01.30 am, 14th June 2008
Start point just outside Osmotherley,

Grid Ref: 470994

Originally, the walk began in the village but because of the number of people completing the walk, it was considered to be more appropriate to start the walk outside of the village, so not to disturb the residents.

Distance to check point 1 = 6 miles | Distance from check point 1 to 2 = 4 miles

My friends, Elaine and John, and our trusty support vehicle, driven by my partner Gavin, which completed an epic 300 miles weaving in and out of the moors to meet us at various check points. 

I should point out that our base for the walk weekend was at Rosedale, right in the middle and south of the moors.

Check point 2 – Hasty Bank (10 miles completed).
To give Gavin, our support man, time to return to the cottage at Rosedale and pick up vital supplies for the walk (and our two border collies – Archie and Jaz ) we decided to continue past check point 1 and make our first stop at checkpoint 2, where Gavin was brewing tea. Peanut butter and banana sandwiches were the order of the day, to fuel us for the miles ahead.

Distance to checkpoint 3 = 9.5 miles

Grid Ref: 

Checkpoint 3 – Ralph Crosses - Rosedale Head
(19.5 miles completed)

Time to tend the blisters and refuel with a bacon sandwich. The Old railway line, which makes up 5.5 miles of this section of the walk and is the main challenge, is cinder track and on a hot day can make your feet burn, hence the blisters. 

A wagging greeting at the end of section two was a welcome sight.

Of course the other challenge on this section of the walk is continuing past The Lion Inn at Blakey – a cold beer and a hot meal is a strong temptation!!!

Setting off for section 4 – hats (the wind had picked right up) and gaiters at the ready for the boggy section ahead. As it turned out, the dry weather meant this section wasn’t too bad and we sailed through it quite comfortably.

Distance to checkpoint 4 = 5 miles

Departing checkpoint 4 – Hamer (24.5 miles completed)

The deep heather made for quite hard work at the start of section 5.

Distance to checkpoint 5 = 8.5 miles

Check Point 5 – Eller Beck (no more Golf Ball’s anymore) (33 (35) miles completed)
Shame about the golf balls – the Fylingdales pyramid just doesn’t look quite the same.

So, 33 miles completed (or more likely 35). Many who have completed this walk say it is actually 42 miles in total, not 40 as the guide book says). Still in pretty good shape at this point, blisters holding out and feeling pretty positive as the end was in sight. 

Distance to checkpoint 6 = 5 miles

Distance from checkpoint 6 – 7 = 2 miles

Departing from checkpoint 5
Little did we know our high spirits were about to be dashed. Despite the accurate guide book description, we were not mentally prepared for the hideous, arduous and morale sapping section 5 that lay ahead!!!! 

From Little Ella Beck to the man-made access road at Lilla Rigg was all bog, worse so than section 4 (which is supposed to be bog). From Lilla Cross, the path was uneven, jagged and at times boggy. I believe this may be as a result of the restoration works by the North York Moors National Park – however the stones are not laid flat, meaning you are frequently having to place your feet at angles, which takes its toll on your ankles, given the beating they have already taken.

The drop down into Jugger Howe is someone’s idea of a joke; whilst I understand the restoration work put in place is supposed to be an improvement on what was there previously, steps that are of inconsistent widths and depths, and practically vertical is not what you want to encounter after having already completed 35+ miles and been on the go i.e awake, for near enough 36 hours (we all live in South Lincolnshire so had got up at the usual time on Friday – 06.30 a.m. – driven up to Yorkshire during the day, had a b-b-q in the evening (of course we thought about resting but our support team was driving up after work and the excitement of what lay ahead made sleep impossible), and began the walk at 01.30 am Saturday morning). It was a long, long day!

The steep ascent on the otherside of Jugger Howe what just as challenging and almost as vertical. Personally for me, I would have to say this was the worst section of the walk.

The Trig point at Ravenscar – the end!!!

Very relieved and very tired, it was a great feeling to touch the trig point at Beacon Howes (grid ref: 971012)

A total walk time of 20 hours 30 mins

A total distance of 40 (42) miles.