Hodson says the detour route “wasn’t really highlighted” at the time, and even if it was, it would have added approximately five hours to their walk.
“Our walking speed is so much slower, because Mike has to use crutches and I have to use walking poles.”
They ended up being taken to the other side of the A19 in a car, which was due to stop at various points along their walking route.
“It’s not ideal and not everybody has that opportunity,” she adds.
“It is a wonderful, wonderful walk and to have to have that heart-racing moment of ‘can I cross, can I not?’, it kind of just takes the edge off.”
With the Coast to Coast now officially recognised as a National Trail and a BBC adaptation of David Nicholls’ novel You Are Here, which is set along the route, only likely to increase visitor numbers, Hugill is keen for a solution.
He is due to raise the issue with York and North Yorkshire’s elected Labour mayor David Skaith at a meeting of North Yorkshire Council’s Richmond Area Committee on Monday.
He wants Skaith to “commit some funding towards it”, which could attract other match-funding and has suggested money for the project could come from the proposed tourist tax.
“That is money that [walkers] are bringing into the area,” he says.
“I think there’s full justification for part of that money to be used for infrastructure on the Coast to Coast.”
The BBC has contacted Skaith’s office for a response.
Additional reporting by Joe Willis, Local Democracy Reporting Service.
