One of today’s means to adventure is to get outdoors and take on
the rugged terrain and weather elements which Britain provides in
abundance! Either personal goals can be created or established
challenges attempted. Having set an objective, researched, prepared
physically and navigationally then proceed to complete the
challenge provides a sense of reward and achievement. Sharing the
challenge with the company of like minded fellows enhances the
enjoyment of the adventure. The Lyke Wake Walk is one such venture.
The Lyke Wake Walk was started by a local farmer, Bill Cowley,
in the North Riding of Yorkshire in 1955. He claimed that one could
walk 40 miles over the North York Moors from east to west (or
vice-versa) on heather all the way except for crossing one or two
roads and he issued a challenge that walkers took up with great
enthusiasm. The challenge was to walk it in less than 24 hours from
Scarth Wood Moor near Osmotherley to Ravenscar. He concentrated on
the west to east route because the prevailing wind came from the
west, in principle making it easier to walk with the wind on one's
back and with the heather lying away from the walker.
The walk took its name from the Lyke Wake Dirge, probably
Yorkshire's oldest dialect verse, which takes its name from the
watching wake over the corpse (lyke). The song tells of the soul's
passage through the afterlife. The walk was not meant to be taken
as the route of a funeral party but the possibility of bad weather
and difficult conditions make it an appropriate club song.
The end result of completing the walk was a terrific sense of
achievement and a black-edged card from the Chief Dirger (Bill
Cowley).
The first years of the walk were difficult as there was no worn
track but eventually the walk had to be re-thought because the
numbers of people attempting it played havoc on the ground surface.
Now various alternative routes are offered and the Walk club works
with the National Park Authority to try to limit the environmental
damage.
Bill Cowley died on 14 August 1994. The old Lyke Wake Club,
(www.lykewakewalk.co.uk) which he founded, closed down in October
2005, the Walk's fiftieth anniversary. However, a new club
(www.lykewake.org) has been established to preserve the traditions
established by Bill and to take over the old club's functions of
recording crossings, holding wakes and liaising with public
authorities.
Over the period Fri 31 Oct – Sat 1 Nov 08 you are invited to
attend the Geocaching event Take A Hike Adventure 1 – Lyke Wake
Walk. Setting off at 21:30hrs from the stone just north of Cod Beck
Resr Osmotherley (SE4710499436) the objective is to complete the
walk to the trigpoint just west of Ravenscar (NZ9583600850), within
the 24hrs set by the Lyke Wake Club. In order to achieve this a
route, at an average 3mph walking speed with frequent rests, has
been created that would be of interest to Geocachers and
Trigpointers in that it visits 4 caches and 6 trigs along its
course. With regard to those who would consider themselves unable
to complete the route in full, anyone is most welcome to join the
group for part only but will be responsible for arranging their own
transport at their chosen drop off and pick up points.
Essentially to log an attendance at this event what is required
is to intercept and record your name in the event logbook, which
will be carried by one of the walkers, by meeting the group at the
start, finish or at any point in between! In order to assist in
achieving this it is hoped that all of the following three aids
will be functional for the period of the walk:
Route Card
The route card as given in the additional waypoints list will be
used as a guide by the walking group. It is not sufficient to rely
alone on the information contained in the route card as the walkers
will be using that information as latest times to reach each
checkpoint (waypoint) with the intention of pushing on if good
progress is being made. You are advised to back up this information
with one of the other two options. A copy of the MS Excel route
card, Mapsource file and PowerPoint presentation can be forwarded
to those who register their interest in this event provided they
are capable of receiving such by email and offer a suitable email
address.
Phone/Text
By registering your intention to participate in this event you
will be provided with a mobile phone number which can be used to
make contact with the group to confirm their position either by
phoning or texting. The number will be a standard Vodafone contract
number and calls to it will be at your standard network rate.
Please bear in mind that the person carrying the phone will be
attempting to complete the walk within the required time so will
not have inclination to spend undue time chatting and replying to
text messages, please keep it brief!
Satellite Tracking
Details will follow of a satellite tracking website that will
provide positioning of the walking group updated at 15 minute
intervals.
For those intending to participate in the walk please be assured
that the objective is to complete the walk well within the 24hrs
required by the challenge, maintaining an 8 hour buffer in time
with the 3mph route card. Should any walker be not up to the pace
they cannot expect the rest of the group to compromise the walks
overall objective. The route is amply catered for with Rendezvous
Check Points (RVCPs) and anyone struggling to keep up will be seen
safely to the next RVCP where they will be encouraged to arrange a
lift to a RVCP further along the route where, if they are
considered to be sufficiently recovered, may rejoin the group. They
may of course continue under their own auspices however in doing so
should not compromise their personal safety.
Participants are responsible for providing their own support
transport. In order to avoid excessive ground erosion the Lyke Wake
Walk club advises groups should ideally not exceed 10 persons.
Anyone participating are requested to walk not more than two
abreast and should expect that if attendance swells considerably
the walk will be split down into smaller groups each separated by
an element of time.
Anyone participating in this event does so at their own risk. At
least one safety pack containing essential survival equipment will
be carried by one of the walkers. Part of the route will be walked
during the hours of darkness. Whereas every care has been taken to
research the challenge, plan a suitable route and prepare
navigational aids it is the personal responsibility of those
participating to ensure they:
are of the required physical fitness
are suitably clothed for the challenge and the prevailing weather
conditions
are carrying sufficient drinks and foods to sustain them to their
next planned replenishment point (RVCP)
are familiar with the use of navigational equipment they may be
carrying such as map, compass and satellite navigation
have a basic knowledge of first aid
have an understanding of the countryside code
For further information on the particular requirements of this
challenge please refer to the Lyke Wake Walk website. If still in
doubt please contact the organiser of this Geocaching event.
The “Take A Hike Adventure” series is the brainchild of Papakas
Pack and if successful the Lyke Wake Walk is intended to be the
first of further challenging adventures! To avoid any confusion the
series title bears no relation to any organisation of a similar
name.
Papakas Pack is Pyoung1s, Prince of Darkness, Kingfisher and
Scoobie Doo!