Lyke Wake Walk during a really dry Summer, with a recommended Nap
I did the Lyke Wake Walk, travelling West to East, starting at 0934 on Saturday 1st August 2026 and walking under the signal tower outside Ravenscar around 0630 on Sunday 2nd August.
This was an unsupported traverse and I offer the following observations for those attempting the Walk during a dry Summer.
First, from the map I realised that unless I took the 3km detour to the Lion Inn there is no certain water source directly on the route between Lordstones (km8) and Wheeldale Beck (km45). For me this meant leaving Lordstones well hydrated and with over 3L of water.
Second, due to the vagaries of public transport I couldn’t start before 0930. I didn’t want to be stumbling about in the darkest bit of the night so I brought a bivvy bag, sleep mat and some down clothes (total weight just over 2kg) and bivvy’d down for 5 hours outside RAF Fylingdales as it got dark. A bed in a 5 star hotel has never felt so good and I was much refreshed for the last quarter of the walk.
One thing I got wrong however was wearing approach shoes, i.e, lightweight walking shoes. A stiffer sole would have been better; I had really big blisters on the balls of my feet from Fylingdales to the end.
What a great walk, I look forward to doing it again with friends.