I’ve started so I’ll finish…

Running to the North Sea with my Northern Traverse pebble

Early in the morning on Monday April 8 my Northern Traverse journey came to an end in Marske, about 4 miles west of Richmond. My back had totally given up, I had the ultra runners’ lean and I slowly and painfully ground to a halt in a muddy field where I decided to call race HQ and make my way back to the nearest road to await the ‘bus of rescue and salvation’, as the lovely girl driving me to the Richmond checkpoint called it. I knew almost instantly that I would finish this journey from the Irish Sea to the North Sea (Alfred Wainwright’s Coast to Coast route) of which about 70 miles remained, as soon as I could during this summer. That small pebble which I had collected at St. Bees still had to be carried to Robin Hood’s Bay. I waited, first for my back and my fitness to recover, then for my recce runs I had to do for my next event to be completed. After that I waited for a good weather window. Having had to deal with Storm Kathleen as an uninvited guest during the event I was only going to do the rest of the journey with nice weather. The odd light shower would just about be acceptable, but reasonable temperatures and definitely NO WIND were non-negotiable for me. I just detest anything stronger than a gentle breeze! I also wanted to do this run solo and unsupported, in the spirit of the NT event, and I wanted to run through the night. In addition I wanted to use public transport to get to my starting point and to take me home again, not a big deal actually as the connections to these two places are good. With reference to the solo running I did take some safety measures by ensuring that a friend knew my route and approximate schedule, sending some updates from time to time, and having my Garmin incident-detection enabled in the unlikely case that something happened which would leave me unable to call for help myself.

After a lot of rain during the week the weather forecast looked very good for Friday (May 24) and most of Saturday, with at least a sunny start to the day. I thought it would be best to aim to arrive in Robin Hood’s Bay in the morning, so that the cafés would be open and the buses running. Therefore a late morning start in Richmond seemed appropriate, my rough calculation being that it would take me between 20 and 24 hours. I certainly wasn’t going to be in a rush, this was not a race but a journey.

I set off from home at a very civilised time, around 8 am, and caught 2 trains which took me to Darlington. The second train was late, making me miss the bus to Richmond by 1 minute, and the next bus was very late too. I did half regret that I had turned down a kind offer, by my friend Gill, of a lift! But I eventually reached Richmond around 11:30 and started my run shortly afterwards once I had rejoined the Coast to Coast route. I had decided against going back to the exact place where I had stopped near Marske. For the sake of those 4 miles I wasn’t going to try and get back there, it would probably have required taking a taxi. Whilst I like precision and detail, there are limits as to how complicated you need to make things for yourself.

Part 1: Richmond to Ingleby Arncliffe – 21 miles

I had previously reccied, with friends Andrew and Andy, all of the route that now lay ahead of me, so navigation was not going to be an issue anywhere. For the first section, from Richmond to the A19 at Ingleby Arncliffe, the challenge is the tedium of flat running through the Vale of York, as anyone who has walked or run the Coast to Coast route can tell you. Twenty-one miles through muddy fields and along minor roads, passing under the A1 near Brompton-on-Swale and Catterick, on to Danby Whiske where there is a pub, to the 24 hour service station on the A19, or alternatively you could stop if required at the nearby Blue Bell Inn at Ingleby Cross. Initially the fields were not as muddy as they had been when I had reccied this section in the winter with Andrew, so things were looking up. The weather was overcast and dull but quite warm. On my approach to Danby Whiske just after 2pm I started to imagine stopping at The Swan pub and having a large lime and soda in the garden. On our recce it had been closed but that was a Monday. Surely the pub would be open on the Friday afternoon of a Bank Holiday weekend! To my disappointment a sign announced that it was not opening until 4pm so there was no reason not to press on.

A lot of road running, not particularly nice, but the alternative can be even less attractive: shortly after finally leaving the roads I did have to negotiate a path through some woods which was completely under (very muddy and smelly) water, with lots of midge-like insects to add to the joy. Thankfully I had brought my Smidge. I consoled myself with the fact that at least there could not be any snakes or crocodiles in the water. It was grim! I had not planned to get my poles out before hitting the Cleveland Way but I changed my mind here as I did not want to face-plant in this slippery swamp!

I saw quite a few Coast to Coast walkers on the Vale of York section, some in groups (even a large contingent of Dutch walkers), some solitary. I briefly chatted to one walker who was setting up his Go-Pro to film the trains going past the level crossing at Wray House Farm. This ramshackle looking place has a ‘tuckshop’ with an honesty box but also an unsettling array of Halloween type ornaments nailed to the stile. Probably best to pass this place during daylight hours!

The walker said he was camping and aiming to reach Robin Hood’s Bay on Sunday, and then asked if I was going to stay overnight at the Blue Bell Inn. He seemed a little taken aback when I said I was aiming to get to the sea the next morning. Afterwards I wondered if that comes across as showing-off? Perhaps it is a bit weird, what we as ultra-runners think is quite normal, running non-stop through the night. I reached the A19 service station just before 5 pm and spent a good half hour there, having a lovely cappuccino and some potato wedges. Sadly someone bought the last slice of hot pizza margherita that I had my eye on as I was getting my coffee from the machine, but the wedges made for an adequate substitute. Sitting at the counter I tried to recreate the ‘A19 services photo’ that my friend Andy took last month, 135 miles in and on his way to a successful finish of the Northern Traverse. I also bought 2.5 litres of water and filled my bladder as well as refilling my 2 soft flasks. It was a lot of water to carry but I was not sure I would pass any other place where I could reliably obtain drinking water for the next 50 miles, as all cafés would be closed. Though I did also have a water filter with me for emergencies I prefer to drink guaranteed safe water. As it was, the toilets in both Glaisdale and Grosmont were open and I could have filled up there, I also only drank 1.5 litres. Possibly not enough but I will come back to that. So I carried a whole kilo of extra weight which I could have done without. Anyway, better than running out and scouring bogs for drinkable water…..

Part 2: Ingleby Arncliffe to Clay Bank – 12 miles

The first challenge after leaving the services is to cross the A19 which is absolutely no joke. There is talk about a possible pedestrian bridge now that the Coast to Coast route has been given National Trail Status. In the interim there is no alternative to this perilous crossing. Thankfully I did not have to wait long for 2 suitable gaps in the traffic (you can have a breather on the central reservation) and with 2 short sprints I was across and could start my climb onto the Cleveland Hills and North York Moors. I ran past the Blue Bell Inn and waived to some more walkers sitting around on benches, relaxing after their day’s walk and ready for a nice pub meal and their beds I guess. I walked uphill on the zigzag path through Arncliffe Woods and joined the Cleveland Way after Park House. Coming out of the woods I crossed Scarth Wood Moor, a lovely runnable stretch with slabs, then passed through Clain Wood, runnable again, before starting the longish climb up Carlton Bank and eventually reaching its trig point (408m) as the sky started to turn a little orange. The day having been overcast there had been little promise of a stunning sunset, but it did start to clear just enough for some colour to become visible. I enjoyed the views, with the distinctive outline of Roseberry Topping visible in the distance.

Part 3: Clay Bank to Glaisdale – 18 miles

I climbed up from the road onto Urra Moor and the highest point of this section (454m). It’s an easy climb mainly on slabs, after which it becomes a good track all the way to Bloworth Crossing and beyond. At Bloworth Crossing you leave the Cleveland Way and join the disused track of the Rosedale Ironstone Railway (built to carry iron ore from Rosedale), which took me over Farndale Moor and onto High Blakey Moor. It’s covered in fine gravel, slightly downhill, and very runnable. I remembered running this with Andy on a recce, on fresh legs obviously, and bashing out some 9:30 miles here (which for me is relatively fast for off-road running with a pack). I felt that I wasn’t going that much slower, and was a little dismayed to see I was only doing 12 or 13 minute miles 😏 Well, it was dark, my legs were tired and I was carrying quite a lot. At least I was running! It wasn’t very exciting, as there was nothing to see in the dark apart from tiny baby rabbits scuttling away hastily (why weren’t they sleeping??) and lots and lots of black snails. I did my utmost not to step on them, though it did occur to me that nature has perhaps provided such an abundance of them to account for unavoidable losses from nocturnal ultra runners stepping on them. It was foggy, so the beam from my head torch was being reflected back at me. To minimise this I had to put it on the lowest setting, aim it towards the ground and look downward at the circle of light. It made the running feel even more ‘inward’, pure running without anything to distract the mind. I knew I would be approaching the turn off to the Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge after a fairly sharp left hand bend in the track and just waited for that to appear, which it did eventually.

I climbed up to the ridge and reached the road (Blakey Lane). There is almost a mile to run along the road towards Rosedale Head, a short section across the moor and then another half a mile or so along the road before reaching the bridleway which takes you the remaining 6 miles to Glaisdale along Glaisdale Rigg. I was glad to get off the roads, it was foggy up there too though I wasn’t worried about road safety as there were very wide grass verges to run on whenever the occasional car passed. I just felt a low level of apprehension related to my vulnerability being there on my own. I think the chance of meeting someone with ill intent out on the moors far away from any urban areas is very remote indeed. On a road a passing opportunist in a car could pose a problem, it’s a risk I am willing to take but it does require consideration.

The stony bridleway to Glaisdale was uneventful and I covered the miles with a mixture of running and walking until I reached the tarmac and a lovely steep downhill into the village, which was utterly asleep. It was also still entirely dark. On the Northern Traverse event there was a minor checkpoint here.

I was pleased to find the toilets at Glaisdale Station open so I stopped briefly to make use of them. I didn’t actually feel that great. I had been feeling nauseous for quite a while, since before the Wainstones at least. I remember trying to eat some of Gill’s cake (which looked delicious) at that point and failing miserably after one bite. I don’t normally have nutrition or nausea issues on ultras but I struggled a bit on the Northern Traverse, and now again. I need to work on my strategy and do some more thinking, and trying out of different things. Whilst I was running my thought was that perhaps I had eaten too much and should stop eating for a bit until my stomach settled down. It helped, but made me feel rather faint eventually. I didn’t vomit like I had on the NT, and I am not able to make myself sick so I had to just put up with what was already in there. I didn’t even want to drink, but forced myself to keep doing so otherwise I would really have been in trouble. I had lots of electrolytes in my water so they were going in, and I managed to eat the odd energy chew, and also 2 pouches of my trusted banana baby food. At some point I also ‘liberated’ the banana pieces from my peanut butter and banana sandwiches and ate those. I had to throw the bread away, there was no way I could get it down. So in the Glaisdale toilets I was tempted to just sit down for a while as I felt pretty rubbish. Yet I knew that it probably wouldn’t help so I might as well channel my inner ‘elite athlete’ 🤣 and crack on with the task in hand regardless of how I felt. Not far to go now and it would be getting light soon.

Part 4: Glaisdale to Robin Hood’s Bay – 19 miles

Despite not feeling great it was a good feeling to start the last section. From the station the route takes you into East Arncliffe Wood along the Eskdale way, on a muddy woodland footpath with old worn stone slabs. The river Esk can be heard in the bottom of the valley. It is a nice section which leads to Egton Bridge where you cross the river and continue on the northern side. At Egton Bridge I saw the very first faint signs of light in the morning sky appearing, I heard a cock crow and saw a barn owl taking off, perhaps in search of an early breakfast. It was 3:15 in the morning and nature was already beginning to wake up. One of the highlights of any run where you go through the night! Immediately I started to feel better. I reached Grosmont at 3:45 and it was now definitely getting lighter. Here again the toilets were open and I popped in. Many thanks to whoever maintains these conveniences and ensures they are open 24/7! Whilst I wouldn’t say I felt fantastic, I felt a distinct improvement over how I had felt in Glaisdale only a couple of miles earlier. Helped by the fact that I love Grosmont, it must be the romantic flavour that the steam train gives it.

Leaving the Esk behind (which flows north east to Whitby) I left Grosmont via the road, east towards Littlebeck. A minor issue is that the road is hardly flat 🤣 The climb goes on for 2 miles before you take a left turn onto soggy moorland.

Despite only having gone through one night I was seeing things that were not there. As I was climbing to the crest of the hill I very clearly saw a campervan at the top with people standing next to it. It felt obvious to me they were waiting to catch the sunrise which would be at 4:41. I was looking forward to saying ‘good morning’ to them and sharing a bit of the joy of the new day. When I got there it turned out to be two gorse bushes! I did see the full moon though, and that was real. I had not had any benefit from it earlier as it had been so overcast, but now that it was getting clearer and lighter I could suddenly see it when looking south as I climbed the road, whilst in the east I saw the sun rise.

I lost all the height gained on that 33% road on the descent down into Littlebeck, which lies at the bottom of the next valley. I sat down on a bench there for about 10 minutes to remove my jacket and head torch, swap my buff for my cap, and I tried to eat something. I think it was more banana. From there the route goes into the woods leading to Falling Foss (a large waterfall). I remembered really enjoying this section on the recce, making good pace with Andy and Andrew, before bad weather hit us at Hawsker, spoiling the final miles with strong winds and horizontal rain on the coast path. I managed to enjoy the woods again, though tired now and still nauseous, but they were pretty with the early low sunlight coming through the trees. After the woods the climb up out of the valley was warm in the sun. The long moor sections that followed, about 3 miles south of Hawsker, were wetter underfoot than on the recce, though this hardly seemed possible! It was a veritable massive swamp, and progress was unpleasantly slow. There was no point trying to avoid the bogs, just a matter of ploughing through them. Everything comes to an end, including boggy moorland, and I reached Hawsker around 7:30 am in glorious sunshine with dog walkers out on early walks and large tractors taking to the road for a day’s work.

The very last part of my run went from Hawsker to the coast via the caravan park, and then takes a right turn onto the coastal path for the final 3 miles to Robin Hood’s Bay. The weather was glorious sunshine and the path, despite some muddy patches, was largely dry. What a contrast with our recce. I largely walked, as I was tired, but also because I wanted to enjoy the amazing views. There was a charity walk event going on for Alzheimer’s Disease, so there were quite a few people out already, as walkers could set off from 6 am. Then I got talking to a runner in a Hardmoors t-shirt, Mark Thacker, who turned out to have volunteered on the Northern Traverse. I knew his name from the NT Facebook group already. It was really nice to talk to someone after a long night of silence! And we will both be on the start line of next year’s NT event. We went our separate ways as Robin Hood’s Bay came into view, I managed to run the last bit of the coast path where it widens and flattens out, and continued to run down the steep road all the way to the sea, overtaking scores of charity walkers, and vaguely wondering if I might look to them like a terrible show-off. But I am a runner after all! I reached the slipway at 9.02 🏁😊

I took some photos, sat down to look at the view for a bit, walked out to the water to dip my toes into it and hurl my pebble out to sea. Then I was hungry! Still nauseous but I reckoned breakfast would be a good idea nevertheless. I spotted a lovely café, I did have to wait outside for them to open at 09:30 but it was worth the wait. Two American women were also waiting, they had walked the Coast to Coast and finished a day or so ago so we got chatting. They found it hard to believe I had come non-stop from Richmond when that same section had taken them 4 days. I assured them they were part of the ‘normal’ majority! I enjoyed my breakfast and was delighted to find it stayed down so I could attempt the bus journey to the railway station in Scarborough with some confidence. A bus is always a risk 🤢…..

I managed to power hike back up ‘cardiac hill’ to the bus stop without any problems, the legs were still good. There were the usual public transport delays: the bus was late, trains from York to Leeds were all up the spout, but I did get home by early afternoon. With the York Races on that day I had plenty of people watching to do to keep me entertained 😉, mainly young women tottering on impossibly high heels in impossibly small dresses! The girl in front of me on the bus still had a curler in her hair, I know that’s sort of ‘normal’ nowadays but I find it very funny. As the sun had gone in they must all have been incredibly cold too. I was so glad of my layers for the journey home.

Postscript

I am delighted that I was able to finish this journey, and I feel it has helped me to come to terms with the disappointment of the DNF. In the immediate aftermath of the event I did ask myself if I had made the right decision to stop when I did, I think that’s only normal. Running these last 70 miles confirmed to me that there is absolutely no way I could have covered this distance in the physical state I was in, even if I had taken some time to rest in Richmond.

I really enjoyed this outing, but I cannot deny that it was quite tough mentally. Perhaps tougher than I expected. I have run longer distances, but only in the context of a race. To run this distance solo and unsupported, without checkpoints to look forward to, without other participants to talk to and share the pain and the miles with, is quite hard. I derived support from some WhatsApp messages from friends and that definitely helped. I didn’t ‘need’ checkpoints in the sense that it is perfectly possible to carry your own food and water, but the emotional uplift you get when you reach a checkpoint is difficult to replicate, though the service station and various villages or road junctions were some kind of substitute in the sense of me looking forward to reaching them. I didn’t take my headphones so didn’t listen to any music or podcasts, as I wanted to be able to fully engage with the sounds around me (and be safe). Which I valued, but it did make it harder I think. There were some points where I definitely needed to remind myself why I was doing this, especially when I couldn’t eat and was feeling decidedly dodgy. But I knew that my pebble needed to get to the North Sea!

Positives: My back seemed to be OK. My legs and feet were fine too, no blisters. Shoes: my trusted Hoka Mafate Speed 4 with Drymax socks. Drymax are not waterproof but quick draining and quick drying. I think that in summer conditions, i.e. when the water is not ice cold, I prefer these over waterproof socks.

Negatives: Need to take a closer look at my nutrition. I have always been a fan of ‘real food’ on ultra runs but twice in a row now it has not agreed with me. None of the hot meals at the checkpoints on the NT sat particularly well with me. Which is surprising as I am hardly moving at a great pace, being a middle to back of the pack runner. But perhaps I need to shift the emphasis a bit more towards more easily digestible carbs such as energy chews. Work in progress!