Wish You Were Here

C2C – Day 17: Monday 18 April – GLAISDALE to ROBIN HOOD’S BAY (19 miles)

Rob and I discussed the song ‘Wish You Were Here’ as we walked across the moors from Ingleby Cross a few days ago. We used to listen to Pink Floyd together, as their seminal albums came out in the mid-1970’s, and this title-track from 1975 was part of the backdrop to our lives around that time. So the song is an appropriate heading for today’s Blog: it is a great shame that circumstances have led us to finish this long walk on two separate routes, after so many days walking together. I’d like to thank you Rob, not just for your company, but also for all of the arrangements that you have made for the C2C Walk, including the route planning, the logistics and bookings, and the arrangements with Parkinson’s UK. And additionally for taking charge of the navigation along the way – we were very rarely more than a few yards off-route!

To Rob’s wife, Christa, and to our close friends Rick and Eleanor, who were also scheduled to be with us at our final C2C Walk destination, my thanks for all you have done to support our efforts. Lastly, but certainly not least, my thanks to my wife, Rachel, for her unstinting kindness, support and love throughout the preparations and during this trek. As ever, I could not have made this journey without you – and thank you too for holding the fort at home, particularly with all of the Easter family commitments that I have missed this year.

Back to the walking, and today was a wonderfully varied trek, through forest, pasture, villages, moorland and coast, befitting of the longest daily section of our C2C Walk in terms of mileage. With the fine weather today, this section was somewhat less demanding than at least a couple of our days in the Lake District – assisted by my nordic poles, and notwithstanding two steep climbs and a most boggy traverse of Fylingdales Moor, I was able to cover the ground quite quickly. Having skipped breakfast I was walking before 7.00 am and got in to Robin Hood’s Bay in the early afternoon, stopping just for a snack at Grosmont and for a sandwich lunch on the cliff tops overlooking the North Sea.

With perfect timing the sun came out on my arrival at the beach at Robin Hood’s Bay, and the incoming tide allowed just enough sand for my end-of-trail photographs. Here are a selection.

And so ends the story of our C2C trek. Before I finally sign off from these Blogs I will post some reflections, facts and figures in the next day or so. Until then thank you all for following our journey, for your messages of support, and for all your kind donations to Parkinson’s UK. Go well, and enjoy life’s journey!