SHORT HISTORY OF THE WALK
The Lyke Wake Walk is a 40-mile crossing of the North York Moors from Osmotherley to Ravenscar. Official starting point is the Lyke Wake Stone, just past the reservoir on the outskirts of Osmotherley at G.R. 470994 and finishing at the Lyke Wake Stone on Beacon Howes (photo12) at Ravenscar G.R. 971012. Originally the walk started in Osmotherley village and finished in Ravenscar, but in order not to disturb residents in both of these villages, the start and finish is now just outside the villages.
Bill Cowley created the walk in 1955, and issued a challenge to walkers to cross the moors on foot from east to west within 24 hours. On 1st October 1955, 10 men and 3 women set out at noon to perform the first crossing. They reached Ravenscar around 10.30 the next day.
The Lyke Wake Club was born; wake - meaning watching over a corpse and lyke – the corpse itself. The emblem of the club is a coffin badge. You may wonder how and why the unusual name and emblem was used. Throughout the moors there are many ancient burial mounds, known as tumulus or howes. While walking you pass by many of them (photos 9 & 10). Because of these burials and because many bodies were carried over the moors, it was appropriate to use the emblem and name for the club.
Since the walk was created, thousands of people have crossed over! Some groups carry empty coffins across, (or are they)? Others get dressed in black. In times when there was considerable snow, people have skied across. Special condolence cards are available for double crossers, i.e. there and back in one walk!
There have been attempts on other multiple crossings, with the record now set at 85 hours 50 minutes for 5 continuous crossings and 74 hours for 4 continuous crossings by myself in 1995.
