Day 7: Great Broughton to Egton Bridge

The stay at the Wainstones Hotel was an over-the-top surprise. When Mike and I were booked into this place in 2023, it could only be described as dreary and close with dark panelling, small windows and low ceilings. After a top to bottom renovation done last year, the place is now a four-star destination. No detail has been untouched by the project. Every bathroom is fitted out with a deep tub and gleaming space age fixtures. The beds are luxurious and the flat-screen TV fills an entire wall. There is even a brand new wing of the building that features a cafe and a gift shop.

Best of all may be the fact that Archie, a retired North Yorkshire Council bin man has joined the staff as its jitney operator. Faced with a 20-mile walk with numerous steep climbs and descents and with Jeff suffering a leg injury, a decision was made to engage Archie’s services to cart us over to Egton Bridge. I have overcome my guilt at having yet another cheat day with the joy of listening to Archie’s narration of the sights and the wildlife we soaked in along the way. He introduced us to the grouse and the green woodpecker. And he confirmed that the yellow fields I described yesterday are indeed planted with a seed from which cooking oil is made. So a shout out and an apology to the Englishman I doubted yesterday.

Egton Bridge is a picturesque story book village of gray/brown sandstone buildings that sits on the banks of the River Esk. The Coast to Coast Path goes through the front yard of this hotel so resumption of the trail from here is a cinch. My own research of the place on Wikipedia taught me that the Egton Estate within which the village sits was listed in the Domesday Book commissioned by William the Conquerer in 1085. The area is still owned largely by one of the old Catholic families that have predominated the place for centuries. St. Hedda’s Catholic church is a dominant structure that houses relics of Blessed Nicholas Postgate, an English martyr.

Tonight’s accommodation is the Horseshoe Hotel which, itself, sits on the river’s edge. It is a handsome building in an idyllic setting but the hotel, pub and dining rooms definitely have a very rustic feel. I’m seated in a dining room with a low exposed-wood-beam ceiling and a fireplace with firewood stacked around the perimeter of the floor. The table tops are made of wide pine boards and there are no two chairs that match. And now I’m looking out the window at two very large chickens following a young woman down the street as she drops a trail of bread bits behind her.  Jeff from Florida is staying at a B&B across the river and will join me here soon to choose a dinner from what is essentially a pub menu but it is the only show in town.

Tomorrow I head for the ultimate destination – Robin Hood’s Bay. I have opted to travel via the Town of Whitby where I hope I find time to see the Whitby Abbey.  If not, I will at least take pictures. But from there I will track along the Cleveland Way which meanders for six or seven miles atop a cliff bordering the North Sea. I’m looking forward to this because, on our previous walk, Mike and I stayed inland due to inclement weather.  I’m not sure if Jeff will be fit to join me but I hope so.

Posh digs at the Wainstones

Humble digs in Egton Bridge

Crossing the River Esk

The Horseshoe Hotel