In this week’s installment of Take a Hike, Tandy goes for a good long walk along the cliffs and has a great time for himself. The only downside is a somewhat cryptic warning from a taxi driver regarding his accommodation.
This is a fairly short chapter and shouldn’t take very long to read.
Enjoy…
Take a Hike - Chapter 7: A Cliff-Hanger
The alarm sounded, heralding six thirty am. After five minutes of relentless peeping Tandy reached out his arm and fumbled for the snooze function. Another five minutes and the alarm would sound again and then he would get up. He’d had a good night’s sleep on a poor mattress, which given the tiring events of the first day of his holiday was hardly surprising. At least he could now get out and do what he came to do, to explore the cliffs.
The thought of a full English breakfast forced him up and out of bed before the second coming of the alarm and he quickly pulled on the same clothes that he had worn the day before, making only the necessary change of socks and pants. He would have liked to have bathed before going out but could still not bring himself to use the clammy looking tub yet until Jenny, if she was true to her side of the deal, had given it a damn good clean. Hopefully, by the time he returned from his days’ walking it would be fit for him to use and he would have a long luxurious wallow in it.
It was already daylight and pulling back the curtains the morning revealed a promising blue sky with a few puffy white clouds here and there. He remembered what Jenny had said about the weather turning the day after and decided that she was talking rot. He couldn’t help liking her but she wasn’t quite the full ticket in his mind.
He turned to leave the bedroom when he saw something white on the floor a few inches from door and bending down to pick it up he saw that it was a folded piece of writing paper with his name ‘James’ written on it. It had obviously been pushed under the door at some point during the night and he had no doubts at all which of the Hennessey sisters had posted it. He quickly unfolded it and saw that it was a letter of some kind although the handwriting was barely legible. He took it across to the window where there was more light in order to decipher it. With some difficulty he managed to make it out. It read thus:
James.
I don’t know how to thank you for agreeing to stay here at Hennessey House. I’m sure Mags feels the same. I’m going to keep my part of the deal and I promise you a clean bath and loo before the end of the day. I enjoyed our little drink together last night. Perhaps you might like to go a bit further afield tonight. Anyway, hope you have a good day. See you later.
Jenny
He smiled at the letter. Perhaps he had misjudged Jenny a bit too hastily. Inside that sparky little madam there was probably a good kid trying to get out. She’d not exactly had an easy life either having lost her mother at an early age and then being packed off to some old maiden aunt at fifteen because she’d lost her virginity to some farmer’s boy in a haystack. She obviously cared a great deal about her older sister even though it must have been hard for her to come back to the house. He decided there and then that he would go out for a drink with her again that evening but he would be careful to make sure that she didn’t get the wrong idea. Any friendship between them would have to remain purely platonic.
Jenny’s bedroom door was closed as he gently walked past it on his way downstairs and he trod as softly as possible so as not to wake her. The smell of bacon wafted up to the first landing signalling that Ms Hennessey was preparing his breakfast. If the previous night’s dinner were anything to go by then he was in for a treat, although he couldn’t help wondering if Ms Hennessey butchered her own pigs as well as the poultry. He hadn’t seen any when he arrived so he assumed that that wasn’t the case.
His hostess greeted him cordially as he entered the dining room where the same place at the table that he had occupied the night before was laid out for him.
‘Good morning Mr Tandy.’ She said cheerfully. ‘A beautiful day.’
‘Morning Ms Hennessey. Yes indeed, I’m looking forward to a good days walking.’ He replied.
‘Well you’ll need a good breakfast inside you for that. There’s a pot of tea Mr Tandy, help yourself.’ And with that she was gone back into the kitchen.
Tandy poured himself a cup which he was pleased to discover was not as strong as the one that she had first greeted him with upon his arrival. Moments later she reappeared bearing a great platter that groaned with food. Bacon, eggs, sausage, tomato, black pudding, fried bread, mushrooms and baked beans made up the contents of the plate. In her other hand was a smaller plate containing three rounds of thickly sliced, heavily buttered bread.
‘Ms Hennessey.’ He beamed. ‘This looks wonderful.’
‘Oh it’s nothing Mr Tandy. A man needs a good breakfast inside him if he’s planning on taking hard exercise.’ She tried to pass it off but her cheeks noticeably flushed with pride at his compliment. ‘My Father always had a proper cooked breakfast when this place was a working farm.’ She added. ‘I’m afraid I can’t manage anything in the way of a packed lunch for you but evening meal will be at five o’clock prompt. I always go to church on Sunday evenings Mr Tandy so I do insist that guests are as punctual as possible. If you don’t mind?’
‘No, no, I’ll be back in plenty of time.’ He reassured her and with that she left him to steadily gorge his way through the huge breakfast. Once finished he went back to his room, pulled on a pair of shorts, a clean T shirt, his walking boots and bum bag, slipped his wallet into his pocket, tied his fleece around his waist, placed his baseball cap on his head and was ready for the off. There was still neither sight nor sound of Jenny anywhere but then she didn’t really strike him as an early riser.
The sun was shining gloriously as he left the house, casting early morning shadows all about and the world was a wonderful place to be in. Such was Tandy’s state of mind as he made his way along the track. He felt good, relaxed and ready to hit the cliffs. He followed the plan he had already conceived which was to catch the bus into Whitby, once there to purchase a litre of water and make his way up to the cliffs and follow one of Paul’s maps for about five or six miles along the coast to Runswick Bay and the village of Runswick before turning around and coming back again. The following day he would venture off in the opposite direction towards Ravenscar.
And the plan went well. Within the hour he found himself in an elevated position looking out over the North Sea. He walked at a steady pace, not too fast but not idling either. He passed other walkers going in the opposite direction and exchanged pleasantries with them, stopping to chat at length to one couple who must have been in their seventies but looked as sprightly as people half their age. At other times he stopped to merely drink in the fantastic view and inhale the intoxicating sea air. He carried with him a small spotters guide book to birds and he noted several types of gulls, terns and, he was fairly certain, a kittiwake. He took several photographs of the birds, their rocky habitats and shots of the expanse of sea before him where the birds flew and dived.
The weather remained warm and he frequently reapplied the factor thirty sun block, from the small bottle that he carried in his bum bag, to his face, arms and legs. As the morning wore on he met more people of all age and description, the only downer being a family whose collie dog embarrassed them when it tried to get friendly with his leg. But other than that one trifle it was a superb morning and he arrived in Runswick at lunchtime ready for something to eat, having worn off Ms Hennessey’s outstanding breakfast by that point.
He lunched off steak and ale pie, chips and peas at the village pub and consumed two pints of Wild Horse, which he was pleasantly surprised to see behind the bar. After the meal he wandered down to the bay and sat for half an hour to allow his meal to digest. There was a small beach there and several families were occupying it. Children splashed in the water, fathers built sand castles and mothers sat in wide brimmed sun hats reading thick novels. It was a perfect picture of the English ideal of a beach holiday. He could easily have stayed there a good while longer as the weather was hot and the beer had made him feel a little sluggish but he had promised Ms Hennessey that he would return in good time and, after having relieved himself in the public conveniences, set off on the return leg of his hike.
A little more cloud was starting to build up he noticed and there was now a fresh breeze coming in from the sea. Maybe Jenny was right and they were in for rain. It didn’t really matter to him if it did rain. He had his foldaway waterproof coat and he didn’t’ mind getting wet. The walking was the main thing. So long as he could get out and have a ramble a bit of rain was nothing. He hoped that her prediction was going to be wrong but the more he looked at the forming clouds the more he began to think that she was right. Either way, he was glad that he had chosen that part of the country for his holiday.
Things didn’t go quite as smoothly to plan on the return journey as in his enjoyment of the day he had forgotten that it was Sunday and that as such there was a reduced bus service and it wasn’t until he arrived back in Whitby that he realised that he had missed the last one that would have got him back to the house in time. The next bus was not until six o’clock and he wondered if he should try and walk all the way back. He had already covered almost a dozen miles though and his legs were telling him that they had had enough for one day. It was with reluctance, however, that he walked into town to hail a taxi.
Whitby was busy at that time of the day with many holiday makers wandering around its charming streets but he managed to find a cab on the far side of the harbour.
‘Where to?’ Asked the driver.
‘Just past Low Hawsker.’ Tandy told him. ‘How much?’
The driver spoke into his radio for a second or two before getting a crackling reply.
‘Fifteen quid.’ He said solemnly as if he couldn’t care less whether he got the fare or not.
Tandy reluctantly agreed to the price, thinking it to be extortionate, and climbed into the passenger seat. The driver set off but they hadn’t gone very far before Tandy realised that the driver wasn’t going to be an overly talkative cabby. The man was greasy haired, heavily jowelled and pot-bellied and his striped shirtfront was covered in crumbs from whatever he had eaten last. The few times that Tandy attempted conversation were met with unintelligible grunts and after a while he gave up trying.
It was only when they reached the village of Low Hawsker that the driver really spoke to him by inquiring where exactly his passenger wanted to be dropped off. Tandy directed the driver down the little B road that led to the track recalling to himself at one point the place where the cyclist so nearly met his end the previous evening.
‘Just here will be fine thanks.’ Said Tandy pointing to the entrance to the track.
The taxi pulled up and the driver turned and stared at Tandy as if he had just realised that he had Elvis in his vehicle. Tandy had already got the money out of his wallet and was holding it out for the cabby to take.
‘You ain’t stopping there are you mate?’ The driver asked him.
‘Err… yes I am actually.’ Tandy felt mildly affronted by the man’s temerity.
‘You’re stopping there? In that place?’ The driver persisted.
‘Yes!’ Tandy reiterated. ‘Is that a problem?’
‘Bleedin’ ‘ell mate. Are you desperate or something?’ The driver was being serious.
‘What are you getting at?’ Tandy turned in his seat to face the man.
‘Look, I ain’t meaning to be rude or nothing mate but that’s…’ He didn’t finish the sentence but gesticulated with his hand in the direction of the house.
‘That’s what?’ Tandy was getting annoyed at the driver.
‘Listen mate.’ Said the driver in all earnest. ‘If I were you I’d check out of there and get myself into somewhere decent.’
‘I’m quite happy there actually, thank you very much.’ Said Tandy, defending Hennessey House for the first time.
‘Well you would say that wouldn’t you? I mean, you ain’t from round here are you?’ The driver persisted, seemingly oblivious to Tandy’s tone of voice.
‘Look.’ Said Tandy who by now couldn’t believe that this conversation was really happening. ‘The landlady of that place has gone out of her way to accommodate me. The price is fair, fairer than what you charge, and the food is excellent. I’ve got no complaints.’ He neglected to mention the poor state of cleanliness and exploding plug sockets.
‘Please yourself mate.’ Said the driver plucking the cash out of Tandy’s fingers. ‘None of my business.’
‘You’re damn right it isn’t.’ Snapped Tandy, unbuckling his seat belt, stepping out of the car and slamming the door shut.
‘They obviously haven’t told you what happened there.’ Said the driver through the open passenger side window.
‘What?’ Said Tandy, who wasn’t sure if he’d heard the man correctly but the driver didn’t answer him. The car pulled away in a cloud of dust and left him standing at the end of the track with a most puzzled expression on his face.
Tandy turned and began to make his way along the track noticing for the first time that some of the incoming clouds were getting considerably darker and the wind much fresher than earlier. Hennessey House was still bathed in bright sunshine but Tandy felt a chill run through him as he looked at it. The driver’s last comment had unsettled him. Either there was a plethora of silly rumours surrounding the place or there was something else linked to that house of a more sinister nature.
To be continued…
CLICK HERE to go to Chapter 1 and start at the beginning.