UK trip part 15: Clay Bank Top to Blakey
Jun. 14th, 2013 04:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ilanaramaWe started this day's hike by getting lost. We had walked up the obvious dirt road, but the actual trail had started at an overgrown gate in the stone wall along the road, and we ended up having to backtrack over a mile to get on the proper trail. According to the guidebook, though, this was nothing new: in 1711, the justices of Yorkshire decreed that guideposts should be erected on the moors to aid travelers.
The newer ones are not nearly so picturesque:
Once on track, we had a long climb to another gate in a stone wall; then it was easy going on a gentle uphill to the summit of Urra Moor, the high point of the North York Moors.
From there we descended gradually to the Rosedale Ironstone Railway, an old railway bed that is now a walking path. This is part of several designated routes, and there were lots of other walkers. Along the edges we saw grouse, including tiny adorable little grouselets, no doubt destined to be hunted during the season. We also saw many odd-looking boxes with rocks and what looked like fine gravel in them by the sides of the track; eventually we figured out they were grouse feeding pans - the 'gravel' being feed - which the landowners set out in order to keep these birds on their lands, fat and happy.
Finally we reached the Lion Inn (yes, another lion - this one of no particular color!), a remote pub with an interesting history that dates to the 16th century...and a whole lot of beer taps! I tasted several, including Theakston's River's Answer, which the server poured me a taste of with the warning, "This is a strange one and a lot of people don't care for it." It was smoky, like carbonated Laphroiag, and although I like smoky whisky and smoky tea, I did not really like smoky beer! I ended up drinking The Governor, an amber malty bitter that was quite tasty.
Total distance was just over 10 miles, but if we hadn't got lost it would have been only 9!
Photos at Flickr
The newer ones are not nearly so picturesque:
Once on track, we had a long climb to another gate in a stone wall; then it was easy going on a gentle uphill to the summit of Urra Moor, the high point of the North York Moors.
From there we descended gradually to the Rosedale Ironstone Railway, an old railway bed that is now a walking path. This is part of several designated routes, and there were lots of other walkers. Along the edges we saw grouse, including tiny adorable little grouselets, no doubt destined to be hunted during the season. We also saw many odd-looking boxes with rocks and what looked like fine gravel in them by the sides of the track; eventually we figured out they were grouse feeding pans - the 'gravel' being feed - which the landowners set out in order to keep these birds on their lands, fat and happy.
Finally we reached the Lion Inn (yes, another lion - this one of no particular color!), a remote pub with an interesting history that dates to the 16th century...and a whole lot of beer taps! I tasted several, including Theakston's River's Answer, which the server poured me a taste of with the warning, "This is a strange one and a lot of people don't care for it." It was smoky, like carbonated Laphroiag, and although I like smoky whisky and smoky tea, I did not really like smoky beer! I ended up drinking The Governor, an amber malty bitter that was quite tasty.
Total distance was just over 10 miles, but if we hadn't got lost it would have been only 9!
Photos at Flickr