Normal Day in the Moors

Finally we had a normal day! Some sun, not much rain, didn’t get lost, no screwups.

Had a great sleep last nite. When we complemented Jenny (owner) she was so excited because she hand-irons the sheets and no one has ever commented how good they felt. Her husband got a big kick out it.

We headed out at 9:20 and right away started up a steep moor. This was to be our last day in the North York Moors National Park. It’s been gorgeous and today was no exception. With the sun+rain we had some great lighting and really pretty vistas. Almost the whole route today overlapped with an official path called the Cleveland Way so it was well-signed Also most of today’s route has been laid with large paver stones. It’s amazing that they bothered to haul those stones way up on the moors to create these paths. Must have been done over 100s of years.

Anyway after the steep uphill, the route proceeded along the top of a moor, again purple heather everywhere, but then we dropped down again. And it turned out today we had much more up and down. The uphills aren’t that long/high but they’ve steep. They don’t do switch backs here, just straight up and down, using steps/stones.

Stopped at a small café to pick up some sandwiches/chips/candy then headed out again. Up/down. Passed some Americans who we were looking for, as jenny told us they were staying with her tonite. We spied them by their Go-lite jackets, and other American gear/stuff. Chatted them up a bit. This was their third time doing this walk!

We had lunch on a nice bench right past a sheep pasture. April picked up some wool off the ground to put in her boot. Jenny had told us that’s what the locals do for sore feet/blisters. Peter switched his boots for some day-hikers as the rain seemed to have passed and the track looked more like a woods walk. Had a classic English sandwich, turkey on white bread with no condiments.

The paths thru the woods have been really cool, some beautiful trees, including some large Chestnut trees (which all (yes, really all) got killed in the USA by the Chestnut blight). Hey Rock/Katie/Diane I suppose I was supposed to say, “all of which”, huh?

Finally hit the town around 4:00, it was a 12 mile day. Half of what is planned for tomorrow. Found the B+B and again the owner laid out a killer tea/snack. Today we had homemade scones/jam with clotted cream. Man that stuff is good! Big 1/2 inch thick clump sitting right on top of the jam. Hot showers, then we almost feel asleep again, I had to convince April to walk down to the pub for beers/dinner. Finally she got the old bones going and we had chicken and a parsnip bake plus the ubiquitous chips. April ate my peas as well as hers; she can really pound the peas!

Our feet are hurting a little. And tomorrow is the long day! Yikes. Today was Saturday so lots of people were out hiking. Remember in London I wondered how this country ever conquered the world, well now that we’re away from London you can see/sense more spirit and saltiness amongst the population. Jolly good show chaps!