Coast to Coasting #5: Crossing over

Up. Down. Cross. Re-cross. 
That’s the thing about the Coast to Coast. Because you are walking across the country you cross different landscapes and rock types - limestone, millstone grit, red sandstone, pale sandstone; you cross boundaries and features - stiles, becks, roads, railway lines, national parks, moorland and bogs.

Topography

The views from valley to top, from top to top were breathtaking. When we hiked up Hartley Fell to reach Nine Standards Rigg we could feel that these mysterious stone structures truly marked the watershed of the spine of England. Our hearts and spirits lifted. 

In contrast, the two days into and out of Danby Wiske when we plodded across the agricultural flatlands of Northallerton were just endurance, only enlivened by avoiding the mechanical muck spreading in the meadows (and dicing with death on the rail line - see below).
Hint: Pounding the hard surfaces of lanes and dry fields is tough on the feet and pretty boring. Leave Richmond early morning so that you can time your walk through the edges of Catterick Army Camp to be entertained by the poor new recruits running in full kit along the paths. “I am so over this shit,” appears to be the motto of the modern British Army.

Boundaries

When you walk the C2C you become intimate with boundaries of fields, their dry stone walls, and the ways that cross them: so-called ‘squeeze’ stiles where you wish you had worked harder on your ThighMaster before you left home; step stiles where you pray that the farmer has bothered to maintain the tiny wobbly wooden platforms that bear your weight; ladder stiles (ditto); kissing gates which are not made for squeezing through with bulky bodies and packs (or kissing); and just gates.

Hint: When you leave sheep country, be prepared for cattle fields. Sheep run away from you; cattle want to inspect you as you step through their gates and we met several people who swore they had been chased and attacked by cows on the C2C. Just hold your poles out wide and make yourself look big.

Railways, roads and watercourses

Hikers talk in dread about the bottomless trackless bogs of White Mossy Hill or the wind shaken knife blade of Striding Edge that claims a life a year. Neither are as dangerous as the manmade obstacles encountered elsewhere on the C2C. Crossing the A19 had us scuttling between the speeding traffic like panicked hedgehogs. 
The recommendations of the British Rail Safety Standards Board count for nothing on the “passive” rail crossing of the Northallerton line. 
Hint: The sign helpfully instructs hikers to “Look out for trains” - the only safety device on this busy track crossing.

You cross many becks and ghylls, some many times, so the backing track to our hike was the plash and play of clear water down the stones, with the possibility of spotting otters and voles as you skip over the fords and stepping stones.
Hint: The beauty of Whitsundale Beck’s fords and waterfalls are enhanced if you stop at Ravenseat farm for afternoon tea and scones provided by Amanda Owen, the Yorkshire Shepherdess and her 8 or 9 children. You can also buy copies of her books
After 190 miles, you pass through Northcliffe Holiday Park’s serried caravans and you have crossed the entire country.