The Audlem Four and the Cleveland Way

FOUR AUDLEM MEN TAKE "LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE" TO THE CLEVELAND WAY

A couple of weeks ago, four local men of 1940/41 vintage walked the Cleveland Way from Helmsley in North Yorkshire to the coast at Saltburn, a distance of some 56 miles which we managed to extend to 60 miles with a few navigational errors!

We set off just as an extended spell of fine weather gave way to northerly winds, mist and rain and over some four and a half days got progressively wetter and wetter. The route crosses bleak moorland and the Cleveland Hills which (so the guide book says) offer exceptional views of the surrounding countryside. We saw little or none of this as all the high stretches were enveloped in thick mist and driving rain so we endured the lung busting ascents and the knee breaking descents to no avail!

Did we enjoy it? Most certainly!! Excellent company, good food and beer in friendly pubs that all made us most welcome.

Inevitably, we often compared ourselves to the characters in "The Last of the Summer Wine". A group of old men who should know better wandering about desolate moorland in the wind and rain whilst setting the world to rights. The only thing missing was a pair of wrinkled stockings. Norah Batty was nowhere to be seen until the very end at Saltburn when, like London buses, four turned up at once in the guise of our wives who joined us for a celebratory dinner.

In the interests of marital harmony, the four undermentioned gentlemen wish to dissociate themselves from the Norah Batty joke!

Mike Harthern, Mike Smith, Ben Clark, John Evans

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