No Fracking Way - Day 2 - From Brafferton to Harrogate and Beyond!

Day 2 start in Brafferton

I awoke on Day 2 not feeling too bad thanks to my compression tights. Got showered, had breakfast, thanked my host for his hospitalisty and got my lift back to Brafferton to meet with the rest of the Core Group in the same Pub Car Park we had been picked up in the previous night. Tom, our Gandalf, was looking uncomfortable and came with 2 of those nordic walking sticks. Our walk today was not supposed to be as long as the first days 30 miles but was still a challenging 25 miles. I'd noticed via Facebook that today was Tina Rothery's birthday. Now Tina is a formidable dedicated anti-fracking campaigner from Blackpool who has been pursued through the courts by Cuadrilla for legitimate protest at our destination the Preston New Road site. A classic case of big business taking on the individual and fortunately losing. The judge threw out the case against her but not after a lot of  angst for Tina personally. I successfully recommended that the Green Party give her a life membership in recognition of her dedication and tenacity. So before we set off we sang her Happy Birthday, filmed it and put it out on Twitter.

Then we set off. 4 Days to go. We were joined by a woman who'd been searching around for us. More the merrier on our rolling band of folk. Next stop Boroughbridge. The way to Boroughbridge was long stretches of busier straight roads with rather flat featureless fields. It was clear that Tom was suffering and as we got to Boroughbridge he sensibly bowed out. We'd lost our Gandalf and his nifty satnav GPS gizmo. He would make his way back to York but not on foot! Not to be defeated Tom did later did make the 120 mile journey a few months later but this time by on the bike with a group with the inspired title  'Tour de Frack'.

Boroughbridge

As we entered Boroughbridge, in fact just over the bridge at Boroughbridge we were met by about a dozen folk from Harrogate Green Party all resplendent in their ' No Fracking Way' vests provided by Ann from the support vehicle. It was great to see so many of them particularly after the disappointment of losing Tom. They were to join us on the rest of the trek all the way to Harrogate. We posed for pictues in the village square and set off. Pretty soon with a bigger group we were stretched out and formed into smaller groups and as a consequence we lost some folks on a big roundabout as we headed out of Boroughbridge. We probably lost at least half an hour of walking time. With us were Shan Oakes and Bill Rigby from Harrogate Greens. Bill was Mayor of 

No Fracking Way enters Knaresborough

Knaresborough which we were about to go though. The political nature of our walk meant that he couldn't offer us a Civic Reception, wear his chains of office or offer us the Freedom of Knaresborough but he could walk with us and welcome us to his Town. From what I have heard of Freedom's of the Borough this honour usually gives you the right to let your flock of sheep go through the Town Centre unimpeded or you can march your battalion through with bayonets fixed. We definitely weren't sheep neither did we own any and there was probably more than enough pacifists in our group to ensure that we would never have need of bayonets. There was a particular pleasure however of shaking the hand of a Green Party Mayor by the 'Welcome to Knaresborough' sign.

After a tasty lunch in Knaresborough at a great cafe called Henshaws staffed by people with learning difficulties we headed off towards Harrogate. I got a garbled, difficult to hear, phone call from someone called Brian who said he'd come from Darlington to join our walk. We caught up with him, a white haired pensioner and it appeared he wanted to come along for the whole thing and join our Core Group. OK this required a bit of logistics regarding where to sleep. It got sorted by Ann in the support vehicle. Thanks Ann!

Harrogate Centre was where I wanted to stop but we still had about five miles to go to the end of our walk. I was very conscious that every mile we didn't do one day would be added on to the following day. So the Core Group started making our way out of Harrogate leaving our friends from Harrogate Green Party behind on a constantly rising path by a very long busy road which seemed to be unending. Surely it was shorter than this when me and Ann recce'd this back in January in the car? I wondered why the path was there anyway much as I'm in favour of facilities for pedestrians. Who used it? Who would want to use it? I was glad it was there but I reckoned we were the most pedestrian traffic it had seen all day. Mercifully we got off this main road to a still rising country road heading towards a National Trust car park rendezvous out in the countryside. Eventually we got there with a great view of Fylingdales 'Golf Balls' across the Moors. It was beautiful, the sun was low in the sky but it was still light. This was to be the beginning of a cross country section across footpaths and little used country roads but most of that was for tomorrow.

We decided to finish by going across a short section of woodland that took us to another road and another car park rendezvous. I had the map and I lead the way! It didn't look too far on the map. The

path we started walking on became muddy, then boggy, then it was clear that it was getting darker, then I started doubting I was leading us on the right path. I was quietly 'crapping it'. The small hut we passed in the forest had the look in the fading light of the sort of place your average axe murderer might hang out in. I ploughed on walking along something which only vaguely resembled a path. Then I heard cars, a road, was that a gate? Thank f*ck! I was relieved and my attempts to style it out with the rest of the Core Group when we reached the Car Park of course didn't wash.

We were picked up by Harrogate Green Party folks and taken back to a bar for another evening bash in town. I got my bag out of Ann's car and found that you entered the bar by walking up some stairs. It hurt! We got beer and pizza and I said a few words. We all looked pretty knackered. There were blisters on feet, some of were hobbling a bit having stiffened up. Compeed had been applied to feet. We weren't yet half way and I was worried. I knew tomorrow was another tough day. Then the pro fracking Conservative Leader of Harrogate Borough Council arrived bought me a beer and gave me a bed for the night. He is my brother after all.