The New Lyke Wake Club
Mission Accomplished – Jane and Gilly
I’d like to report a successful crossing of the Lyke Wake Walk on the 14th August 2026. Completed in just under 16 hours by Jane Green and Gilly Rock from Wakefield.
We started our walk at the LWW marker stone next to the car park at Cod Beck Reservoir at 3:25am. Fortunately we had good head torches because the first hour and a half was in the dark, mostly through the woods, which was quite daunting especially when the owls started screeching. On the plus side this quickened our pace. Our intention was to try and keep a good pace so that we wouldn’t be walking in the dark again at the end.
Initially, we had planned to do the walk unsupported but the weather forecast was getting hotter as the week progressed, so we roped Gilly’s husband in to assist. We knew that we couldn’t carry all the water needed and thought that the Lion Inn would be closed when we passed. Our support vehicle met with us up the road from the Lion Inn at 10:45 where we topped up our water and had a quick bite to eat. Then onwards for the next half of our journey.
The journey hit hardest at approximately 30 miles. The heat had been relentless with the odd bit of reprieve from cloud cover and our feet were aching badly. The distance at this point became more of a mental challenge. The last 12 miles seemed to last forever, especially when you can see Fylingdales in the distance and it doesn’t seem to get any closer and same again when you can see the mast at Ravenscar. Much to our joy, we arrived at the LWW marker stone next to the mast at Ravenscar at 7:20pm. Mission accomplished and no further requirements for the head torches.
We drank 4 litres of water plus a litre of electrolytes each, copious amounts of snacks, 5 sock changes (it would have been more if I had spare) and 1 boot insole change.
As much as we both enjoyed the challenge, we agreed that it was much harder than we thought and we’ll never walk that distance again. But I’ve just been thinking, maybe next year we should try it from east to west : )
Kind regards
Jane
