Today's walk was our longest yet, 16 miles! We knew we had a long way to go so set off early at 7:50 plus we were anxious to leave our bad B&B. They were nice people who are trying to make a little extra money but they should not be in the hospitality business.
At the very beginning we had a very steep climb and we were glad we had fresh legs. Once we reached the top the views were pretty spectacular! I had dreaded that climb and it turned out to be no big deal, the hard part was yet to come. After the climb we entered the LittleBeck woods, the woods were beautiful and you felt like you were in a fairyland. We past a waterfall and crossed a stream where we first submerged our boots in water! After that we headed across the moors which were indeed the very worst part of the day. Our guide book warned that they might be boggy but we never imagined that we would be in ankle deep water! It was just awful, there are no other words to describe it. Once out of the bogs our walk ended with a three mile hike along the cliffs and finally down to Robin Hood's Bay. It is a lovely little village and quite different than the others places we have been. For the first time the homes are made of brick and not stone. We have not seen one wooden house the whole time we have been here.
Tradition has it that you must first put your feet in the Irish Sea at St. Bees when you start and at the end you must put your feet in the North Sea. We were very tired but we did make our way to the sea. It was a long downhill walk which frightened us because we were not sure we would be able to climb back up but we had to do it. We were just about to the water when we heard all this screaming and we turned to see our California friends who had been waiting for us to arrive. They had made friends with some locals who joined in cheering us on! Nice folks! We ended the evening with a nice meal and in a few short minutes we will both be fast asleep dreaming of home and family and good friends! Thank you for all you kind words of support.