Kilburn Kanter : LDWA Challenge Event : 24 miles (fast paced walking)

Hi there!

This is my log of the Kilburn Kanter - an LDWA Challenge Walk Event around the Hambleton Hills area of North Yorkshire.   Including Sutton Bank and the White Horse of Kilburn. It was a great day !

Kilburn Kanter Route - 24 miles

[Click map to zoom]

Saturday 7th November 2015

This is the first time I have entered this event, so with a new route to navigate and bloomin awful weather this was a surprisingly tough walk.  Still I have to say I really enjoyed the stomp, with particularly rewarding views toward the end of the challenge.  

I didn't take too many pictures - as stopping allot isn't a great idea on a challenge event - but still at least there aren't so many pics it would bore your death! ha ha

7:30 AM
A crowd gathers at the Kilburn Village Institute for the event registrations.

7:59 AM
Ready for the off! - we all agree it would be nicer tucked up in bed that out in this horrible rain.

8:30 AM
The runners all set of 10 mins before us walkers, but here I catch up with a runner, who presumably decided walking was a better idea - here here :)

10:00 AM
Not far from Rievaulx Abbey, and walking along part of the Cleveland Way some landscaped views in the once monastery owned grounds .

Some cows gather to cheer us on, and one cheeky cow said Get a Mooooove on !

11:00AM
Its getting wetter and misty unfortunately - but its going to get a lot worse.

11:30 AM
Torrential rain comes in.  Once we reach the hill tops the rain was really bad making photos impossible and navigation using my smart phone very difficult.   Even though my device was inside a see-though plastic sandwich bag the touch screen went awol.

1:00 PM
The rain stops and we are blessed with some sunny spells.

1:24 PM
Gosmere Lake

At Gosmere Lake here I made a pretty terrible navigation mistake.  I missed the sharp left turn that should have taken me up to Sutton Bank.  I mistakenly carried on along past the lake and when I realised my error decided to strike off through the woods to try and regain the footpath.   This was a bad idea, it was very very steep for about 300ft ascent, heavily encroached with brambles and deep bracken.   It was pretty exhausting getting through it - I must have lost 15 minutes at least here, which is a shame as I was trucking along well up to this point.  The good thing is I saw several beautiful deer up close to me deep in the unwalked woods.  That was really special so all was not lost.

1:58 PM
Sutton Bank

Thankfully out of the woods and up onto the Cleveland Way again.
Some superb views of the Vale of Mowbury and the Vale of York.

Views from Sutton bank have been described as England's finest by James Herriot, and I think they are pretty cool too!   A dull day for pics and I was rushing along, but still I hope you get an impression.

 
2:15 PM
The White Horse of Kilburn
Best viewed from a distance - as you will see :)

View from the horse's back to the Vale of Mulberry

15:26 PM 

Nearly there now - looking back to the Kilburn White Horse 

2:35 PM - FINISH
And here we are back at the starting point - where the village hall clock marks my finish time.

Fabulous day!
I am sure everyone shares my gratitude for a great day - not that it's my place to say it - but special thanks to all the folk that set this up - and who laid on some fabulous food at all the checkpoints, homemade cakes, flapjacks, chocolate brownie etc etc - and not forgetting an awesome meatball stew and couscous at the finish :)

Inside the village hall at the finish

And is here is my certificate and badge - I came in at 6 hours 39 - but I reckon I lost 20 minutes from navigation mistakes.   I find on these events knowing where you are going saves considerable time.    

I loved this walk - I hope to go back again next year and have another go.

Thank you for reading - please leave a comment or question for me below; I would love to hear from you.

Links:

LDWA Route information