Well, that’s Day 12 on our Coast to Coast Path adventure in the books. Today was short and flat with one big milestone – crossing the major A16 highway with no bridge and no lights.

We started off with a proper slow morning today. We only had 13+ km to walk and wanted to time it arrival in our new town Ingleby across for lunch when we arrived and the ability to check into our BnB.

At 8am we met for our usual breakfast time and some semblance of full English cooked breakfast for each of us. Then we finished getting gear, packs and such ready before heading out the door of The White Swan for 930am. Skies were overcast but it was a great 15C and no rain expected.

Before leaving town we popped down a block to check out the Danby Wiske Church built in the 1200s. They were loading up the place with fresh flowers for a wedding this weekend – smelt amazing and looked pretty impressive!

Just beside the church is a Campsite which looks amazing and boasts a pretty awesome Tuc shop (little shop) so we ducked in and, wow, it was fantastic! Run on the honest system you could get cold drinks, ice cream (even some for dogs), all kinds of crisps and biscuits, homemade cakes, fruit, camping meals and more. Wow!

Many Coasters walk right through Danby Wiske to instead stay in Ingleby Cross or beyond – this Tuc shop is worth a pop on if you do come through! We grabbed some fruit.

Now ready to roll, we kicked off today’s walk with a stroll out of town on the road. Today’s terrain would be a mix of fields, quite a few gravel tracked and roads. No major milestones or features to see on the way.

At about 12km we hit the petroleum station beside the A16 and popped in for a few snack provisions for the next couple of days where there are no shops available… and a little sugar courage for the A16 crossing. This is the MAJOR highway in this area and it’s 3 lanes at least each direction (plus merge or slip lanes as they call them here) and hella busy!

Without any further excuses we made our way to the shoulder of the A16. The goal was to cross the first side, then pause in the middle shoulder for our chance to cross the next side. We ended up making pretty quick work of it. In about 10minutes and thankful for some natural gaps in traffic – we made it! I sure hope the locals are successful in getting a pedestrian overpass built soon – it is a National Path!

From there we had a quick 1km road walk to our lunch stop, The Joiner Cafe in Ingleby Cross. They had a Brie quiche on special and a load of delicious baking – yummy! We chatted with a few other Coasters who came through.

Then it was up to Ingleby House Farm to check into the most adorable BnB ever – we have our own little cabins! Complete with an outdoor seating area in their amazing garden, fresh scones in our room, tiniest mini fridge with cream for tea and clotted cream for the scones, and the nicer owners!

We all had a chance to freshen up, some of us washed a couple laundry items (the windy days and wind gusts are great for drying laundry) and we had some time at our little garden area before we made our way to dinner.

Tonight we ate at The Blue Bell Inn – the only pub / place to eat and gather in Ingleby Cross. Walking in to this bustling place felt like it was the life blood of this little village. We had great food, a game of Farkle and then headed back to enjoy the rest of the evening at our BnB. We wanted to soak up every minute we could.

For those with preference to peruse..

• Date: Friday June 27 2025
• Trail: Coast to Coast Path, England
• Day: 12 of 17
• To/From: Danby Wiske to Ingleby Cross
• Start/Finish time: 945am / 2pm
• Distance: 15.4km (Hiiker)
• Steps: 21,466
• Terrain: some fields, some roads, a s lots of gravel tracks, and one MAJOR highway to cross (A16!)
• Weather: 19C with cloudy skies, gusty winds and clouds and maybe a few mins of rain if that even counts
• Breaky: full English / cooked breakfast
• Lunch n Snacks: delicious lunch at the at The Joiner Cafe in Ingleby Cross
• Dinner: chicken tenders and chips at The Blue Bell Inn in Ingleby Cross
• Tonight’s home away from home: Ingleby Farm House in the most amazing little cabin like rooms and homemade scones
• Mood: fantastic!
• Body: feeling good, I have named each of my pesky blisters now so I can curse them each specially and thoroughly
• Highlight: Ingleby Farm House!
• Lowlight: crossing the A16 motorway like terrifying game of Frogger
• Deep thoughts: if you can’t change it, embrace – the story is always good!

Not a super eventful day on the Path today but that’s ok. That means we are rested up for Day 13 that will take us back up and up and up into the hills. Stay tuned!

Brande