Chop Gate

We’ve seen the North Sea! 3 days to go.

A fabulous walk on the moors. We did some climbing of course, but the rewards were wonderful views.

Our first stop was a small chapel on the ridge just above Osmotherly, the Mount Grace Chapel of Our Lady. It dates back to 1300 or so but was a ruin until rebuilt around 1960. It would have been a very tranquil spot to sit and admire the view, but for the sound of the ride-on mower and the whipper snipper.

Then we rejoined the track and headed up onto the moors and into the wind. Actually the wind was behind us but very strong on top. We saw a couple of ancient burial mounds. On top of one peak we came across half the local primary school having lunch, not minding the wind one bit.

We dropped down to a small cafe in the forest for lunch. Very nice, sitting at a table with a cup of tea with lunch.

We’re in the North York Moors National Park, said to be one of the largest expanses of heather, but not flowering yet.

We left the main path to go down to Chop Gate for the night, 20 kilometres for the day. We’ll go back up to the moors in the morning.

Tonight we celebrated Julie’s official retirement. We had to express some interest in the soccer, England was playing Tunisia. Late up date, England won.Read more