Day 11 - Richmond to Danby Wiske
03.07.13
DISTANCE WALKED: 11.8 miles
Today felt like a long, hot and muggy day. Although the walk across the Vale of Mowbray was flat, a lot of it was on country lanes and that really pounds your feet and knees. AW was rather scathing of this section, and it is easy to see when your feet are burning just why some are tempted to catch the bus at this stage. In his own words "if you are fond of placid rural scenery and, have an interest in farming, you might enjoy this section of the walk; but if your preference is for high ground and rough hills you will find this tedious," and I did in parts!
Leaving Richmond and the Dales behind, we continue east to Brompton-On-Swale, a busy town where we have to go underneath the noisy A1 to emerge at Catterick racecourse. The A1 is the course of the Roman Dere Road which was the main supply route between York and Hadrian's Wall, and the racecourse is next to the site of the Roman town of Cataractonium (in the sense of running waters, not rheumy eyes), where there has been human occupation for over 5000 years. How it looked on the OS map made me think of Ben Hur with all the chariots racing around and the one with the spikes coming out of the wheels. Continuing on through the fields, I got humped by a dog. Again. My left leg seems to be particularly attractive to male canines, my right leg is feeling a bit excluded as it is has not seen any such action.
Next was the much smaller and quieter Bolton-On-Swale, with the 14th century church of St. Mary's. Inside there is a memorial to Henry Jenkins, who apparently was born in Ellerton-on-Swale in the year 1500 and died there in 1670 at the ripe old age of 169. There was a man in the church restoring the plaque to the Methuselah of the Dales, he was telling me about the beautiful host of angels painted in the style of Botticelli behind the altar that were uncovered during some re-plastering work. It wasn't until the verger came in that she told me that he had actually restored the frescoes as well. What a good chap, and how modest.
After that, the route leaves the Swale behind as it continues east to the still distant Cleveland Hills. The highest point today was High Moor at 50 metres above sea level. Surely that is as ironically named as Low Round Howe back in the Lakes at over 500 metres (which I was pretending to be a sheep as I scrambled up it). Determined not to be swayed by the bad press given to this section of the walk, I was trying very hard as I left the fields and tramped painfully along many miles of country lane, to find this bit enjoyable. I did see some lovely wild flowers: iris, honeysuckle, dog roses, purple vetch, campion to name a few. I was trying to keep to any bit of verge as my balls were red hot by this point (of my feet, that is). And so the path eventually came to the tiny village of Danby Wiske, a welcome sight indeed. I believe Wiske is an old Anglo-Saxon word for meringue, or perhaps it derives from the Old English 'wisca' meaning a water meadow. One or the other. My hosts Frank and Doreen welcomed me in with a toasted teacake and a pot of coffee; they are across the tiny village green from the CAMRA award winning White Swan - cue steak pie and syrup pudding with custard (I need the fuel!) Tomorrow I will cross the rest of the Vale of Mowbray and hit the Cleveland Hills, but there's just a bit more of the level interlude in-between.
Today's tunes were The Kinks, "Lola" and The Beatles "Things We Said Today," and the stats were quite good as I had thought I was walking at about 1 mile an hour.
The last word must go to the descendants of Henry Jenkins, who penned his obituary thus: "Blush not marble to rescue from oblivion the memory of Henry Jenkins: A person obscure of birth, but in life truly memorable: for he was Enriched with the goods of nature, if not of fortune. and happy in the duration if not the variety of his Enjoyments: and tho the partial world despised or disregarded his low and humble state, The Equal Eye of Providence beheld and blessed it with a Patriarchs Health and Length of Days, to teach mistaken man these blessings were Entailed on Temperance or a Life of Labour and a Mind at Ease. He lived to the amazing age of 169 and was interred here Dec 6 1670 and had this justice done to his memory 1743"
Odometer
14.2 miles
Cumulative Miles
144.7
Total Ascent
170 metres
Total Descent
238 metres
Moving Time
4h 39 m
Stopped Time
2h
Moving Average
3.1 mph
Today felt like a long, hot and muggy day. Although the walk across the Vale of Mowbray was flat, a lot of it was on country lanes and that really pounds your feet and knees. AW was rather scathing of this section, and it is easy to see when your feet are burning just why some are tempted to catch the bus at this stage. In his own words "if you are fond of placid rural scenery and, have an interest in farming, you might enjoy this section of the walk; but if your preference is for high ground and rough hills you will find this tedious," and I did in parts!
Leaving Richmond and the Dales behind, we continue east to Brompton-On-Swale, a busy town where we have to go underneath the noisy A1 to emerge at Catterick racecourse. The A1 is the course of the Roman Dere Road which was the main supply route between York and Hadrian's Wall, and the racecourse is next to the site of the Roman town of Cataractonium (in the sense of running waters, not rheumy eyes), where there has been human occupation for over 5000 years. How it looked on the OS map made me think of Ben Hur with all the chariots racing around and the one with the spikes coming out of the wheels. Continuing on through the fields, I got humped by a dog. Again. My left leg seems to be particularly attractive to male canines, my right leg is feeling a bit excluded as it is has not seen any such action.
Next was the much smaller and quieter Bolton-On-Swale, with the 14th century church of St. Mary's. Inside there is a memorial to Henry Jenkins, who apparently was born in Ellerton-on-Swale in the year 1500 and died there in 1670 at the ripe old age of 169. There was a man in the church restoring the plaque to the Methuselah of the Dales, he was telling me about the beautiful host of angels painted in the style of Botticelli behind the altar that were uncovered during some re-plastering work. It wasn't until the verger came in that she told me that he had actually restored the frescoes as well. What a good chap, and how modest.
After that, the route leaves the Swale behind as it continues east to the still distant Cleveland Hills. The highest point today was High Moor at 50 metres above sea level. Surely that is as ironically named as Low Round Howe back in the Lakes at over 500 metres (which I was pretending to be a sheep as I scrambled up it). Determined not to be swayed by the bad press given to this section of the walk, I was trying very hard as I left the fields and tramped painfully along many miles of country lane, to find this bit enjoyable. I did see some lovely wild flowers: iris, honeysuckle, dog roses, purple vetch, campion to name a few. I was trying to keep to any bit of verge as my balls were red hot by this point (of my feet, that is). And so the path eventually came to the tiny village of Danby Wiske, a welcome sight indeed. I believe Wiske is an old Anglo-Saxon word for meringue, or perhaps it derives from the Old English 'wisca' meaning a water meadow. One or the other. My hosts Frank and Doreen welcomed me in with a toasted teacake and a pot of coffee; they are across the tiny village green from the CAMRA award winning White Swan - cue steak pie and syrup pudding with custard (I need the fuel!) Tomorrow I will cross the rest of the Vale of Mowbray and hit the Cleveland Hills, but there's just a bit more of the level interlude in-between.
Today's tunes were The Kinks, "Lola" and The Beatles "Things We Said Today," and the stats were quite good as I had thought I was walking at about 1 mile an hour.
The last word must go to the descendants of Henry Jenkins, who penned his obituary thus: "Blush not marble to rescue from oblivion the memory of Henry Jenkins: A person obscure of birth, but in life truly memorable: for he was Enriched with the goods of nature, if not of fortune. and happy in the duration if not the variety of his Enjoyments: and tho the partial world despised or disregarded his low and humble state, The Equal Eye of Providence beheld and blessed it with a Patriarchs Health and Length of Days, to teach mistaken man these blessings were Entailed on Temperance or a Life of Labour and a Mind at Ease. He lived to the amazing age of 169 and was interred here Dec 6 1670 and had this justice done to his memory 1743"
Odometer
14.2 miles
Cumulative Miles
144.7
Total Ascent
170 metres
Total Descent
238 metres
Moving Time
4h 39 m
Stopped Time
2h
Moving Average
3.1 mph