I’m not a ‘walker’, a Sunday stroll with my family or the odd extended walk across the moors at a very leisurely pace is usually my limit. However, a friend and I decided we would join this year’s walk for vocations and set off with the group on Sunday afternoon. What an enjoyable afternoon it was!
The weather was calm and warm, perhaps a bit too warm after a while, the Cleveland Way path is in a bit of a rutted state and the gullies were hard to negotiate for novices like us. Black ‘Thunder Bugs’ were a nuisance and some of the bites were a reminder that we were in Dracula country! The starting pace was quite fast and after a while we were, as we expected to be, at the back of the ‘crocodile’. However we had four valiant Knights in yellow jackets and Pauline encouraging us and helping us over stiles and up and down steps and gullies until at the last one my faulty knee and hip started to give up. We gave up at the lighthouse, which apparently meant we only had one and a bit very easy miles to go, we had done the hard part, so we nearly made it. At the lighthouse, another Knight carried three of us home in his trusty steed, where a welcome cup of tea was waiting. The day ended with Mass at 7.00 pm. We said afterwards what an enjoyable day it had been. I just want to thank our Knights in yellow jackets and Pauline Taylor for all their help and encouragement, I certainly wouldn’t have got as far as I did without them. Next time we’ll finish it!!
Pat Pearson, St Hilda's, Whitby
