Mark & Tracy's Travels 2024

We will spend the next five days along the east coast of England. Today the tide is low when we head out.  There are plenty of families on holiday enjoying the coast. It's fun to see horses and riders out there.  We've noticed in more than one town today that the locals use tractors to tow boats down to the water.  For most of our day, we walk along the cliffs, pausing often to take in the ocean views.  The sculpture Circle, by Richard Farmington, appears to be a popular walking destination along the trail.  Another great beach. There were plenty of people and dogs on the beaches, but not crowded for an August weekend. This was our best lunch spot on the walk so far, next to a delightful farm house... With some friendly and not-too-pushy beggars... Including four chickens.  For a stretch of the walk, we could see alum quarries along the sh...

Today is our last day in the moors. We also have our first fully sunny day.  We kick off our walk with a trip up Roseberry Topping, also known as the Matterhorn of Yorkshire. The top of the mountain partially collapsed in 1912 due to ironstone mining.  It was a great vantage point and lively up and down.  Larch tree going with the flow.  Our first sighting of the sea is these wind turbines in the North Sea.  We follow a long fence line with sheep pasture on one side and the last of the moors on the other.   And cross through several wooded area.  We cross what seems like an endless open field.  As we approach our stop for the day, we pass under this viaduct, which was completed in 1872. Freight trains from a nearby potash mine still use it.  The halfway point! HRH the Princess Royal (Anne) dedicated this sig...

Up we go! Most days the forecast has been for a cloudy day with little chance of rain, but our now vast experience of the moors tells us it will rain at some point. The temperature has been so nice, usually in the sixties.  Looking back to the territory we've covered so far. We've learned that the heather is carefully managed to best support the red grouse population.  The heather is burned or mowed so that there is plenty of young heather vegetation, which is better for the grouse.  We often hear the grouse chattering to each other. They sound like droids from Star Wars.  Hunters wait in these grouse butts, as they are called, while the drivers flush the birds out of the heather from behind them. Then they shoot. Sporting. We encounter many of these old boundary markers.  And are delighted by them. Though much of today was on exposed road surfaces, we did walk on som...

We departed our lodgings (at right with flower baskets), grabbed a sandwich from the shop next door, and headed out of town on the trail.  We learned that this was a pinfold, where stray animals who were grazing where they shouldn't were kept until their owners would pay a fine and claim them. For much of the day, the trail was stone. Nice surface when it's dry. We did a fair amount of up and down. A good day for our trail runners! We saw a few local runners today.  We rambled through some woods. Fabulous heather all day.  Maybe our first stream crossing. We noted how in the U.S., we see many more streams by trails.  Look at those stones--it was like walking through someone's garden.  This is a bronze age burial mound called a round  barrow, from 2000 BCE. Our afternoon walk followed the edge of the plateau of the moors. For the first time, we encount...

Today we started our walk near a viewpoint that James Herriott called the "finest view in all of England." It's a fine view! But maybe not even my favorite of the day.  Village and sheep dotting the landscape.  Swaying grasses as we reach a crossroads. Crosstrails.  We had a few patches of woods today.  But mostly lots of moors and heather and stone walls. We spent a few miles alone on this desolate landscape and it was a bit spooky.  We sheltered by the stone wall to enjoy our lunch before the skies opened up. Rain pants rock!  After we came down from the moors we found ourselves amidst these waist-high ferns.  So many sheep! Today we covered 12 miles.