CHRISTMAS DAY

Friday 25/12/2009. We have been enjoying a very snowy and cold week leading up to Christmas Day and I'm delighted that the snow has stayed to brighten up the village. On the down side we feel for the poor birds who suffer a lot in the cold so we have a twice daily routine of feeding them - few that we get in our garden. Being Christmas our Blackbirds, rare Thrush, and very ocassional Wren are being treated to mince pies, no greater love or what? Pretty traditional turkey lunch with Joy doing all the work as I sample my customary gift bottle of Laphroig single malt (it's what Christmas is for). After all that with the sun shining we took a stroll round the village for half an hour or so. The sun is out and this is a pleasant a Christmas day as could be imagined.

FIRST SNOW

Friday 18th. December 2009. As forecast we have had our first real snow of the winter overnight and as usual the country is is grinding to a halt as everybody make the best of the situation! In the afternoon about 3pm I walked down to The Holme on the river Tees to have a look around. Not too much about, 150 or so Lapwings huddled together on the ice looked even colder than I was. Some Widgeon and Mallards too a large flight of the latter took off in the direction of Bowesfield as the Tees Princess pleasure boat passed by, not many people on deck today! A Robin, Great Tits and a Siskin in the trees, Blackbirds patrolling. Wonder if it will last till Christmas? I am wondering if I will be able to get another local walk in before the end of the year, I would like to so will watch the weather outlook over the next few days. I have yet to do The Shepherd's Round a 40mile walk in the North York Moors as this is on my doorstep I could knock it off in a couple of days or so, we shall see, so we shall.

PARTY TIME AT RSPB

Wednesday 16/12/2009. As the year draws to a close the RSPB put on a party for the volunteers and we all had a fun night on a bring your own booze basis. 2009 has been a wonderful year for the Saltholme reserve and I am delighted to have played a very small part and for the success of the venture. The business plan for the site envisaged a total of 35,000 visitors in the first twelve months of operation, well with three months to go till the aniversary of the opening the visitors numbers are in excess of 93,000 a wonderful achievment and what a great service is being provided to the birdwatching fraternity and the greater community, to say nothing of the benefits of care and conservation for our birdlife. All in all everyone desreves a party. The picture is of me and my good friend Barbara Kevill who describes me as her "right hand man" which is fine by me. Our main task is to look after the garden when we have opened up the reserve and the bird hides on Thursdays our volunteering day. One of the many bonuses I have as a result of this volunteer effort is the pleasure of making good new friends and Barbara is chief among them.

VISITORS AT SALTHOLME

Tuesday 08/12/2009. My ususal volunteering day at the RSPB Saltholme reserve is Thursday but today I am in to lend a hand with a work party set the task of errecting an aluminium shed in the workshop compound for the administration department, who in their brand new suite of offices have no room to store anything! Also my friends Jennifer and Keith Dobson from Leeds who are close neighbours of ours at Burnside Park in Keswick are calling in at Saltholme to visit the reserve and I will be showing them around the hides and our estate. Jennifer and Keith are in the Saltholme garden in the picture opposite, we spent a couple of hours in the various hides but the birds were not very obliging today. Our best billet was the Saltholme Pools hide which gave us excellent views of great flocks of Lapwings and Golden Plovers while on the water I identified a Goldeneye duck, which upon confirmation I was quite chuffed about as this is the first one I have knowingly seen and I managed to recognise it OK so I am slowly getting a little better at this birding lark.

I left the reserve about 2pm., Keith and Jennifer heading up to Northumberland for a mid-week break in a top hotel, lucky things. Meanwhile back at the work party tempers were fraying as the task was proving to be more complex than thought and the broth was suffering from a surfiet of cooks!

HAMBLETON HOBBLE DAY 3

Monday 07/12/2009. A good night with neither wind nor rain to cause concern or impinge on sleep so I was up a lot earlier than on Sunday morning despite having a short day's distance to walk I want to make sure there are no problems with catching the Stokesley to Middlesbrough bus connection given that these country services rarely run into the evening. So away just before eight am gave me plenty of time. But first I had to sort out my route and to my pleasure located a north bound track about 25 yards from my camp, I had walked past this in last night's darkness or would have taken it then as it clearly heads for the forest boundary. Still finding it saved me a long walk back to the last main north bound main junction. However I exited from the forest on the road just below the hamlet of Cowesby thus I was about a couple of miles off-route. My new GPS proved it's worth by giving me an accurate grid ref at my access point onto the roadway and it was a simple walk through Cowesby to regain the "official" route.

From here the going was straightforward although the ground was very muddy- and a slip had me rolling in cow muck! I made quite fast progress. On approaching Over Stilton to the north of Pen Hill I visited the lovely old church of St. Mary Magdalene which sits in isolated splendour, a tiny stone church in it's disproportionately large graveyard. (See picture above). After that rather than continue along the high level route through the forest I headed down into the valley level and walked along parallel to the road through Thimbleby and on to finish in Osmotherley market by way of the delightfully named "Paradise Row" With the best part of an hour to wait for the 13.15 bus to Stokesley I had time to clean up and enjoy a cup of coffee from the village shop and commiserate with the owner on the recent loss of her sub-postmistress business!

A good walk despite the wettish conditions and I have seen a lot more of the villages around Ryedale in the North York Moors National Park and so am getting to know my local hills that much better. The next walk I have in mind for this area is called the Shepherds Round which is a 40 miler. The Hambleton Hobble is given as 32 miles but I managed to up that to 35!

HAMBLETON HOBBLE DAY 2

Sunday 06/12/2009. Today's section of the walk is a mixture of field edge paths and woodland with the delights of Boltby forest at the end of the day. I soon passed Arden Hall and then on to Combe Hill an area I first walked in October on the Inn Way to the North York Moors. Once past Old Byland the route was for a time co-incident with the Inn Way and the Cleveland Way as I got closer to Rievaulx Abbey, then back up out of the dales to the quiet village of Scawton, on over the fields to Cold Kirby with the next section taking me over the Cleveland escarpment at High Barn (see picture and a little bit of sunshine) and into Boltby forest as daylight receeded. I had hoped to get out of the north side of the woods and to be able to camp on Gallows Hill but as per usual when I get into forestry commission land I always manage to get lost and so it was again! I kept going till 5pm and as the track I was on was heading well off-route I pitched in the dark on the rough verge of the track. As I often find camping on rough ground gives an excelllent night's sleep thanks to the indentations on the ground matching hip and bum ect. can't be guaranteed of course but thankfully it was the case tonight, and again thankfully, the rain kept off the wind died down and I enjoyed a few pleasant hours listening to Radio 4 on my MP3 FM radio, my wife's very welcome and useful Christmas present from last year. Wonder what I can look forward to in a couple of weeks time, fingers crossed.

HAMBLETON HOBBLE DAY 1

Saturday 05/12/2009.

With the North Yorks Moors on my doorstep (well less than ten miles to Carlton Bank) I am keen to do the major routes and walks. Earlier in the year I managed the excellent "Bilsdale Circuit" and today I am off by bus-pass to lovely Osmotherley to tackle a route called "The Hambleton Hobble" which sets off from Osmotherley for a mile or so along the Cleveland Way before heading round the north end of Black Hambleton and then across the moors heading south east. The route passes through the grounds of Arden Hall (the Earl of Mexbrough's pad) on to Hawnby, Old Byland and Scawton, the furthest point south, then it's north-east back to Osmotherley via Cold Kirby, Boltby forest, Kepwick and the Siltons.

Despite a good weather forecast giving rain overnight but dry days I had a lot of rain overnight on Saturday and well into Sunday am this was followed by more showers and rain, hey ho! All of this made for muddy and slow going. I started at 11.20am and got about ten miles done before nightfall which found me camping near Sunnyside Farm close to All Saint's church in Ryedale. Wild camp as per my picture.

It was very wet overnight and in the morning the rain kept me intent till well after nine 'o clock with the result that my start was about 10.15am. a bit late really for daylight hours so short as they are in December. Still 16 hours in the sack is not such a bad thing is it?

DRACULA IN WHITBY

Tuesday 1st December 2009

For some time I have wanted to visit Whitby to photograph the Dracula associations for addition to my Brit/Lit group on Flickr. Today's the day. From home it's a 15 minute bus trip to Middlesbrough where I catch a connection for the 40 miles to Whitby this takes an hour and ten minutes or so - on the quick service. I got to the town about 11.30am. A short visit to the TIC to enquire about the "Dracula Trail" proved fruitless as they had run out of leaflets! I picked up a brochure the usual overpriced local publication with six pages for a scandelous £2.50 but it helped by directing me to Royal Crescent where Bram Stoker, the author of Count Dracula originally developed the ideas for his novel. He could never have forseen either the success it would have nor the impact on Whitby. The town now has a twice-a-year "Goth Festival" and you can't book a bed for miles so successful and well attended they are. Next year I'll be giving it a try.

From Royal Crescent I made my way through the harbour area and picked up useful pictures of a restaurant called The Moon and Sixpence, a tribute to W. Somerset Maugham, and in Church Street the delightful "The Owl And The Pusseycat" filched from Edward Lear. From here Its up the famous 199 steps to reach the parish church of St. Mary's, I photographed Caedmans Cross (again), and the tombstones and views that Bram Stoker so vividly describes in his novel. I fitted in a quick tour round the church which is a rather ugly functional place of worship but has very interesting doored and lockable pews and an ancient piped stove in the center of the naive still in use today.

After that; back to the town for a round of the second hand bookshops, but found nothing compelling then a slow bus return via Sandsend and Staithes etc. to Middlesbrough and home for tea. A good day out.