How to report your crossing
We are more than happy to receive reports on Lyke Wake crossings – preferably humorous. These reports are often quoted at Wakes as warnings to others! Crossings should be reported by email to crossing.report@lykewake.org
We may post extracts from these reports on this website unless you tell us that you don’t want us to. We will usually give your name and rough location (eg Southampton, Northumberland or Japan). If you would prefer us just to give your initials, or to remain anonymous, please say so. We will not publish your email address.
46 Years Between Crossings – Daren Conibere
I’d like to report our recent crossing/completion of the LWW this past weekend (2nd/ 3rd October 2026).
I had previously become a Dirger at the age of 9 when I completed a crossing with my Cub Scout group (York St Paul’s)
I had held dear some happy memories of the first walk but it seemed much more demanding and strenuous 46 years later!…..
Myself (Daren Conibere) and two friends (Jamie Thompson & Steven Preston) walked West to East setting off at 22.30 Friday night from Osmotherley and arriving at the mast at Ravenscar at 17.00 Saturday evening.
The road out of Osmotherley to the start was closed due to road works so we took an adjacent path instead…
After Friday nights rain the weather on Saturday could not have been better-sunshine and light breezes all day…
Regards, Daren Conibere
Miserable yet Enjoyable – Dom Yates
Walkers
Bro Dom Yates
Bro Niel Forrest
Bro John Murphy
All members of the Freemasons Lodge Falcon 1416 in Thirsk – fundraising for the masonic lodge.
After a brief meeting with the rest of the group at Middlesbrough Masonic Hall, we all met up at Cod Beck Reservoir at 00:00 on Saturday, June 5th. The first 20 miles were enjoyable, with a beautiful sunrise over the Urra estate. A few people got lost and found their way again.
I would definitely describe the second half of the Lyke Wake Walk the same as the club’s first degree… miserable and enjoyable at the same time… After the Blake Ridge checkpoint, the heavens opened, raining for the best part of the second half.
After a few minor injuries, the Radio mast was a beacon of hope, finishing at 18:05 on the Saturday evening. Would recommend to anyone that is up for the challenge.
Part of the LWW Community: Karen and Tony
I would like to register my LWW success which I did on Tuesday 8th/Wednesday 9th September 2026.I did the walk with Tony Phillips and we did it in 17 hours and 9 minutes. Not bad for a couple of 67 year olds!
I’d never heard about the Lyke Wake Walk until my friend told me about it. It sounded interesting so I said I’d do it with him!
We set off at 8.40pm on the Tuesday evening and arrived at the mast at 14.49 the following afternoon. We were lucky with the weather in that it didn’t really rain and also that the bog wasn’t too wet. We managed to get through it fairly easily.
We had our partners helping us with checkpoints which we couldn’t have done without. That really helped. We both wore trail shoes and I didn’t have any blisters or lost toenails!!
I have to say that I loved arriving at the end in daylight as it was absolutely stunning getting to the top of the hill and seeing the sea. Made it all worthwhile.
I’m not sure I’ll do it again but I’m so glad to have done it and to be a member of the Lyke Wake Walk community
Karen
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
One of the hardest walks we have done – Evie
I would like to report a crossing of the Lyke Wake Walk.
A group of six of us completed the classic route crossing on Saturday 18th July 2026 at 23:04. We started at 4:14 having a total time of 18:49:49 and total distance of 42.53 miles.
I have put photos of us at the starting point and the end point below.
We knew this would be a challenge to us all, however this was one of the hardest walks we have done, despite all of us being quite active. We do however think this is due to being slightly unprepared. The weather for the day looked hot so some of us didn’t bring fleeces or rain coats and it did in fact rain! We should have known as we are in England.
Overall, we had a good time and it was a great experience. It will definitely be a day to remember!
5 Star Hotel – George Fowkes
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.
Sleeping Ever Since – Imogen Jameson
Good morning,
Myself (Imogen Jameson, Somerset), Polly Loftus (Wakefield) and Benjamin Moore (Nottingham) completed a crossing yesterday. We took 17.5 hours, unsupported other than chips at the Lion Inn halfway. We saw 2 adders, saw 2 deer and heard 1 night Jar.
We started at 5:41am from Cote Ghyll (wonderful stay), and had good dry weather throughout the walk. Spirits were reasonably high until the head torches were required, at this point the walk became significantly more solemn – very on brand!
We slept in the car before returning home to Wakefield at 7am and have been sleeping ever since.
Dodging Runners!
A group of friends who met via the Sheffield-based outdoors group Peak Queer Adventures set off on the Lyke Wake Walk at 0300hrs from the Cote Ghyll Mill B&B and camping, Osmotherly. The B&B was very accommodating for walkers and left our early breakfasts in the fridge for us to pick up at 0230hrs! We spent the first 45 mins of the walk in darkness before dawn broke as we topped out on the first hill. We spent a pleasant few hours enjoying the sunrise and talking about I Kissed a Girl on the BBC. The first bit of the hike was the hilliest, which slowed us down and made for a hard start to the day. Fortunately, our amazing support crew met us after the first 16km or so and fed us breakfast wraps.
It was a hot and sunny day and, coincidentally, there was a trail run taking place on the route so we spent the first part of the day dodging very brave runners and putting on a lot of suncream. After our first stop we locked in for 14km of cruising along a flat gravel causeway. We picked up the pace and made excellent time to the pub which sits almost at the mid-point of the route. Big up the Lion Inn for serving us pints at 1100hrs! Suitably hydrated, and fed with pasta salad and ice creams provided by our support crew, we contemplated the second leg. At this point we were mostly feeling pretty fresh for people who had walked 30km on 3 hours of sleep. Although one of our group was suffering with some serious thigh chafage, we started to think we might actually be able to complete the hike!
Post-lunch the terrain got a little trickier, not hilly but rocky to the point where we had to watch our feet. The chat continued to be good and a brief bit of cloud cover gave us some respite from the sun. It felt like we should have been walking through a bog but the prolonged dry weather meant that our feet remained dry. Then things get a bit hazy for the next 20km – the body was feeling ok but our minds were drifting a bit.
We had our last significant pit stop at around 50km – at this point most people were feeling pretty wrecked but, having come this far it felt impossible to stop now. The next 12km were a slog, and unfortunately it wasn’t even particularly scenic as we appeared to be walking through the remains of a big wildfire. The cloud descended and obscured the radio tower that was meant to be our finish point. 3km from the end we have a final rest and some of us have a short lie down to energise. We stumble on to the finish line to the glorious sight of our support crew arriving with fish and chips! We finished at 2130hrs. Walking for around 16.5 hours in total.
Then it’s straight to Whitby and to the pub to watch the England vs Norway game.
In total 7 of us started the walk and 5 of us completed the whole thing.
Best wishes,
Sims, Abi, Ben, Fiona, Matt, Otto, Greg (walkers), Daisy and Emily (support crew) from Peak Queer Adventures
Pockets of Humour – Brian Anderson
Will start at beginning – got to Cod Beck at 5AM on the Saturday, met the guide Len and Kathy support driver. The other walker was called Paul from Hull and my name is Brian from Jarrow.
The route was great as was the weather. We had three rest stops at set places. Kathy was always there before us with chairs set up with our drop bags went sweet as a nut.
The whole day went without any issues. Pace-wise spot on – 4 to 5K per hour. Our guide Len had a vast amount of info about the route keeping it interesting with pockets of humour.
The crossing took us a moving time of just over 13 hrs and overall time of just over 14 hrs.
The Radio mast was a pleasure to see at end and a big welcome by Kathy and a gift of the LWW Coffin badge was icing on the cake. I’m sure in future we will be doing it again.
Brian Anderson.
A Wonderful Day – Matthew Kitchen
We finished our crossing yesterday (Saturday 18th July) in 15:10!
Myself, Nick, Ollie, Tim and Charlie followed the traditional route from left to right, and despite the torrential rain halfway through, we had a wonderful day!
