Day 293: Aldbrough to Kilnsea
Distance: 21.42 miles
Ascent: 640 feet
Weather: Sunny
Accommodation: Bluebell Pond Caravan Site (Kindly Complimentary)
I had slept well in the bed and after sorting everything out once again was ready for breakfast. The owner of the cottage (I think probably a farmers wife) bought over the full English and we all had a breakfast feast. It had been great having the Tate’s on the walk and thank you so much to them or joining, but I had to get on my way so just before 9 I said my goodbyes and left.
I was going to be joined by other people today at Withernsea almost 12 miles away and I had said I would meet them about 12 and would have to be close to that to make the day work. The only issue being my walking pace is roughly 3 mph but even simple maths will show you I was going to have to try and do 4 mph which I wasn’t sure I could do for 3 hours.
It was another beautiful sunny morning as I set off and unlike yesterday evening it was clear to see the signs as I retraced my footsteps to Aldbrough and even if simple it was still strange walking across so many fields of crops as this was the route of the footpath (a photo below shows this was not just me going wrong).
From Aldbrough yesterday evening I had found what could be a possible issue and that was physically getting from the village to the beach, the actual road had fallen of the cliff at the end, the stairs the council used to maintain they have decided to give up on as the cliff kept eroding too fast and based on the most recent comment online the static caravan parks step had also collapsed which would leave no way down to the beach. Having looked at aerial shots it appeared there may be a track down near the aptly named Cliff Farm about 2 miles SW of Aldbrough, so I set of down the road towards this. When I got there the track existed and I assume this had been created as a little carpark and way down to the beach to make a little money for the farm but there were so many recent no parking signs but not a no walking sign so I walked the 100/200m down the track and was now happily on the beach.
As per yesterday the beach was lovely but again not much to write about other than the sheer quantity of fishermen normally I might expect to pass a couple maybe a dozen over a few miles but there were hundreds and I was beginning to think there must be some sort of competition and in fact this was the first time on the entire walk that I had actually seen a fishermen catch a fish from the beach.
I was making good progress and it was looking like I might even make Withernsea by 12, and in the end I reached the northern end of it about 12:05 and the meeting point probably about 12:20. The quicker speed had tired me out a fair bit. I met the Baldock’s here who were kindly joining today, Chris (whom I know from London) and Clara would be joining from Withernsea and his parents would be driving to Easington about 6 miles away and then walking back towards us.
We were back down on the beach again and the sun was out and I was hoping the tide would let us get all the way to Easington along the beach though it would be tight. After about an hour we had the picnic that Chris’s mum had kindly made and then continued on. It was becoming clear we may not get around the final headland to Easington but there were still hundreds of fishermen around here so I decided that when we got near Cliff Farm (another one) we would ask what way they got down as there was no clear way shown on the map.
Just below cliff farm we asked a fishermen who said that they come down the mud collapse which was behind him so we started going up this which was fine if a bit of a scrabble and a little steep in places but right at the top there was a sheer part about chest high but obviously the edge was loose so it would be tricky getting up this. At this point another fishermen walked along the top of the cliff and told us we should have come up the next mud slide only 100m away (and on looking after it was much easier with sort of actual mud steps) but I managed to throw my rucksack up and pull myself on to the top, and then help Clara and Chris up.
At the top we waited a little after Cliff Farm for Chris’ Parent who had had to follow the road as the path sign on the other side of the fields hadn’t existed. On our end there was a path sign so when we all met up we followed this across the edge of the field at first to the wind turbines, and then after this firstly one path sign had either fallen or been pushed into the bushes (depending on how cynical you are) but the route went straight across the cropped field so we headed straight across and eventually reached where the path met the road and again the path sign had either fallen or been knocked over and was lying in the vegetation in the ditch.
From here it was a short walk to Easington, where Chris’ parents had kindly booked us in a pub though last orders for food were at 4:30, it was about 3:30 and I needed to get 2.5 miles along the beach to Kilnsea to pitch and then they would kindly pick me up and bring me back to the pub hopefully not much later than 4:30. Chris and Clara joined and we bombed along the beach and reached the Bluebell Pond Caravan Site about 4:20.
This site had kindly let me pitch for free and it is absolutely my sort of campsite, not too large with lots of bushes and trees so it feels natural and not like a giant football pitch like most sites. A guy on the site showed me where I could pitch by a lovely fishing pond out of the wind with a nice view towards Spurn Head. I pitched as quick as I could and then we whizzed back to the pub and got there about 4:40 so all was good.
We had a Sunday roast in the Marquis of Granby and what a great roast it was with lovely meat, loads of veg and seemingly endless gravy. Thank you so much to the Baldock’s for treating me to this. After having a fair amount of food they kindly dropped me back at the site and it was dark as I blew up my mattress and sorted the last few things I had to do before getting in. I was absolutely knackered and fell asleep about 7pm.
A good day, with great weather, great having the Baldocks along (thanks so much to them) and somehow the schedule for the day just about worked.
