Danby Wiske to Ingleby Cross Day 12

In Montana they like to call it "big sky country". Here in Yorkshire they could well call it "big cloud country". The rain mostly stayed away but there was some fair old posturing from the dark clouds overhead and they made some formidable sculptures up in the celestophere. A camera can't really do it justice.

Yorkshire - Big Cloud Country

We continued through fairly flat farmland for another 12 mile day, talking to walkers along the way. One such walker was Aileen, a teacher from Ireland who had a sense of adventure and a glint of fun in her eye. We were due to stay in separate towns that night but we all agreed to get together the following night in Glaisdale for a pint or two.

Yorkshire wheatfield

As we approached Ingleby Cross we had to cross the busy and bothersome A19, possibly the most dangerous 20 metres of the whole trek as there is no footbridge or tunnel. Having negotiated the highway we entered Ingleby Arncliffe where there was a charity event with life sized fairy tale characters being recreated in gardens and on walls. The highlight was Rapunzel with her beckoning golden hair flowing down from the town's water tower.

Rapunzel letting her hair down

Park House was a mile up the road from the small village of Ingleby Cross. Here we were shown to a bedroom where the much admired Julia Bradbury had slept (the "Julia Bradbury Room" as it came to be known).

Julia Bradbury slept here ...

Di, our landlady, was about to leave for a big day out and asked us just to help ourselves to the bar on the honour system. Walkers are generally regarded as scrupulously honest in these parts. And so we were. After all, how would we find a getaway car?

Park House is on the western edge of North York Moors National Park. The uphill walking resumes the next day after a couple of leisurely days on the flat. If you stay at Park House it's not worth a late afternoon one-mile walk up to the rear of the ruins of Mount Grace Priory. They are supposedly worth a visit but if you go at all it should be earlier in the day when you might get value for your £4 entry fee. If you arrive after 4pm it may be better just to chill out at Park House over a pint of Wainwright Ale.