Hobbling

Hobbling around North Yorkshire. 

I found a jigsaw puzzle in our cottage, only one piece missing. Read a Vera novel. We spent a week here and went out every day, but I am still mostly sitting and still using the crutches.

My private taxi driver, Sheryl drove us around to see villages and moorland. This is Staithes.

Did a bus tour around Whitby which is too big and too hilly for crutch-walking and rather drab and crowded. Saw the famous Abbey but didn't bother to go in - too touristy, too many people and too much Dracula merchandise. This is where Bram Stoker wrote Dracula and where Captain Cook set sail to 'discover' Australia's east coast.

Driving across the moors had to substitute for long walks over them. The views were rather dramatic. We saw where the Coast to Coast walk crosses the moors and valleys, so you could say we have been on another long distance walk.

We saw lapwings, curlews and plenty of sheep.

Reivaulx Abbey ruins, a day of peace and serenity. The Cistertian monks knew how to find beautiful locations for their settlements.

Robin Hood's Bay was the most attractive seaside village that we visited. It has no known association with Robin Hood who never existed anyway, no one knows why it has this name.

We sat on the terrace of the pub and watched two men walk onto the beach to complete their Coast to Coast walk, wishing that was us.

Enjoyed chips and cider on the small terrace of the cosy Bay Hotel.

Found an owl in the woods near "England's best view." The view was nice but we've seen better.

We were wondering how to fill in our last full day, watching Michael Portillo on the tellie on one of his train journeys and he went to Bempton Cliffs. Over an hour's drive but we went. Wow! So many nesting seabirds and so close! 2 1/2 hour's and 177 photos later...

Easily accessible on a well-formed path with several viewing platforms. Possibly a thousand people spread out along the cliff tops and at least half a million birds nesting on the cliffs, floating on the waves and soaring and circling in the air. Awesome!

Did I say the birds were awesome!! The next day we packed and left the North Yorkshire Moors, heading west toward The Lakes, stopping to see Malham Cove in The Dales. It is a short easy walk, if you are not on crutches, but I managed it.

Next stop - The Lakes. Will this dry weather hold in one of the wettest regions of England?