#30DaysWild Day 11 – In The Woods

First of all the missing day 10 – well it included 1 bus, 3 trains and 2 taxis! And you’ve guessed, a day with that much travelling has no time for wildlife.

Day 11 has been spent visiting Mr Lmrlib’s mum and taking her out for lunch and look what we spotted on our way there this morning. A ginormous beetle crossing the pavement  (£1 coin for scale), sadly I think it might nave been a bit squashed.

This evening we had time for a half hour stroll through the woods behind our hotel while it was still bright and sunny

And we found a surprise lake 

We stood here for a while watching a swan family in the distance and lots of water boatmen on the lake surface.

#30DaysWild Day 7 – After the Rain

What happened to Day 6? Well 83mm of rain in 36 hours (eg the heavy rain didn’t stop all day) and a long day at work meant Day 6 was a write off for random acts of wildness.

On Day 7 the sun was out by the time I left for work so I got off the bus early and set off across The Meadows.

I stopped to look and see what’s flowering in the wild part of the park, lots of buttercups today

The sunshine through the trees made a lovely dappled effect on the path

Look at the reflections on these puddles

I love walking through this tunnel of trees

This lochan wasn’t here yesterday

#30DaysWild Day 2 – wild plants in the city

I try to have a short walk every lunchtime to destress from the morning at work and reinvigorate ready for the afternoon.  I usually just stomp around the streets thinking about whatever needs thought about that day, often work related. 

However today I made an effort to look for wild plants as I walked around the West End of Edinburgh.  I mainly saw the usual “weeds”, particularly a lot of dandelions and then I started to look down into basements and spotted these lovely bright flowers –

Are these part of the buttercup family? 

Edit: I am told these are poppies as I first suggested, I shouldn’t listen to Mr LMRLIB 😂

Whitby and the North York Moors – part 2

Walk 2 – Levisham and the Hole of Horcum
We don’t have a car so plan our walks around public transport, in this case we chose to use the North York Moors Railway to get to the start of our walk, combining a fun trip on a steam train with our walk.

We took the steam train from Whitby to Levisham

From Levisham station it was a short, steep climb up onto the moor and then a nice easy walk across the moorland, there were lots of birds to spot (wheatear,  skylark,  windchat and curlew) and passed an Iron Age dyke

The moorland part of the walk took us to the rim of the Hole of Horcum. There are good views from here over to Fylingdale and into the Hole.

The next stage of the walk is down into the Hole of Horcum and through the valley

we then climbed back up onto the moor and eventually rejoined the path down to Levisham station where we watched a train going in the other direction as we waited for our own steam train back to Whitby

Walk 3 – Roseberry Topping
For this walk we took the Northern Rail train service to Kildale. From the station we walked through the hamlet and then uphill through a farm where we met a very friendly sheep and her lamb

we then got onto the Cleveland Way, going uphill through woodland to the Captain Cook monument

After a lunch stop at the monument we headed down the other side of the hill still keeping on the Cleveland Way, this took us right down to the car park and then back up onto the moor. An easy walk across the moor took us to the descent towards Roseberry Topping

Thankfully it’s a fairly short climb back up the other side to get to the top. It was a bit hazy so so my photos from the top were’t great, you’ll need to take my word that the views are good.

We took a different route down, heading towards Great Ayton for the train back to Whitby.

 

And this is where the day very nearly ended badly! We diverted slightly from our planned route and ended up in the most beautiful bluebell filled wood, the scent was glorious and we dawdled too long taking photos

The detour and the dawdling meant that we were very late for our train and must have made an amusing sight running through the village in full hiking gear, walking poles, cameras and all. Thank goodness for the young men who pulled over and gave us a lift, we made the last train back to Whitby by 2 minutes.

A great last day (with timekeeping and map reading lessons for me for our next walk!)

Whitby and the North York Moors – part 1

A couple of weeks ago we rented a tiny cottage in the centre of Whitby for a spring holiday, neither of us had been there before so there was lots to explore and discover.

Sadly the weather for the first couple of days was unseasonably cold for May but we wrapped up in our thermals and winter woolies and explored the town.

Watching the wild sea kept us amused for ages!

Thankfully the weather improved for the remainder of the week so we were able to get out and about into the surrounding countryside.

Walk 1 – Whitby to Robin Hood’s Bay along the cliffs
This is an interesting walk along the cliff path, we were fascinated by how visible the coastal erosion is –

The sun came out as we walked so we were glad to reach Robin Hood’s Bay for a cooling drink before exploring the village
We caught a bus back to Whitby so we’d get back in time for dinner, Whitby restaurants seem to close abnormally early!

And Whitby looked rather lovely as the sun set

Canals and railways – on foot

I started 2017 with such grand plans for a great outdoors year with a lovely walk on each of the the first four days of the year. Fast forward a few months to the end of March and no more walks had happened, thanks to a combination of work, rubbish weekend weather, family stuff and other commitments.

Then at last warm sunshine on days we were free to get out and about. So in glorious sunshine we set off by bus to Broxburn where we got onto the Union Canal towpath and headed towards Edinburgh with the aim of finishing in Wester Hailes from where we could catch a bus home (accessibility by public transport being a key consideration for us as we don’t own a car!).

I have now completed walking the canals all the way from Falkirk to Fountainbridge, next I just need to walk west from Falkirk to Dumbarton ….

Our second “transport” related walk was the following weekend on the Penicuik to Bonnyrigg section of the Penicuk to Dalkeith railway walk, this is one I’ve done many times but on a sunny day it’s always enjoyable and this was our only chance to get out that weekend, walking part way home after lunch with the parents! No photos of this one, I was too busy just enjoying the sun.

Now less than three weeks until I will be in Yorkshire, crossing fingers for sunshine and many walking opportunities

Four New Year Walks

I have started 2017 as I mean to go on, with lots of walking and lots of photos.

New Year’s Day Walk – Rosslyn Chapel Way

Walk 2 – Corstorphine Hill

Walk 3 – The Fife Coastal Path from North Queensferry to Aberdour

Walk 4 – Venlaw, Peebles

Newcastle (and South Shields and Gateshead)

For the end of May bank holiday weekend we treated ourselves to a long weekend in Newcastle. This was my first proper test of the new camera and I loved using it!

Arbeia Roman Fort, South Shields

Tynemouth from South Shields

Souter Lighthouse

Kittiwakes on the Baltic Art Gallery

The Angel of the North

Maryhill Public Library

Another weekend, another walk; this weekend we did the Maryhill History Trail. I really enjoyed a proper nosy around a part of Glasgow that I normally just pass through on the way out of the city or make a quick visit to the supermarket.

I was quite taken with Maryhill Public Library with its separate entrance for children! It’s a Carnegie Library designed by James Robert Rhind and opened in 1905 and still in use today.