Autumn Walking in the North York Moors
With autumn in full swing Large Outdoors headed to the North York Moors for a social weekend away. The group, were traveling from wide and far with people arriving from as far away as Cardiff, Birmingham and Nottingham.
As some people arrived in the North York Moors for lunchtime on the Friday, we decided to meet up at the Middleton Tea Room; this lovely vintage tearoom just outside Pickering has recently been awarded the “Best Afternoon Tea in Yorkshire” by Yorkshire Life. Well we just had to try this out… The sun was out as we relaxed in the garden and tucked in to a yorkshirevariety of ploughman’s and savoury plates.. These of course had to be followed by cake, the daily special was maple syrup and parsnip and we had to sample the scones..
From here we headed to the hostel and the weekend’s accommodation, Dalby YHA is tucked away in the tiny hamlet of Lockton but the venue offers comfortable rooms and enjoys a great social space with log burner, comfy sofas and a large dining table.. As the rest of the guests arrived it was time to serve the evening meal, tonight we enjoyed curry club and had a lamb karahi, chicken tikka masala and a chicken jalfrezi. This was followed by coffee and a cheese board and of course wine, Billy had even brought his own special Chianti… ;-)
Saturday’s weather forecast promised us sunshine and fine temperatures as we headed out on a gentle 12 mile walk around exploring the woods, dales and open moors that make up the North York Moors. After a quick tea stop at the Horseshoe Inn in Levisham we carried on our walk out across the Moors and around to the Hole of Horcum, from here we followed the Old Wife’s Way to the edge of Dalby Forest. We then explored the Bridestones, these natural sandstone outcrops have formed into amazing shapes and with a bit of imagination you soon see faces and creatures in them. Our journey then took us through more pretty dales and open farmland as we returned to our hostel and a welcome cuppa and slice of homemade cake, todays options where ginger and carrot and a traditional tea loaf..
After we freshened up the group headed out for a pre dinner drink at the Horsehoe Inn, dinner on Saturday night started with Baked Figs stuffed with goat’s cheese served with a lemon and rocket salad and a side of redcurrant and port sauce. The main was a cracking Pieminister pie, tonight we had the Matador stuffed with steak, chorizo and butter beans, all served with mash, braised leeks and cider braised red cabbage. If that was not enough we had Cartmel Sticky Ginger Toffee Pudding to finish.. Oh and of course there was plenty of wine..
Sunday’s walk took in the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, we headed to Levisham train station which is set in the 1920’s, from here we boarded our steam train for the 30 minute ride through the North York Moors, at this time of year the leaves on the trees where changing colour and the scenery was spectacular. We arrived at Goathland station which for those film buffs out there was the Hogwarts Station in the first Harry Potter film and is also the station where Heartbeat was filmed. The walk explored Simon Howe with its great vistas and views over the Moors. We were about a month too late for the heather which had already flowered, however the valleys where full of autumn trees. We then descended back down through the woods and back to the start location before a compulsory tea room stop and then it was time to say our final farewells…