The New Lyke Wake Club

Lyke Wake Walk Supporters Report June 21/22nd 2019

After a horrendous journey up the A1 due to 2 accidents and queuing traffic, we pulled off after York to eat. Here the barman/waiter took the mickey out of the boys for drinking lime and soda until they told him how far they were planning to walk! We arrived in Ravenscar and then the four walkers Andy(mountain man) Cardell, Stephen (pilot) Leggott and Dave and Paul from somewhere down south set off at 9.30pm Very sad for me as I am no longer able to do the walk so supporting was the next best thing,
The weather was perfect cool but dry and clear.
We drove round to the crossing on Scarborough Whitby road to make sure they we on their way then we had a quick drive to Ellerbeck where we waited with bated breath for our intrepid explorers. They were late or were we just a bit anxious and enthusiastic!
After fuelling them with jam butties and flapjack, Debbie shooed them out with her no-nonsense school maam voice!
Driving round to Hamer in the dark had its moments with Debbie driving mountain mans car which is twice the size of her own car. We had to stop at the road signs to squint at them to see where we were as I couldn’t see the map in the dark.
We arrived at Hamer and I would like to apologise to the person asleep in their car for the noise we made doing a six point turn on a narrow road.
Sitting in the dark waiting seemed forever and then we spotted their head torches coming across Wheldale moor then as dawn broke, they turned them off and we lost them until they appeared on the path.
Fuelled this time with chicken and bacon pasta and banana cake they were escorted onto the bogs. We then drove round to Ralphs cross. Confident that the bogs were wet enough to slow them down, Debbie settled for a quick nap while I had a walk around checking the road for them coming. Sure, that I hadn’t missed them they crept up on us. More apologies this time to the people in the campervan who were probably expecting a peaceful night’s sleep only to be awoken by a group of nutters eating malt loaf and flapjack at 5 in the morning.
We had to be a bit more forceful ejecting them from the checkpoint and we drove off to Carlton bank.
While waiting in the layby, Julie and Gerry came down the steps with their party crossing west to east. After a chat we asked them to tell our walkers to get a move on when they met them as we were getting bored.
They strolled into the checkpoint mumbling under their breath about not only support party bullying them but other walkers as well!
Apparently the next 4 miles to Lords stones seemed a lot longer. (I remember that feeling well)
We enjoyed a bacon butty and coffee in the café while they stumbled across the track. We then encouraged them to hurry up to the finish as we were looking forward to hospitality at Swan House.
Cod Beck was very busy with families cooling down. As our party rounded the last bend to the stone, we greeted them with gin and tonic and warm champagne and a well-earned bacon butty. Lovely. Walk time 13 hours 37 minutes.
This was then followed by us all enduring Debbie’s severe case of road rage as she drove through a very busy Osmotherley and arrived at Swan house and after a shower and sleep for some we then were treated to one of Christine’s epic roast dinners.
Missed doing the walk with the feeling of achievement you get at them end, loved being support across the Moors.
After a better journey back Pete and Dave (from somewhere down souths) last words to us were “hope we never see you again” That’s gratitude for you
Well done to walkers Andy Cardell, Stephen Leggott, Dave Maytum and Pete Horrel
Debbie Wray and I Lynn Chapman were the support.

Lyke Wake Crossing Report Saturday 22nd May 2019.

A group of us from Northallerton completed the LWW last Saturday the 22nd June and I have written a brief account of our adventure below. It was a good walk with great scenery so thanks for the good work the club does in keeping the information available online for fools like us to take up the challenge:

On the 22nd June 2019, 12 of us huddled around the stone at Ravenscar for a 4am photo of the start. Despite there being a few hiccups up to that point (sleeping through alarms, wrong pick-up times etc), the group had planned sufficiently well to take these issues in our stride and still met the start time with everyone present and correct. Hopefully this preparation (or possibly blind luck) would continue to pay off during the day.
A suitable pace was set, interrupted only by photos of the sunrise until the question of route choice was raised – a previous recce was to be thanked for allowing someone to point out the error of our path choice before it was too catastrophic, and upon consulting the map we corrected for our 2 off-course drifts with a short off-piste wade through the brush. Upon regaining the correct path we noted that the 2 walkers holding maps were chatting at the back and made a mental note to regroup and confirm any choices at junctions. The weather was kind to us as the sun came up over relatively dry moorland and, while the paths were not always obvious, it was at least possible to choose a winding (tortuous?) route rather than the wading upstream we experienced on the aforementioned recce. Good spirits held, and progress was made at a steady pace of around 3mph.
The group was made up of some firm friends and some new acquaintances but during the day we learned a lot about each other, including such information as their favourite expletive or shrieking pitch when the bog was found to be deeper or the mud found to be more slippery than expected. We can all now say with certainty to whom an unfortunate incident has happened by their distinguishing cry. Nearing halfway morale started to get a little lower as people were individually afflicted by niggling troubles and the group became fragmented as the difficult terrain dragged on.
At the halfway(ish) point of the Lion at Blakey we were met by our 1st support vehicle and “Sherpa Kate” for restocking and sock/boot changes. 30 minutes was our allotted time and we all set off with freshly re-weighted baggage and bellies. All were pleasantly surprised by the change from twisty boggy paths to well-made trails and the speed, and mood, once again picked up as previous discomforts were temporarily forgotten.
The next support point was at Clay Bank (thanks Sherpas Sarah and Jen) where we mysteriously lost a team member for whom the lure of nearby hot food and rest for weary legs presumably overcame the upcoming sense of satisfaction at completing the challenge. A shame as the best part of the walk with good paths and less barren surroundings was just starting. The rest of us continued on towards our next support rendezvous resembling a troop from Monty python’s ministry of silly walks as various discomforts in feet and legs made their presence known once more. At Carlton Bank we found our support team of Paul and Vic had a camp stove set up with a choice of freshly made tea or coffee and ice creams waiting for us. This was just the pick-me-up we needed and after a brief sit down we made our way onwards towards the finish while the words “its somewhere between 5 and 10 miles to go” were ringing in our ears.
Onwards we trudged; different people leading for the ups and then swapping for the downs as it became possible to tell where people’s blisters were located by the walking styles they presented. We all adopted determined grimaces and pushed on. Before long we were met by support crew coming the other way to guide us home in the evening sun. This same support crew that had provided ice creams soon lost whatever favour they had earned when they directed us up the hill to a false finish at the LWW stone at grid ref: 471002 rather than the one at the head of Cod Beck reservoir.
Down the path and onwards along the road we struggled and assembled next to the stone atop a painfully small mound for celebrations and photographs at the end of a long day’s walk. There was talk of a pint or 2 in the pub, but for all except one brave (alcoholic?) adventurer the prospect of being transported home to warm baths was too compelling. A total of 17 hours for the journey across the moors and not one drop of rain, a remarkable feat on, what, by this time, had become remarkable feet.
Completed 66km in 16hrs 53 minutes traversing from East to West and raising ~£1000 for the Northallerton Amateur Swimming Club were:
Dirgers: Jonathan Brown, Pete Hinde, Mike Margerson, Peter Stanley, Jamie Tosh, Alastair Wilkin, Andrew Wyllie.
Witches: Beverley Bowers, Wendy Patterson Cullen, Sarah Schofield, Angela Wilkin.

Thanks
Pete

Lyke Wake Walk 14th June 2019

We did it!!

Myself (Tara Morris), Jade Baker, Christian Player, Abby Prince, Adam Tennant, Rob Davisworth, Amy Fleming, Penelope Chan, Melissa Hird, Andrew Walton and Richard Bentley completed the Lyke Wake Walk on Friday 14th June.

We set off from Osmotherley at 4.15 am (slightly later than planned due to one team member having a bath before he left!!). The first 10 miles were nice and straightforward with everyone in good spirits despite the rain. We are all pleased to see our first support vehicle at Claybank, especially as he had been locked in the campsite at Osmotherley until 7 am so it was close!

The next 10ish miles were a fairly pleasant walk along the old railway line with the next stop for hot dogs at checkpoint 3 (near the The Lion Inn).

Section 3-4 started off well and we were all pleased to see ‘Fat Betty’. However we then came to the peat bog section and it was tough going, three days of severe weather meant it was wet and slippy and took a lot longer than expected. We had people falling in wet holes disguised by heather or not quite making the jumps over the streams so we were very wet. One member slipped on a bank and fell, she warned others not to follow suit however another member of the team was sure he could manage it and then in slow motion came to exactly the same fate!!

We were all pleased to see the next support vehicle and change our socks!

Section 4-5 Hamer to Eller Beck was again quite boggy. The stepping stones were under water but only ankle deep. Some of us took our shoes off and walked across which was quite refreshing. One of us (the netballer) did this and decided to throw her walking boots across rather than carry them, unfortunately she did a terrible throw and the boot landed in the water, but not before the ‘catcher’ went in up to his knee trying to catch it! Great comic relief but very wet boots and people!

A final break and cake stop with the last support vehicle and then the final stretch. It felt like we would never get to the radio mast but we did and the feeling was great! We celebrated with Prosecco and lagers!!

We were all very tired, with some blisters and sore legs but the great company, lovely scenery, fantastic support and the fact we raised approximately £1,500 for our chosen charities made it all worthwhile.

The Lyke Wake Walk in Super Quick Time ………… a Walkthrough

Nigel Curson created this wonderful overview of the walk.

Strap yourself in ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,