Diane

Bolton Castle circular via Woodhall and Carperby- approximately 8 miles

Sunny and hot with a pleasant cooling breeze. Ground very dry, definitely a 'shorts and trainers' day

Diane, Richard, Ron, Sandy, Michelle, Michael.

George - sailing on the west coast of Scotland

Ashley - ‘It’s a bit far to go to find that I have to turn back after one mile.'

Comments

There were good views of Addelbrough while walking under Wegber, Blue and Ivy Scars. Most of the streams had dried up but we had a pleasant lunch stop next to a waterfall which still had running water. We enjoyed seeing two sheep poking their heads out of the disused lead mine caves. There were lots of stone walls with unusual stile gates and squeeze stiles.

We walked around a school football pitch where families were gathered for a school fayre. Ron and Richard walked down the farm lane, due to confusion over the right of way. After walking through the nice village of Carperby, with its village green and market cross, we stopped at the picnic tables outside the Wheatsheaf Inn for some Black Sheep ale. The Inn is famous for being the place where James Herriott spent the first night of his honeymoon in 1941. Richard had to wait for the barrels to be changed (or was he contemplating the sign in the gents ‘Drink makes you see double and think that you are single’), while Diane patiently waited for her drink. Bolton Castle itself was closed for a wedding, but a man came out of the castle with a bucket, and from the car park we watched plenty of small wild boars having a feeding frenzy in their enclosure.

Wildlife:

Birds: curlews, oystercatchers, wheatears, pheasants, robins, swallows, swift, wren, house martins.
Mammals: alpacas, horses, mules, pygmy goats. Very woolly sheep, and quite a few dead rabbits.
Insects: Lots of butterflies, including cabbage white and large white in a cabbage field.
Flora: an abundance of wild flowers.

The Shoulder of Mutton at Middleton Tyas. Food excellent quality, nice ambience with good service.

Meal of the Year

Walkers at Bolton Castle

Little Brown Cow

Oh, what a lovely day!

Bridge

Dry Stream

Webger Scar

Hermit Sheep

Waterfall lunch-stop

Signpost

Woodhall

Addlebrough

Happy Walkers

Stone Man

Carperby Stone Cross

Mini Green

Pub stop

Mules

Back to the Castle

Penhill

Boars

Rasta sheep