Day 10 was thankfully a rest day. We did some laundry, caught the bus into Northallerton and topped up supplies, then lay in the sun with a picnic and books.
The night was cold though, and Day 11 brought a change in the weather: chilly grey, with a blasting wind. Under lowering skies we struck camp and climbed up onto the North York Moors, tracing the line of a steep edge jutting up from the plain. Here, happily, the clouds broke enough to light up the patchwork lowlands below - and, on the edge of sight, a slim wedge of hazy blue: our first glimpse of the East coast and the sea.
Though the weather had cleared, Day 11 was a long haul: 19.8 miles over the exposed roof of the moors, with an easterly wind buffeting us. After so many long days of trekking, our feet start to hurt at about mile ten, and carry on until we fall asleep. The Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge was a welcome sight in the high, empty miles.
Day 12 was shorter - only 16.1 miles on an excellent vegan breakfast. But the weather was grey again, and had lost about ten degrees in the last 48 hours. The wind was stronger, and we spent the morning in a gale that came howling across the moors fresh from the North Sea. And by some trick of the cloud or landscape, we couldn't see the sea again. It was a relief to descend down into the sheltered lowlands, and wander through some beautiful woods, and eventually to reach our camping pod near Sleights.
Day 12, as I write, is our penultimate day. The sea is roughly 5 miles away, as the crow flies. Tomorrow we will zigzag to the coast, then make our way round the headland to Robin Hood's Bay, and journey end: an incredible prospect. And which means tonight we have to eat our last packet of noodles.
Interesting species: golden plover chicks (we gave them a wide berth), fumitory (common ramping?).
