The joy of jaunts

in the North York Moors is not only the charming towns and villages but the many routes available for travelling to them.
Ruswarp, for example, is only a mile from Whitby, and is easily accessed from the town. I, however, chose to travel there by a roundabout route on the Moorsbus. From Middlesbrough this meant first travelling through Guisborough, Castleton and Danby and on through the picturesque village of Hutton-le-Hole (much loved by me for its buses to Farndale) and on to Pickering, home of the North York Moors Railway. Here I got off and pottered before changing on to the Coastliner, a local bus service for the Whitby district.

The Coastliner 840 meandered through the picture postcard village of Thornton-le-Dale with its thatched cottage. For another mile or two we ambled through the agricultural area of the Vale of Pickering. Then we turned left and headed north. Abruptly the scene changed to wild and bleak moorlands covered in heather. Dramatic rather than pretty. We stopped for a moment on top of the moors to let a minibus disgorge its passengers from Goathland (location for the tv series "Heartbeat"). Normally we would travel through Goathland but the roads are being repaired and the shuttle bus is providing access for the villages. On top of the moors we can see for miles around. Magnficent! We descend from the top, passing the Hole of Horocum, which is a er hole!!! A large and natural hole in the ground. And the Saltergate Inn, which has a fire that never goes out!

We head for Sleights now, home to the British actor Ian Carmichael, and on to Ruswarp, the next village. Here I get off and look for a pub for lunch. Sadly the season is over and the pubs are closed at lunchtime. But I find an excellent village butcher, and a sandwich, pie and a lump of cheese make an excellent lunch.

It's a sleepy village. In summer the boats on the river, its golf course and miniature railway attract the visitors. For now its just a gentle stroll by the river after lunch.

Here comes my bus again! I head for home over the moors, stopping at Thornton-le-Dale for hot choocolate.

Lovely day!!!

How wonderful to read about your jounts, Northener, I can clearly imagine what you are seeing, How I wish I could visit these lovely places one more time. Thank you for sharing, I am just sorry you are unable to show pictures for adding pleasure but I know you will accomplish that one of these days also.
Maria

I needed that northener, a lovely day out to blow the cobwebs away.

When you said about when the bus stopped on top of the moors it reminded me of when we took my in-laws our for a drive on holiday.

We were in Wales (and you know what they're like for road signs, or rather lack of them! )

We ended up on the road, single track, climbing up the side of this hill/mountain. Steep drop one side (my side!! ) and steep hill the other, with numerous warning signs about DANGER, FALLING ROCKS.

Great, just what I enjoy with my fear of heights. After what seemed a never ending nightmare journey up this hill-side, we came out onto a flat topped area, called if I remember rightly, on the only sign-post we'd seen in miles ,Worlds end!....

and it certainly seemed it, you could see nothing but moorland, and hills for miles, it was cold, bleak, occassional bleat of a sheep, but ,boy was it impressive.
We still joke about that now.

I've no computer of my own at present Maria. I'll have to bite the bullet and buy another one.

Blowing the cobwebs away, yes it does get windy on the tops!!!!

I alsmost missed this one. How great to be able to take time off for this jaunt. I'll have to dig out my road map of England and see just where we go!
Sue, I remember when we were in Wales, we had to ask to find out which road to go, and mentioned the lack of signs for directions. We were told thats to keep the English out!!

That doesn't surprise me in the least.

I have quite a few funny tales to tell of holidays in Wales.

I love Wales, and have found most people there friendly. My mothers maiden name was Powis, so I think maybe there's a touch of Welsh somewhere in our family.

Would this help?

http://moors.uk.net/discover/search/area_map.php?aid=6&stp=village

Unfortunately there isn't enough detail on it. The road I took snakes away on the right. It's basically parallel to the railway - a steam engine railway! The area is called "Heartbeat Country" because the popular British tv series "Heartbeat" is filmed at Goathland, one of the moorland villages - it's shown on the map.

This is great! I bookmarked it for later so I can study it. I can see there is much information on the site. I'm glad you posted that. thanks much, Doris

It's an excellent website. Middlesbrough is marked on it, near the top of the main map. I've been to most of the places on the North York Moors.

Just for you, Northener and anyone who loves autumn from my back yard the colour of New England in early morning fog and later brilliant sun shine

One more

This message was edited Oct 8, 2004 1:58 PM

Lots of sun

The whole tree in front of the house on the street

What a treat Maria, you cannot beat that fall colour back east...did I tell you when I was flying up to New York many years ago [ it ws November]...the most glorious sight was the persian carpet array of colors that stretched for miles, it is still etched in my mind...
[we were living in Florida at the time]...
I don't think you forget a treat like that..in Calif..you have to go up towards the mountains, which is pretty, we do have some maple trees, Calif. oaks etc ., those change colour..but nothing like what you have....hope you are doing a little better, I am still thinking about you and Richard.. hugs, marion

How pretty! I'd love to go to New England sometime!!!! My piggy bank will need a few pennies in it though. Sigh. Is it the climate or the type of trees that give it those distinctive autumn colours?

I'll have fewer jaunts in the winter months as the bus services that I use are fewer.

Today I'm treating myself to a trip to the theatre. A local theatre puts on "Pay What You Can" performances occasionally. They do ask for a pound but that's not bad. So I'm giving it a try today. The play is quite a sombre and dramatic one, but still, it makes a change. If they have others during the winter season I may go to some of them.

Great thread thanks Diane and those are Wonderful photos thanks aria :)
It must be lovely to be surrounded by those dramatic trees! and I love the look of the fog too

Which play are you going to see Diane? Will be interested to hear what you think of it
A shame your jaunts will be fewer, but keep us up to date please :)

Hello Philomel! The play was by a local playwright, called "Talk about the Passion". About a man who's son has been killed by a paedophile. He has a meeting with a publisher who is earning oodles of money out of a book of memoirs written by the paedophile. Gritty stuff. No happy ending of course. Interesting but a bit short. Only cost me a pound though.

I've er signed up for a one-day acting workshop later this year. I'm interested in learning storytelling. Learning the correct way to present myself on a stage and how to project my voice could be helpful.

This message was edited Oct 11, 2004 7:02 AM

Oh, that sounds good - very enterprising
I'm sure you're going to be first rate judging by your storytelling here :)

Thank you Philomel! I used to sing folk-songs at folk-clubs (I have a good voice). So this is simply an extension of that. I'm getting worried about finding employment. Not much computing work around, and a lot of employers ask questions about past health problems. I'm A1 now, but had problems in the past. I reckon quite a number of my applications are heading straight into the waste-basket. So maybe this is something I could develop as a part-time job. Depends if I have aptitude for it of course, but I'm pretty sure I would be reasonably good at it. Would take several months to start up though. My past heath problems would be completely irrelevant here. There's a first-rate storyteller who took it up when he recovered from a serious stroke. I was also recently in contact with an old friend who has gone into this line of work. Useful to have a contact!!!!

That does sound good Diane - I wish you all the best with it :)

This really sounds promising, Diane. You never know what may come out of all this, maybe connections that could lead to another career! Wouldn't that be something!

Thank you all! Yes, maybe another career! I've found out that there's a shortage of storytellers and a demand for them. No-one working locally. So maybe I've found a gap in the market. Now I've got to develop the skills of course. That'll take me quite a few months. So it'll be next spring or more likely next summer before I'm ready.

Of course, it all depends on whether I'm actually any good at it. I'm reasonably hopeful though.

Your post took me back to when I used to live in Yarm and had a very good friend who lived in Whitby. We loved the Moors and often used to ride the railway - the loveliest railway line in the UK, I always maintained.
One of the really fun things about driving around there are the hills - I think there was at least one that was 1 in 4... that's steep, and no hairpin bends, just straight up! My wife used to close her eyes as we went up it!
It's great heather country, so doubtless you have a limitless source of Ericaceous compost!!!
M

Well, no compost. I can't really dig up the moors!!!! I was at Yarm Fair on Saturday. Saw the Riding of the Fair. Ever seen that?

We used to go to that (the Fair).
Surely you could get yourself a small sackfull of moorland soil without significant damage to the environment. After all there must be a good few billion sackfulls to choose from!
Mike

Perhaps it's more a case of getting the other few billion people to promise not to first LOL, so that the one won't notice.....

Ah but carrying it home on the bus! No, I wouldn't do it. Mind you, there were some good dollops of horse you know what on Yarm High Street. Tempting!