all of you for your support, it's pretty overwhelming and I'm amazed how much everyone is interested in what I'm doing. Thank you so much xx
Kent Shrimper
Mike Reid
MrB
Life President
Indeed, forgive my spelling! Should be strolling through GY early evening, I'm actually staying at Gorleston. I'll drop you a line on the day.
Making the most of my rest day today by doing absolutely nothing and letting my feet and legs recover a bit, they certainly need it!
BrettieAngell
THE ROCK GOD
Not far from £5K now! :thumbsup:
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