Day 14 - Before Brantingham to By Shiptonthorpe

2 April (0655-1235)

Distance: 16.5 miles (Tot: 251)

Weather: overcast, some light showers, warm, bit breezy

Number of brothers met: 1

Mick's day started early, not so much because he was unlawfully camped, but because he was heading for his brother's house and looking forward to an afternoon of watching football. With promising skies (false promise, as it turned out) to start the day, he packed away the tent that he described as 'palatial for one!' and headed out to continue along the Wolds Way.

A number of text messages were exchanged as I made my own way north, and during one brief telephone conversation I got the impression that Mick was verily enjoying himself, as he enthused about the surroundings. Lovely wooded areas and delightful surroundings ruled. One text message also informed me that "It's much pimpled today", which had me a bit perplexed; turned it was an iPhone auto-correct thing and the real message was that the day was much lumpier. I confess that I was jealous.

With thoughts of a hot shower and a bacon sandwich in his mind, the pace was brisk such that at 11.30 he was calling his brother, Mark, to say that he was an hour away from the intended pick up point and to arrange the rendezvous. Realising that he'd miscounted and that it was actually 3.5 miles, and not wanting to keep Mark waiting the pace was upped even further.

And so, by 1pm Mick was at Mark's house and theoretically I was fast approaching York myself...

... except that my day didn't go entirely to plan. The first issue was that my train was unable to leave Derby due to the lack of a driver. The second issue was that, when a driver was eventually found, the train was sufficiently delayed to mean that the only chance I had of catching the bus I needed (a bus which only runs every 2 hours) was to trot across York with some very careful navigation. The third issue was that just before I got off the train I realised that I'd lost my map case, which contained my street-map of York. Doh!

Annoyance ruled for a while. Those map cases aren't cheap and that's the second one we've lost now. Moreover, instead of resting my feet yesterday afternoon I found myself walking the streets of York, with a phone glued to my ear with Mick (sitting looking at a street map) directing me to the outdoor shops. If only I had the map I could have found my way around with much greater ease ... but if I'd had my map then I wouldn't have needed to search the city for a map case to start with. No point crying over spilt milk, though, and after a good round of the city I concluded that the only map case available in the whole place was a £3.50 one that isn't entirely satisfactory, although it will do until a new Ortlieb one can be sourced.

Happily, before I started searching for the bus stop, my street-pounding ordeal was cut short by Sister-in-Law (Bev), who happened to be nearby and who rescued me from the streets of York. An excellent evening was then had with Mark & Bev.

As for the feet, I was a bit disappointed with how they looked when I arrived, given that I'd only walked a couple or three miles over the course of the day. However, we are setting out again this afternoon (Sunday, that is) for a very short jaunt up the road, which in turn will make the next three days a more sensible length. Fingers crossed that the feet behave.