Archive for July, 2020

Crossing Report with my kids

Wednesday, July 29th, 2020

Back at the beginning of the month, Scarborough Sea Cadets challenged their Cadets to walk 10k to raise much needed funds for their unit after the cancellation of their two biggest fundraisers each year.
Harry, Gemma, Alfie and Florence (aka OC/MC/AJC and JC Carr) decided that they couldn’t possibly ask people to sponsor them to walk 10k when they run that distance several times a week, and so they started looking for a bigger challenge. The Lyke Wake seemed perfect. Mum loves the route, and has done several crossings, and even better, it’s on our doorstep.
And so that’s how a 9/11/13 and 14 year old ended up stood at the Ravenscar Lyke Wake stone at 5am on Sunday 26th July for an East to West Crossing.

It was a stunning morning, light enough to not need headtorches, and we got a beautiful sunrise behind us a little while later.
The kids smiled the entire way through. We had a beautiful day, although could have done with a little less wind and showers as it was very coat on/coat off all day.
We’d hoped for a sub 15hr crossing, although were prepared for it to be nearer 18hrs. I was completely blown away when we finished in 14hrs 22mins, with tons of daylight left, and other than the odd blister, they all felt amazing. They even ran most the road section done to the Stone.
They’ve raised over £400 for Scarborough Sea Cadets, and have also fallen completely in love with the route – Alfie wants to run it next!

Nikki Carr

Crossing 24-25th July 2020.

Monday, July 27th, 2020

I would like to report our crossing and just-about-successful completion of the Lyke Wake Walk starting on the night of Saturday 25th July, ending the evening of Sunday 26th July.
Our party included four London flatmates who are all friends from university (me – Sally, Jess, Katherine and Matthew). Having been born and raised in Yorkshire, I had the Lyke Wake Walk on my bucket list and was pleased I had successfully roped in three friends who were also keen walkers. I am not too proud to say that I definitely underestimated this walk.
We roughly began from Osmotherley at 22.35 and ended in Ravenscar at 19.40.
We started out pretty well, battling the rain, wind, darkness and an early injury. Jess set a pretty fierce pace at the start – this would not last long… Navigation in the dark proved not too taxing due to the well-signposted Cleveland Way. “It’s not just a path, it’s a way of life. The Cleveland Way”. Safe to say, it wasn’t long before the sleep-deprived delirium settled in, particularly as we had already been awake for that day (and one of us had done a whole day’s work in London! Shout out to Katherine).
We eventually reached the Lion’s Inn, once we realised that it was not another mirage in the mist. We were greeted there by one of our support team, Ian, who met us with bacon baps, tea, flapjack and dad jokes. Lifesaver.
It’s probably fair to say that it all went downhill (mentally) from there. The bog was a real highlight just due to the soft ground underfoot.
We regrettably lost one of our party to injury just after the bog so it was just the girls that continued onwards. RIP Matthew.
Conversation slowly dried up after that as we reallised we were actually still really far away. We did not Lyke this.
Seeing and waving at the steam train as we crossed the railway was one of the few highlights that came after that. Honestly, the rest was a bit of a blur of misery. We were met at Checkpoint 6 by our support team Ian and Rebecca (and Matthew now). They managed to spur us on to the finish, as we brought meaning to the phrase ‘walking hard or hardly walking’. Credit to Jess for that pun.
So, 21 hours and 1000 blisters later, we made it! Just. Wooo! ?
All in all, a harrowing experience, but one that I am really glad (and amazed) we did.
Thanks again to our truly amazing support team! ??

Jess, Sally, Katherine & Matthew Relieved to Have Survived…………..