A walk in the white stuff

It's been a weekend of snow.  More for some than others.  People in the west have seen 20ft snowdrifts. People in the east noticed a few snowflakes driving home.   Richmond is in the middle, it snowed, but the roads were clear, and it melted from the houses and rooftops quite quickly.

I knew we had to get out this weekend, and since the roads were blocked  or dangerous in most directions, we decided on a local walk.  We could easily turn back if the conditions were too difficult.  Peter had his birthday gear to try out, (new rucksack and windproof fleece), and I've never tried to do a hill walk in the snow before, so I had a new type of walk to experience. 

So off we went up the familiar route to Williance's Leap.  Unlike the town, there was plenty of snow out on the hills and fields.  I think we spent most of the walk ploughing through about six inches of it.  The landscape is so different covered in snow, and we paused to take photographs.

Up on top of Whitcliffe Scar I was amazed and delighted at the patterns the wind carved into the snow on the ground.  Much of the open grassland was nearly clearof the white stuff, as it had been blown into deep drifts.  We discovered a couple by sinking into them!

I have to admit taking loads of photographs as Peter battled to get out of the snow.  He did get his own back tho', see the video at the end. 

It was all brilliant fun. I started to wish we'd bought a sledge with us. We walked on, admiring the way the wind carved the snow into fantastical shapes

From Williance's Leap we turned north and headed for pine tree plantation.

The path looks like something from a Christmas scene. It's deceiving.  Underneath all that pretty white stuff was a very sloppy, muddy, boggy path.  We took to following deer tracks figuring the deer knew where was dry. They did! 

We took a few minutes at the edge of the wood to enjoy hot coffee and chocolate and noticing how wierd it is that the snow doesn't blow up against the walls.

We went on, past High Coatsgarth to Low Moor,

And up the hill towards Richmond Gallops.  (One of my favourite pictures).

 before we we finally hit the road road and headed home.

It was a brilliant few hours.  Only 6 miles and 750ft of climbing, but some of it was hard work, as you will be able to see from Peter's video.

(And  If you're wondering at the "Ow!" noises, it's cos a pulled muscle in me back keeps making me wince. It's getting better tho').  Here's the map.

  

Back in me boots and out in the Dales

After all that gadding about in foreign climes, (see the cruising blog), I'm back in good ole England, enjoying the cold, damp and dull days of our winter.  Peter got home a week after me,  and it's taken a little while to get back into the routine of work and weekends, just long enough for the days to lengthen and the sun to start making an appearance.

And it did today.  Glorious sunshine.  Not quite as hot as in Isle Du Salut, but wonderfully warm and hinting of Spring.  And we were ready for it.  Today we were off to recce parts of a walk I'm planning to lead in April. 

The walk is in Swaledale and starts at Surrender Bridge.  I've been up here a few times, but we wanted to check out some paths we've not been along before.  Good job too.  This area is used by the shooting fraternity and is criss crossed with tracks, misleading walkers trying to follow the rights of way.  We got confused several times and ended up walking up and down hills we shouldn't have.  But who cares, the sun was out and so were we.

So we started at Surrender Bridge, and made our way Southwest in a big curve heading towards Gunnerside Beck.  As always, the views around us were wonderful.

Despite appearances, the air was anything but quiet.  The grouse are just setting themselves up for a bit of a canoodling and nesting.  Boy grouse chase away other boy grouse from the best nesting pads.  And all the boys chase the girls if she's silly enough to let them see her. And if that wasn't noisy enough, it's also the time of the year to burn off the heather, causing grouse, lapwings and crows to get all het up and make a right racket.
The smoke came over our heads and kept getting into the camera shots, making them look even blurrier than  

usual.

We could see Great Shunner Fell, still wearing a snowy coat

This is Potting Farm.  I can't think of anything more Dales like.

From there we made our way up and down until we reached the old mine buildings at Gunnerside Gill. The area has been ravaged by the lead mining processes and all you can see are spoil heaps.  But the scarred landscape has a strange beauty.

After lunch in the sun, we moved on to climb up onto the moors.  There are a couple of scrambly routes up, we followed Bunton Hush.

A hush is a sort of mine area, I read up on it all here Lead Mining in the Yorkshire Dales
Once we'd got to the top, we were surprised and a little bit delighted by how much snow still remained.

Making our way between Friarfold and Melbecks Moor, the snow made patterns in the landscape.

The second set of old buildings of the walk were the Old Gang Smelting Mills.  Fascinating places, they make you wonder who, what, where and how.

And the sun is still shining.  Blue skies, tired legs, but happy hearts as we followed the Old Gang Beck back to our car.

A wonderful day out.  8 1/2 miles, and 1500ft of up (and down).  Here's the map.

To see more pictures and read about a different walk, click here:- Swaledale Leadmines August 2012

To see and read more of the same walk, but this time including the wonderful Blakethwaite mines, waterfall and dam, click here:-Lead mine walk with the Walkers Forum

New Year, new walks, and the North York Moors in sunshine.

We were both well ready to get out.  All the rain just puts a dampers on everything.  It just ain't cricket when there's is nowt but fogged up glasses and camera lenses, which, even when you've got them clear, reveal that there is nowt to see 'cept dark clouds and more rain.

My usual trick is to keep an eye on the 5 day forecast and watch out for where the sun is gonna make a breakthrough.  Once I've worked out where the best chance is, Peter is tasked with mapping the route, and then, finally the day arrives and we make our escape to what is hopefully dry, blue skies.

And it worked.  New Years Day on the east coast was rain free. Starting at Osmotherley, Peter worked out a nice easy circular route just short of seven miles,.  Even the mud wasn't too much of a hindrance as we walked. .  I love being up on the the top of the moors.  I love the colours of the heather, brown this time of year, against the green of everything else. I love how bleak it can all look.  Wonderful.

Some pictures:

Pine Forests along the Cleveland Way

A microwave station

Microwave Station?  What's one of them then?  Well I looked it up here: Wiki - BT microwave_network, the article suggests that the network is now obsolete, but I think it looks pretty well maintained for an obsolete system.  Plenty for the conspiracy theorists to get their teeth into I'm sure.

We walked on, enjoying the wonderful views and sunshine! 

We sat and enjoyed a steak pie and a coffee about half way round.  The sky was blue, with just a few clouds, and the sun shone bright.  Wind was bitter cold tho'!

Until we got back to Osmotherly.  A lovely, lovely afternoon out. 

I'm going to try and get out again before I leave the pools, puddles, ponds and lakes that cover the fields of England to join Peter on the good ship Marco Polo - (see cruise blog), but if not, this will be my last walking post for a good few weeks, by which time I'll be well ready to sample the damp wet views of England when I come back.  I'm sure.