The Lyke Wake Walk - 'the miles that grind, the heather hell'

The Lyke Wake Walk starts in Osmotherley on the Western edge of the North York Moors, and ends at Ravenscar on Yorkshire' North Sea coast. It is 40 miles from beginning to end, and it has to be done in within 24 hours, and between north and south 'goal posts'.

Me and Tim Shaw missed the northernmost limit with about 10 minutes to go on our first attempt. Actually, we ended up sitting on a bench in front of the Flask Inn taking off our boots, and enjoying a pint as the seconds clicked down to zero. We completed the walk the year after, in some style, and with a few hours to go.

Someone who had completed the walk wrote a take-off of Lewis Carrol's Jabberwocky to commemorate their footsore excursion. One or two lines stand out - something about 'the frowsy knee' and on to 'shunning the frumjous unexploded shell' - that's all I can recall, though the rhythm of Carrol's poem was used, and still reminds me of that walk.

As for
'The miles that grind',
'The heather hell',
they will still be there intact awaiting the unwary. 40 miles is a long way.