Coast to Coast Day 12 Glaisedale – Robin Hood’s Bay 19.9 miles Copyright © Barry Smith 2012. All Rights Reserved. Although this was to be our last day there was no excitement as we departed, this was to be saved for later in the day. The weather again was threatening rain  but improved as the day went on. Arriving in Grosmont we were treated to the rare sight of a steam train waiting at the station, and then had to endure the long pull up to Sleights Moor. Going through Little Beck wood and it’s extensions would have been more pleasant if the route hadn’t been a continuous mud bath, and it was quite a pleasing experience to eventually emerge. This however only led us onto Greystone Hills, which is a strangely named moor and which, after the first few hundred yards was a total and very wet bog all the way to the Hawsker road. It must have been bad for Graham to announce that ‘he couldn’t be bothered where he was putting his feet any more’. We lunched at the pub in Hawsker and the set of on our final leg. I think we both deliberately stayed out of each others space as we descended through the caravan park and hit the coastal path, in order that we could be with our own thoughts at this emotional time. We then had a very enthusiastic walk along the coastal path into Robin Hood’s Bay, and as we arrived at the hill descending down to the quay we were welcomed by my parents who had, in a wonderful gesture, come to welcome us. There was further work and ritual to perform however, and we continued on down to the quayside where the tide was high. We had done it. We congratulated each other, and both systematically ‘dipped our feet’ and I returned the pebble that I had acquired on St Bees beach back to the seashore on this side of the country. Then we completed the other ritual and proceeded to have a well earned pint in Wainwrights Bar in the Bay Hotel and sign the Coast to Coast book. That evening we dined at the Victoria Hotel with my parents and Phil and Jayne and were presented with a couple of quite relevant, risqué mementos. The following day, as we were given a lift to Scarborough we saw Lisa, who although completing the walk the previous day, was out walking for a ‘few miles’ to pass the time before her lift that afternoon. For our part we caught the train to Wolverhampton and turned our thoughts families and to the other ritual of daily life that was soon to be upon us again. Post Script Although the ‘recognized’ distance for the walk is 190/192 miles, we actually walked a route of 201.5 miles – a testament to our expertise in misplacement! ;