...nothing but footprints

The Cleveland Way is a walk of two halves.  If, as in our case, the walk is started from Helmsley, then the first 58 of the trail’s 109 miles are predominantly over moorland, with the second section providing 51 miles of spectacular coastal walking.  Our fifth day on the trail was something of a transition between these two sections.  A slightly shorter day of just over 11 miles, it seemed as though this part of the walk was crossing a no man’s land between moor and coast.  A necessary hinterland which, on paper, seemed to have little of interest along the way.   The King’s Arms at Newton on Roseberry offered an earlier than usual start to breakfast at 7.30 am, and after a good night’s sleep we were up, packed and raring to go.  Neither of us had ever been to Saltburn before, so it seemed like the ideal opportunity to get a head start on the day, get the job done and arrive in good time to explore.   As we retraced our steps along Roseberry Lane we were faced with the choice of a climb

For me, it takes just two essential ingredients to make the perfect bacon sandwich.     Bacon and bread, preferably a bread cake (or barm cake, bun, stottie…depending where you’re from), ideally dipped in the bacon fat.     Some might add butter, brown sauce or ketchup.     But for me, just crispy bacon in a bread cake makes the perfect light breakfast.      Either that or poached eggs on toast.     And after our previous night’s substantial meal, a lighter option was all I needed to start our fourth day on the Cleveland Way.     The breakfast menu at the Buck Inn offered both my favoured choices, so I opted for the bacon butty and scanned the map of our day’s route over a coffee while eagerly awaiting its arrival.  What was eventually served up took me by surprise.  On the table before me sat a small plate bearing just two rashers of bacon.  I stared at it in confusion for a short time before politely asking for some bread.  Wolfgang, the inn’s owner, appeared from the kitchen.     He