Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Day 27 -- Saltburn to Guisborough, by foot, 7 miles.

Once again I let my smartphone guide me on the bus, this time returning to Saltburn for the walk back to Guisborough on the Cleveland Way. The Way passes  through a local park and continues up the scenic Saltburn Valley, under the Saltburn Viaduct, and along a narrow stream known as Skelton Beck. The gradual climb provides increasingly better views of the coastal cities and the distant North Sea.

View from upper Saltburn town
 
Saltburn Viaduct
 
Skelton Beck
 

At the town of Skelton, I recognized the bus stops where I changed buses yesterday and this morning when traveling between Guisborough and Saltburn. From Skelton the Cleveland Way passes over a ridge and descends to the village of Slapewath, where I found a pub and had a noon-time snack. I then left the Cleveland Way and followed a different footpath to Guisborough, passing by the Guisborough Priory remains (another Henry VIII casualty), and emerging 300 yards from my hotel. By taking different footpaths than I walked yesterday, I’m beginning to learn my way around – the sign that it’s time to move on. In fact, I’m only about 5 miles from Great Broughton, where I stayed when I walked the Coast to Coast last week. I could easily walk there in a few hours.

Skelton
 

Guisborough Priory (remains)
 

Tomorrow I’ll leave the North York Moors and head to the city of Durham, where I’ll evolve into a tourist rather than a walker.