Tuesday 28 August 2012

Heartbeat Country





Date: Saturday 25 August 2012
Route: Goathland Circular via Mallyan Spout
Distance: 6.5 miles

Two days in Whitby over the Bank Holiday weekend - a great excuse to invest in the Pathfinder North York Moors walking book and to hit the hillsides!

As we're walking with 'Heartbeat'-loving family members, the walk from Goathland (or "Aidensfield", as it appeared in the TV series) is an obvious first choice - and as it includes moorland and woodland sections, a breathtaking waterfall and an old railway line, it is a great walk to do, even though the woodland path is pretty hard-going and muddy at times, following recent wet weather.

There are versions of this walk in both the Pathfinder Guide and the AA 1001 Walks book - we end up doing a combination of both, starting from the main car park in Goathland village, as per the Pathfinder, but missing out a section of Roman Road, as per the AA, so our total walk is around 6 1/2 miles.

The walk starts off along a disused George Stephenson railway line through woodlands, before heading up over a hillside, along an undulating path to a waterfall so picturesque it really ought to feature in a Timotei ad.  Once past the waterfall it's a rocky walk along the river, with a fair amount of clambering around rocks and jumping around muddy puddles - slow-going at times but good fun.

The route then heads downhill between fields, climbs up to follow the Roman Road, with far-reaching views over the surrounding hillsides, crosses a ford, climbs up through farm buildings and boasts a final section across the hills, through heather and flustered game-birds, using cairns as landmarks to guide the way back to Goathland.

This definitely isn't the easiest walk in the North York Moors, but I would still recommend it to anyone who walks regularly - and the pint in the "Aidensfield Arms" at the end seemed to go down well with the 'Heartbeat' fans too.

Sunday 12 August 2012

Henley in the sunshine





No blog this week, since I've blogged about this walk several times already (it is still great, by the way!), just a few photos from one of my favourite ways to spend three hours in the countryside (plus well-earned pub lunch time in Henley!). Often a familiar walk throws up unexpected happenings - hope that the couple in the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang-esque car found the steam museum they were looking for!