WHARFEDALE WANDERINGS

Decided on the spur of a moment to take the van for 3 days and finished up at Threaplands Farm campsite in Cracoe, on the edge of Wharfedale.

Had a slight hitch when the car would not restart after we got to site before unhitching but after an hour or so it worked. (It's an ongoing problem that Roy is trying to sort out)

Had a lovely walk on first day from Barden Bridge along the side of the River Wharfe to Bolton Abbey then back along the other side past the Strid, which we both think has widened since we saw it years ago!

The woods were full of flowers, wood anemones, primroses, wild garlic and bluebells. Birds were everywhere, we saw blue tit, great tit, chaffinch, wren, robin, dipper, ?mandarin duck, mallard, black headed gull, oyster catcher, heron, tree creeper, nuthatch, grey wagtail, pied wagtail, lapwing, warbler, woodpecker, pheasant. Despite it being chilly and no sun, we had a good time.

DIPPERS

BOLTON ABBEY

BOLTON ABBEY

THE STRID

 

Last day, still very cool with very occasional burst of sunshine, we drove to Skyreholme and did a loop walk up to Simons Seat. About 6 miles, and about 1600ft high. An energetic climb up with lovely views at the top. Saw lots of grouse and I don’t think I've ever seen so many sheep and lambs than we have these two days. Every field was overflowing with cute bouncy lambs.

A lovely visit!

SIMONS SEAT

GROUSE

THE TRAIL DOWN

RESCUED BY ROY FROM THE WIRE

SIMONS SEAT - PILE OF ROCKS ON HORIZON!

SIMONS SEAT AND ALPACAS

SUNNY SCARBOROUGH

Our first short trip of the year – 3 nights at the Camping & Caravanning Club site on the edge of Scarborough, Tallullah, our Sat Nav did not like the address I'd put in and it took us half an hour to actually get to the site once we were in Scarborough , a kind man came out of his house and told us the way, saying he often had folk backing into his road end due to Sat Nav error.

Sun was shining, a lovely site just a field away from the edge of the cliffs. Had a walk to The Ivanhoe, a local pub where we met up with one of my nieces for a swift drink and chat.

On Wednesday we drove to Cloughton and parked up, I was all ready to set off when Roy said laughing- take off your jacket. While I'd been getting ready a kindly seagull let go of a weeks worth of poo all down my new lovely waterproof (but not poo proof) jacket. It was covered! Luckily a bottle of water and cloth got rid of it, given its supposed to be good luck, we're buying a ton of lotto tickets this week.

Our hike took us along the old railway towards Ravenscar then across to the cliff edge and back along the Cleveland Way. A pretty walk! 8 miles.

Hayburn Wyke

Tree growing on rock

A hazy Scarborough Castle

Thursday dawned sunny, we drove to Bempton RSPB site but had to change plan as Roy had forgotten his wallet so no money for entry but it turned out a better walk as we parked at North Landing and walked towards Bempton cliffs. To see Britains largest mainland gannet colony was superb. Thousands of breeding seabirds, including puffin, kittiwake, fulmar, razorbill, guillemot and herring gull. Another glorious day and 6 miles hiked, we decided to stay an extra day until Saturday.

Thornwick Bay

Reed Bunting

wooden Puffin

                                         Hundreds of Gannets

pretty Puffin

cuddling Razorbills

Gannet on nest

Razorbills

Puffins

love this! flapping Puffin!

Our last day, we walked along the cliff path from the campsite into Scarborough, past Sea Life, along Marine Drive, lunch looking at the harbour then up the hill to the Castle and back down to Marine Drive for a gorgeous ice cream at North Bay before heading back. Another 6 miles.  Sun was in short supply today but a super walk.

Ended the day with Fish and Chips!

Reminds me of my childhood when I envied all the folk who had one of these huts!

Scarborough Castle

Turnstone

Scarborough Harbour

Up at the Castle

Down from the Castle

Chaffinch

Shelduck