Travel Adventures with Jon & Tiesha!

Tiesha and I completed the Coast to Coast walk yesterday. We were able to see some of the most beautiful countryside in the world, and we generally experienced very amicable weather. Without the few days of wind and rain, it wouldn't have been a true Northern England experience, so we're thankful for the full array of weather we had to walk through.

For folks who are interested in following in our foot steps (or more accurately, the foot steps of the Godfather of English Fell-Walking Alfred Wainwright), I wholeheartedly encourage you to embrace the adventure but I simultaneously warn you to take a few preparations.

• Wide Brimmed Hat: I don't know what I was thinking not bringing sunblock and just wearing a baseball cap. The sun, even through the clouds, is beating down on your head and face and neck ALL DAY LONG. Protect your delicious, delicious brain.

• Gloves and a touque: You don't need them often, but they pack down to nothing, and when you're cold, you're cold!

• GPS, downloaded waypoints, and a few sets of AA batteries: A portable GPS unit was awesome to have, use and understand. We could blindly follow the waypoints of previous travellers and wind up where we needed to wind up. We did bring paper maps and a magnetic compass (and even used them occasionally!), but satellites are up there and doing their thing. Take advantage!

• Trekking Poles: As much as I mocked folks who used poles to walk, I never considered the strain on my knees after hard walking for over seven hours. A good set of poles is priority; it can divert up to 25 lbs off your knees and into your incredibly muscular arms.

• Ibuprofen / Tylenol: When your joints start flaring up, your blisters are screaming and each step is agony, a little pain reliever goes a long way.

• Antiseptic + Antibiotic + Sewing Kit + Large Bandaids + Moleskins + Compeed (only in England, I'm afraid!): Officially, you're never supposed to lance your blisters as you can open the wound up to infection. However, blister pain will suck all the joy out of your walk. I recommend you pack a reasonable 'first aid kit' that will allow you to deal with any type of self-inflicted walking injury. We spent time in Canada breaking in our boots, but we didn't break them in with seven to nine hours of constant walking over rocks day after day. Take care of your feet!

• Gaiters: If you plan to walk through English bogs, you'll want gaiters. Unless you want to walk in cold, wet, dirty socks and boots for several hours in the cold wind.

We're off to London in a few hours!

A short note for now, as my dinner reservation is imminent - we made it to 'The Bay' early this afternoon!

Later, that same night:

So Tiesha and I strolled into Robin Hoods Bay in the early afternoon. We shaved a few hours of walking off the last leg of the journey by opting OUT of a walk through a forest leaving Egton Bridge, and ignoring a long walk around the cliffs of Robin Hoods Bay. We took a shortcut through a sheep field, skipped through a small town, moseyed down a secondary highway and walked triumphantly into Robin Hoods Bay. It was actually pretty exhilarating. We immediately found our B&B, where we were greeted by the owner. Our room was already ready (although the sherpa service hadn't delivered our bags yet!), so we dropped off our backpacks, took a small breather, and walked downtown to find lunch.

Lunch took the form of haddock and cod, as we've agreed that when we're in coastal villages, we will partake of what should be the freshest food available.

We retired to our room and watched an episode of the Fall Guy and an episode of Batman. Life couldn't get sweeter.

We're purchased the tickets from Scarborough to London for tomorrow, and should be rolling into downtown London at about six o'clock in the evening. With a little luck, we should be able to make our way to the hotel where there is ANOTHER set of luggage waiting for us. We will the proceed to burn the clothes and boots we have worn for the last two weeks and change into something FRESH. The following few days in London will be hanging out with Chris and Sarah and allowing our tired muscles to heal. I intend to shave ferociously and never wear that stupid hat again.

We stopped at the Wainwright Pub for lunch and ale, out of respect for Mr. Alfred Wainwright.

We were told the ice cream is amazing, so treated ourselves to dual dueling double scoops. It was ok.

This is me looking stoic, as I peer out to the North Sea and wonder what was, what is and what when....

After a pleasant evening meal of steak and chips, we retired to our room for a delightfully long and restful sleep. Although we felt like throwing in the towel and taking a bus to Robin Hoods Bay yesterday, we awoke with with new energy as we can literally (figuratively) see the finish line (the end of our walk).

Our plan for today is to take a more direct route to our destination, much to the chagrin of Alfred Wainwright's opposing corpse. We will miss *some* of the beauty of the coastal walk, but we'll arrive earlier and the coast is still there.

It's been a long journey, and we miss our boys terribly, but will enjoy the rest that our vacation has to offer.

Cheers, Jolly-Good, Pip pip, and all that rot....

Tiesha and I arrived in Egton Bridge at about 2:30 PM this afternoon. The weather was unnaturally beautiful, with blue skies and warm sun rays beaming down on our tired, tired limbs. Our luggage from the sherpa service hadn't quite reached the hotel yet, but we showered and wrapped ourselves in towels and took a refreshing nap. The walk from Blakey Ridge to Egton Bridge isn't terrible, but it was hot and a shower was most welcome. Occasionally a breeze would sneak up from behind and provide brief but fleeting relief from the heat.

We stopped by a small pub in Glaisdale (mainly for ice cream), but the barkeep said there was no ice cream. Enraged, I ordered a pint of a local beer and drank it.

It seems customary for bartenders to overfill the pint until it's streaming down the outside of the glass, and then the brew is placed onto a cloth on the bar for the customer to retrieve. Over thousands of years, this could account for millions of litres of lost pints. Very sad.

According to our Coast 2 Coast Walking Guide, the next 12 miles is *mostly* downhill, which is a welcome change. We're hoping to have breakfast soon, and be off with backpacks strapped on and trekking poles in hand(s). I have a blister on my right foot the size of a small baby (or large gopher), and hopefully I can use skills and cunning to adhere some manner of padding around it to spread out the pressure as I walk.

The meal last night was mediocre, despite the coolness of the pub. We chose to order from the 'bar' menu and not the restaurant menu, so that may have been a factor. I craving lasagna, so I ordered what I thought was a meat lasagna but was - in fact - disappointing lasagna.
I ate it and it stayed eaten, and isn't that more important? Tiesha had the steak and mushroom pie, and walked away from almost half of the serving. What a coward.

We are looking forward to the end of tomorrow when we reach Robin Hoods Bay and finish what we started. Until then, one foot in front of the other while cold wind whips us in the collective face.

The walk from Ingleby-Cross to Blakey Ridge was the worst walk of my life. With blisters pulsing and muscles aching, we burst through the front doors of the Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge and entered a small piece of heaven. This pub has won all kinds of award, too numerous to even discuss or attempt to qualify or quantify. We managed to climb the stairs to our room where we bathed (no shower, but that's OK!), changed, and scrambled our way downstairs to the a waiting pint of local ale.

The walk this morn' started with four ascents up four lovely fells for the first twelve miles, and a LOOOONNNNGGG walk down and abandoned railroad for the next eight miles. Those eight miles, mysteriously, transformed themselves into a billion billion miles, with each turn unveiling another stone path leading to an unforgiving horizon. There were a few points today that I had to sit down in the grass and rest, as my knees, heels and soles of my feet were fighting valiantly against my will to go on.

We stopped at Lord Stones Cafe and had a scone and a coffee and took a picture of a bird.

We were walking along the old railway when two British military jets flew just overhead, with deafening sound. I actually ducked, as I was afraid of dying.

Last night in Ingleby-Cross, we had to walk about ten or fifteen minutes into the town to go to the ONLY place to eat (The Blue Bell pub), where we had two of the most delicious cheese burgers with chips ever created. Looking back, the food may not have been that good, but after 24 or so miles, anything looks pretty good.

Yesterday and today, we've put nearly fifty miles on our old legs. It's akin to two marathons, back to back. As I curse my brother for putting this vacation idea in my head, I consider the travel comforts of generations past; how did folks deal with blisters and back pain in the olden times (...say, the 1970's for example)? I've been doing some reading on how folks in the military deal with having to march for hours upon hours, without the luxury of a five star B&B or hotel waiting in the early evenings. My hat is off!

The wind was relentless; the rain: Unrelenting. Our determination to carry on? Quite relentful.

We arrived in Ingleby-Cross after almost nine hours of walking, and it was quite a walk. Although the strolling was on relatively flat ground, the constant wind and rain made it challenging. We didn't travel to England expecting California weather, but it would have been nice. We stopped in a little town on the walk to Ingleby-Cross and had a quick pint of a local brew, mainly to replenish our electrolytes.

After struggling along side a highway and making the treacherous crossing, we arrived at out B&B, showered and headed into town to the only establishment that serves food. Exhausted, new blisters on our feet, sore legs and all we discovered that it was closed! Thankfully it was only a 15 minute wait until it opened. We are now awaiting our cheeseburgers and chips, aka fries.

We plan to fill our bellies, head back to our place for a deep sleep and prepare for a more challenging walk tomorrow. 21 miles and four uphill climbs rivaling anything we have faced so far. Wish us luck!

This morn' we are preparing for the longest walk of our trip. It's 23 miles to Ingleby-Cross, though thankfully very flat. We're just having our breakfast, and then we'll check out and begin. Last night we went to a Thai restaurant and I ordered the duck, while Tiesha took the less aggressive path of chicken soup. The portions were disappointing, but good food all in all. We retired early and I watched "Sahara" on the incredibly tiny FULL COLOUR tv provided in our room.

We're often asked if we would like 'sauces' with our food. These people are unaware that ketchup is a staple.

Our legs are sore but our spirit is strong. And a little sore.