Scawton to Osmotherley
Walked 21.3 miles
19.6 CW Miles + 1.7 extra miles from & to campsites.
It was a very windy night but we were very pleased with our new tent which held up well. Our new Exped Synmats were very comfy too.
Was up early, breakfasted & on the trail by 8am. Easy walking terrain again today through farmland & on moorland tracks. From the start we had swarms of grouse waddling in front of us or making us jump leaping out from the side of the path - except, we saw none over the moorland section where a shooting party convoy of Landrovers passed us... Not so stupid grouse!
Early in the day we took a pointless 2 mile extension to the top of the Sutton Bank White Horse. Imagine how a 200 foot high limestone/chalk carving of a horse in the hillside looks when you're stood on its ear? Not the greatest tourist attraction we've seen/not seen! The best view on that section was from the interpretive sign - A vale vista sketched by Turner over looking the Vale of York. We walked along this western escarpment for most of the day for which we had continuous great views dropping down into the Vale on our left.
Excellent visitors centre at Sutton Bank with an excellent selection of cakes for a half hour morning break.
Then onwards to the Hambleton Hills, lovely purple heather moorland and one lazy sheep who wouldn't move out of our path! A sunny day with cloudy spells, but very windy - the gusts were strong enough to knock us off balance on a few occasions but we were thankful for the wind to keep us cool.
Arrived in Osmotherley, not Oswestry Nigel, about 3.30pm. Quaint village with a quirky village shop.
We had originally planned a spot of wild camping on the trail, however the National Park have 'Extreme Fire Risk' warning notices everywhere so didn't think it wise as no stoves allowed. So we checked in at Cote Ghyll Campsite, Osmotherley. We award this campsite 2/3* as it has all facilities but is a large commercial caravan & camping site and a bit pricy £9 pp.
Another early night tonight for another long day tomorrow.
Early morning extra:
We had a visitor in our tent last night - the persistent Mrs Tiggywinkle! A large hedgehog kept creeping into our tent porch, Nigel's side (scared the living daylights out of him- wimp!) after our small sandwich bag sized bag of rubbish. No matter how many times I chased her out with a walking pole, so 'Intent' was she on our leavings, we eventually put the rubbish bag outside the tent to get some peace. In the morning we were surprised to find she'd sampled each bit of rubbish but left it in a neat pile!
Photos from day 2:
The eye of the White Horse!
Carvings at Sutton Bank visitor centre
Wild bilberries
No wild camping for us!
The lazy sheep - she wasn't going to move for us!
Looking ahead to the Cleveland Hills were we'll be tomorrow
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