Badlands

C2C – Day 12: Wednesday 13 April – RICHMOND to DANBY WISKE (15 miles)

A perfect start to the day! Kedgeree for breakfast (the best this side of the sub-continent) cooked by our hosts Colin and Sandra at the early 17th century Willance House where we stayed in Richmond. Wonderful, thank you, and an apt continuation of the fine Indian cuisine that we had enjoyed last night in the Amontola restaurant. That, and a couple of very good ales from the local Richmond Brewery.

We had been warned by some younger C2C walkers, now some way ahead of us, that these next two days would be ‘flat and boring’, with little of interest in the landscape. This gave me an opportunity for the above song-title heading, one of the very best from The Boss, but it is a really unfair description of a lovely walk, at least as far as this first day is concerned. Yes, it is flatter than any other day on the C2C so far, but we had a fabulous day’s ramble over some fine rural countryside.

Our day’s trek started with a scenic riverside walk out of Richmond before proceeding across pastures and into verdant garlic-scented woodland, then entering rolling farmland and through to the charming village of Colburn.

After just a few miles we confirmed the conclusion of the Pennine third of our C2C walk as we crossed the A1(M) near Catterick. Just as we had done back at Shap, just after the Lakeland section, we have now traversed a major transport corridor, this one on the approximate line of the ancient trading route of Dere Street. This thoroughfare originated as the Roman road built to link York with Hadrian’s Wall near Corbridge, and it ran beyond into the Border Country with a link into southern Scotland where I walked last year on my LETJOG trek. We have now firmly exchanged moorland and pasture for arable farmland, dry stone walls for hedgerows, and waterproofs for sun-cream!

Next we walked on past the gravel pits, currently being ‘re-landscaped’, near Bolton-on-Swale, then into the village itself and through its churchyard. Completing our day’s trek with several miles over productive farmland and along country lanes, we walked into Danby Wiske just before 3.30 pm, to enjoy a welcome tea and cake outside in the sun at Isabel’s Tuck Shop on the Church Holme Campsite.

Tonight we dined at the village tavern, The White Swan, where according to their pub-sign we are just 60 miles from our end point on the C2C walk at Robin Hood’s Bay.