The day we broke open the box!

Last night we broke loose from the shackles of Mr. Wainwright and decided to ditch the 16-1/2 mile walk to Robin Hood's Bay in favor of a two mile walk to Grosmont and a steam train ride to Whitby, followed by a 7 mile walk along the coast to Robin Hood's Bay. Good for us.  We were like little kids who found out it was Saturday and there was no school, or two rebellious kids who decided to cut school.

We left the Broom House about 8:50 this morning after a nice breakfast during which we had a chance to chat with our waitress, who is from Jordan.  Very sweet.  This place was physically beautiful, quite newly renovated, lovely restaurant and gorgeous yards; however, we never saw the owners!  Very odd.  Rather cold, except the servers were wonderful.

After one brief mistake walking through Egton, we found the right path and very much enjoyed our 45 minute walk to Grosmont along the Esk River. Lots of pheasant and grouse, cows and sheep.  It was raining as we awoke but by the time we started walking the weather was perfect, cool and with cloud cover. We arrived at Grosmont with plenty of time to buy our train tickets and meet two wonderful women, Sheri and Jere, sisters who were also doing the Coast to Coast.  It was so much fun comparing notes with them and as they said, no one who didn't actually do the walk could possibly understand what we have done.  "They'll think we are exaggerating!"  One is from Portland and the other Carlsbad and they want to do a walk with us. How fun.  THEN I got a video of the steam engine from Harry Potter.  There were lots of people at the station for the celebration, most of them British and all of us taking photos and videos. Lots of enthusiasm. It really was a thrill.  I have tried to post videos before and I'm afraid you have only gotten the visual without the sound.  Too bad.  I have videos of the dogs herding sheep, grouse calls and now the steam engine.  You'll just have to come and see them when we get home.

Grosmont Station

Once again, a bunch of my photos from today have not transferred from my phone. Maybe by the time I finish this they'll arrive.

Outstanding solid brick railway bridge just before Whitby.

The got videos of our train ride also, complete with lots of steam and whistles.  The ride was way too short.  20 minutes later we arrived in Whitby.  What an amazing site. It is so picturesque it looks like a postcard, but it's real.  We wandered over the bridge to the old town after taking a zillion photos of boats and buildings, and looking for the Captain Cook museum we happened upon a very cute tiny shop where I finally got my cream tea.  Coffee actually, with a scone, clotted cream and red currant jam. Delicious. My trip is complete.

Whitby is a must-see place in England.  We got a kick out of this sign on the street.  There was a matching one on the other side, saying Look Left.  We could have used these the whole of our trip.

Here are a few of the sights:

Steps up to the crown jewel of Whitby, the Abbey.

We weren't able to get into St. Mary the Virgin's church because of a funeral, but wandered about the yard.  We managed to avoid, unintentionally, the 199 steps up to the church, but we did quite a few on the Caedmon's Trod (probably only 85).

Notice the beautiful sky.

Without a doubt, the most spectacular ruins I have seen are at Whitby Abbey.  It was started by an Abbess in the 7th century.  We didn't have time to do the whole audio tour so I won't even attempt to give any history here, but I'll surely look it up when I get home if Carol Jones hasn't already informed me.  The glory of the ruins speak for themselves.  I only wish we could have seen it illuminated at night. We toured the Abbey with a large group of elementary school kids who had spent the night in the hostel next to the Abbey. They all had clipboards, paper and pencils and various assignments, we assume.  Very cute.

None of the photos from the rest of our day have arrived, so I'll go ahead with the dialog and you may check in tomorrow to see the pictures.

The trail, the Cleveland Trail, to Robin Hood's Bay, began just behind the Abbey and ran right along the cliffs all the way.  In fact, some parts of the path were closed due to landslides.  The views are dramatic and the North Sea is huge and quite calm today.  It's probably always huge. We felt quite vindicated because the trail was not easy (What a surprise!).  We can't seem to avoid those stony steps, stiles and steep inclines and descents. Quite a few people on the path today, many with dogs.  We got a laugh watching one couple trying to get their standard poodle (a lovely reddish brown 1-year old) over a stile. We also met a woman with a boxer who had done 142 miles of the C2C on a bicycle in 19 hours!  These Brits are another breed. It's no wonder they make fun of us Americans.

About two thirds of the way, the folks who had done the official route joined the trail and we had fun reconnecting with people we had met at various stages of the trek. We were all becoming quite jubilant and congratulatory of each other as we got close to the finish line.  And then, Robin Hood's Bay came into view just about 3 hours after we left Whitby. What's great is that we really noticed how strong we've become. It's not our stamina, the legs, knees, hearts or hips. We are only limited by our FEET.

After checking into our B&B, The Clarence Dene, and rearranging our room so that it could accommodate us AND our luggage (no kidding!), we tromped off to finish the deed: put our feet in the North Sea and toss in our stones (Which neither one of us did.  We just put them in the sea and promptly back into our pockets. But don't tell anyone.)  Then up to the Bay Hotel and the Wainwright Bar to sign the official register and have a glass of wine.  Hooray for us.

  WE DID IT.