Ep 17: The One With Even Moor

0616 Beak Hills Farm to Church Houses (via the Lion Pub!)

No cooked breakfasts for any of us this morning: even “Full English Peter” had cereal and toast today. Our hostess couldn’t believe her luck!  Another sunny cloudless day for our walk across the North York Moors.  But first, a couple of steep peaks (Kirby Bank and Hasty Bank) to conquer the top of Clay Bank Top, our starting point for the day (although two of the team did select the low route once again).

Four kms already under our belt, we climbed up to the Moors and began a long, straight, very hot hike across to Blakey Ridge on a rail trail. The Moors are lovely, but we found ourselves feeling less-ish, rather than moor-ish as the day wore on as the sun was quite relentless. More than 70% of the heather in the world grows on this series of moors. We were surprised by the variation in colour of the heather from bright green, Barbie-pink new shoots, to all shades of purpley grey.

We saw many grouse, including a little family being ushered across the track by their mother. 

The rest of the day was spent walking along an old rail trail. Level it may have been, but it degenerated into a hot, rather boring slog. Not a tree to offer any shade!

Around 2.30, the Lion Inn thankfully came into view; the fourth highest pub in England.  Val and Peter have previously enjoyed the hospitality of the highest, Tan Hill Inn, on their last walk here.  The Lion is an authentic, busy and friendly establishment, where we whiled away the afternoon until our lift to our accommodation arrived.

The Feversham Arms is a great village pub in Church Houses. Not only did the proprietors collect us from the Lion Inn to bring us the 3km here but they will take us up the 350m ascent tomorrow back to the Lion Inn. Legends! Our rooms are great and we’ve had wonderful dinners. Definitely recommended!

As we return to the UK we are struck, once again, by those little peculiarities that are a feature of this remarkable, but tiny, country. We have been assembling a few contenders:

1. The Tea Cake; a toasted flattened current bun, served with butter
2. The Shooting Brake; a term for a station wagon with two doors – a most peculiar vehicle. Unforgivably, Aston Martin, the makers of the achingly beautiful DB5, once produced a ‘shooting brake’ version.
3. Public Access to Private Land; visitors to the UK countryside cannot belief that walkers can wander across public pathways on privately owned land – in fields with their calves, across their farm yards with their chickens and in amongst their combine harvesters – it’s open-slather for all.
4. Quality Newspapers; Again, we are reminded of the culture in England that breeds high quality journalism. And there are many mastheads…
5. Clotted Cream; People are familiar with usual categories of cream such as cooking cream, whipped cream (see earlier blog on Danby Wiske), marscapone etc but the English have their own addition; CLOTTED cream. Understanding how this cream is produced is apparently a state secret but it is the only way to dress a scone!
6. Plumbing; Despite Britania ruling the waves (but not the water pipes!) and the British Empire holding sway over very nearly 25% of the world’s population at its peak, why is it that England is the land that modern plumbing forgot? On turning up at various Bed and Breakfast locations on this adventure, the landlady introduces you to the shower operation ‘It’s easy luv; if you want a shower just pull on the cord, push the button in the middle, turn the inner ring for water pressure, then adjust the outer ring for the temperature (but you need to hold in the little red button on the side, if you want to do this), but you better be quick as there is not much hot water…’. IT’S NOT THAT DIFFICULT TO INSTALL A SIMPLE SHOWER MIXER, ENGLISH PLUMBERS!!!

Distance today: 18 km