Lyke Wake Walk

[foxy mars]

I'm having a week off at the latter end of February and I hope to do the Lyke Wake Walk on a bivvy trip, however, I'm doing the 42 miles in 3 days and not in under 24 hours. I've done the Lyke Wake Walk 7 times now and would like to spend a little time exploring at my leisure, probably 15 miles a day.

I'm bivvying the route and just got a new sleeping bag and this is a pre-training walk for my planned Coast to Coast in Summer. So I'm looking up the guide book, although I know the route like the back of my hand.

[foxy mars]

Sorry, if I dug the old thread up. But, thinking about my January hols and would not mind doing this walk in 3 days, using a bivi bag. Might be a bit cold, but I'll see how the weather is then.

[Farplace]

Excuse my ignorance, but where is Lyke Wake?

[Hedera]

That's brave of you, Foxy! Make sure you have good boots and watch out for the whins!!!

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by Farplace

Excuse my ignorance, but where is Lyke Wake?

Let me google that for you

Jim

[Farplace]

Thank you Jim

[foxy mars]

Hi Farplace.

The Lyke Wake Walk is a 40 mile walk, which starts from the Sheep Wash or official start point Beacon Hill (trig-point), both are roughly about a mile or so from Osmotherley village.

The Finish is Ravenscar, again you can either finish at the radio mast (trig-point) or officially, the Raven Hall Hotel (at the bar)

Many years ago, the locals would carry the dead across the bleak moor, thence the name 'Lyke' the corpse and 'Wake' is watching over the corpse.

There is some interesting history behind the Lyke Wake Walk and it's origins go back to 1955, when the first Lyke Wake crossing was done on October 1st 1955 by the late Bill Cowley and many thousands of walkers have done it since then. The walk peaked in the middle 1970's and the path started having problems with the wear and tear, due to large parties, sometimes 100+ walkers in a party. Although, nowadays, this has died off. But the line of erosion, still bear the scars of many boots from past crossings.

The idea is do the 40 mile walk in under 24 hours and you can get a badge in the shape of a coffin or a card of completion (condolence card).

The total ascent is 5,000ft and is best walked at night, to finish in daylight hours.

The walk is across very bleak moorland, no shops enroute, no shelter apart from the Lord Stones cafe and the Lion Inn (if both are open) and can be very boggy esq towards the end, after heavy rain. However, most people have a support party and these are at check-points, mainly Carlton Bank, Clay Bank, Rosedale Head, Hamer, Eller Beck and Juggar Howe lay-by (A171).

I've the done the Lyke Wake Walk now 7 times and in one crossing.

These are my dates and times.

June 1970 (18 hrs - supported)
July 1972 (16 hrs - supported)
July 1985 (18 hrs - unsupported)
July 1986 (14 hrs - supported)
June 1987 east to west (13 hrs - (supported)
July 1995 (20 hrs -solo unsupported)
July 1995 east to west (20 hrs -solo unsupported)

The last two, I took the bivi and bedded down in the heather for 4 hrs. So the walking time would of been about 16 hrs.

[Farplace]

Thanks Foxy,
Sounds a fascinating place to walk. Thanks for telling me the history of the place.... makes it come alive. I am going to have to take time out and visit at least part of the walk some time.

[Jim Ford]

The 'Lyke Wake' dirge is interesting and was dramatically set to music by Benjamin Britten:

Lyke-Wake Dirge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You can listen to a sample from here (Number 15)

http://mp3skyline.com/rid-0x2333b-ar...f_sub=dpl74602

Jim

[foxy mars]

I would love to walk the 40 miles in one go, but nowadays, my knees are dicky. So, best sticking to the 3/4 days. Anyway, I've done it 7 times, so can't complaint about that.

If you do visit the North Yorkshire Moors at any one time, do pop into the Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge. There do really good bar meals and the beer is good too.