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Showing posts from May, 2014

Cleveland Hills Weekend - Day Two: The Lord Stones

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Sunday morning of our short break in Bilsdale dawned somewhat overcast.  Weather like this is always a mixed blessing for me.  On the one hand, a dry but overcast day can make for pleasant walking, particularly if a route entails a number of ascents.  But then dull days with poor light are not ideal for photography.   Having suffered a little from sunburn the previous day though, I wasn't too disappointed to be walking in much cooler conditions. After a most enjoyable breakfast (the kind that sets you up for the entire day), we checked out of the Buck Inn and established that it was no problem to leave our car in their car park for the day.  The first part of our walk retraced Saturday's route, heading up onto Cold Moor and along to join the Cleveland Way above Broughton Bank.  Back on the Cleveland Way   Looking across in the direction of the Wainstones, I was surprised at how much closer Roseberry Topping appeared in this kind of lighting.  In bright sunshine it had

Cleveland Hills Weekend - Day One: The Wainstones

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An unexpected free weekend is something of a rare treat for me.  It's not very often that I have work commitments which are cancelled at the last minute, and especially not over a holiday weekend.  But that's just what happened a couple of days prior to the May Day Bank Holiday and it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss the chance of an impromptu weekend break.  Where to go though?  The Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, whilst tempting, were out of the question.  Both those National Parks, and in particular the Lakes, are busy all year round but a holiday weekend with a favourable weather forecast meant that finding accommodation would be highly unlikely, if not impossible.  And then there was the unappealing prospect of crowds of people.  My thoughts instantly turned to an interesting pub I'd spotted in the Cleveland Hills, on the western edge of the North York Moors.  To my surprise, one quick phone call later and I had booked accommodation for one night at T

Spring in Farndale and Rosedale (North York Moors)

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Spring had definitely sprung when we headed out once again into the North York Moors National Park for a superb circular walk of 12 miles which was to include daffodils, lambs and blossom in abundance.  Everything you would associate with this, the most wonderful of seasons, including plenty of blue sky and warm sunshine.  And, as if that wasn't enough springtime imagery for one walk, it was also Good Friday and I'd started the day with a breakfast of toasted hot cross buns! Our walk began in the moorland valley of Farndale which is famous for its daffodils. The entrance to Farndale Daffodil Reserve   The Farndale Nature Reserve was created in 1955 to safeguard these flowers which, contrary to popular belief, were not planted by monks from nearby Rievaulx Abbey but are actually native wild flowers (Narcissus pseudonarcissus).  Smaller and more delicate than the domestic daffodils we grow in our gardens, their preferred habitat is shaded woodland, grassland or river