12/04/18 - Day 4 - Inn Way to North Yorkshire Moors - From Egton Bridge

Start - Egton Bridge
Finish - Rosedale Abbey
Distance -  15 Miles
Key Features - Early Pint, The Moors, First Views
Geocaches - 1
Pubs - 5 attempted, 3 Successfully, 1 shut, 1 closed.
Previous Stages - Day 1, Day 2, Day 3


There's probably a German phrase for the uncomfortable silence felt when you breakfast at a B&B.    If I knew it I'd use it, for this morning it's just me and the dirty weekend couple from last night's drinkathon, making small talk over the expired orange juice.

I'm off and out as soon as I can.

Today is a question of re-routing from the official path.  Its not raining, but the mist and mud are  beyond grim.  At the end of the day, I haven't cheated on miles, even if I have tried to stick to terra firma.

Early walking is fine, heading along the River Esk and through Arnecliffe Woods to Glaisdale. I arrive at the Arncliffe Arms (no spelling mistake, it's lost it's "e") at 10 am. Pub is still open, as I pass a rambler who stayed there last night

Into the Woods

Arncliffe Arms - Having work done but still functional

Watermill down on the Esk

Lealholm is reached at 10:50am.  Pretty little village where the Board Arms front door is open, even at this early hour.  Knowing I have 9 miles of moorland to the next stop, I use all my powers of persuasion to successfully receive fortification.

The landlady is most accommodating, serving me a Black Sheep and warning me that I need to stock up in the village, as there is nowhere else for supplies until I reach my destination.

Board Inn, Leaholm

Yorkshire Head

It's a climb out of the village and into the mist.  Last item of entertainment is the geocache at an ancient cross road marker.

Geocache at the Crossroads

And then its all like this....

What did you do on your holidays?

I am meant to have fine views over Great Fryup (oh the irony, I'm on my fourth consecutive Full English Breakfast) but its relentlessly grim.  I follow Glaisdale Rigg and Cut Road Path successfully but overshoot the turning to George Gap and have to retrace my steps.   When I hit the lane, I decide I've had enough of the North Yorkshire Moors and take advantage of tarmac to get the easiest route to Rosedale Abbey.

Don't you dare tell me you wouldn't have done the same.

I pick up the official path in Rosedale, walking through a deserted caravan park as though I was a cowboy walking through an Apache burial ground. I can't see them, but I know they are watching.

Safety is arrived at, after a puff up the hill to the White Horse Farm Inn - a fine place to spend a night.  The mist lifts and I am rewarded, for the first time in days, with some super views.

Home for the night - Hose pipe to the right used for cleaning

Rosedale - Fine views once the mists have lifted...

... Getting Finer

Once clean, I head down to the village to check out the two pubs.

The Millburn Arms is temporarily closed down and having a refit but the Coach House Inn is fully functional.

Coach House Inn

This is one of the better pub's on the Inn Way.  It's got some unusual CAMRA approved ales on. I start with an unrefined Rising Tide from the Turning Point Brewery.  This means no finings were used in production and is deliberately cloudy.  No problem with that but is was a touch floral for my tastes.  I soon moved on to a Whitby Brewery Porter.

But the real success here was the food.  After 3 nights of excellent evening meals, there's been nothing on any menu in the slightest bit spicy. The Coach House Inn changes this and has a reasonable Jalfrezi.

If I come back to North Yorkshire, it will be in the Summer and I am bringing with me a collection of chilis.  I'll lure them in with the mild green ones, get them hooked and clean up like Pablo Escobar on the scotch bonnets.