The Provinces visit the Yorkshire Dales

Venue: Grassington, Rievaulx Abbey and York

Walkers: Capt & Mrs P, Pete and Val (brother/sister in law)

Distance: 5 miles /7 miles / about 2 miles in York

Weather: Lovely / cloudy / cloudy and cold

Find of the walk: A miniature horseshoe on day 2

We spent a few days with Pete and Val in North Yorkshire and managed a walk each day. Day 1 we visited Grassington in the stunningly beautiful Yorkshire Dales (Wharfedale) - as was soon pointed out to us is pronounced 'Grass-ington' as in 'gas', 'oop north', and not Gr-arse-ington as we would 'down sarth'!! It was a Sunday so seemed as if the whole world and his wife were visiting too, but having found a space in the car park we set off on our walk. Pete and Val assured us that most people don't in fact walk very far (just as far as the shops and tea rooms and a quick visit to the river Wharfe) - and they were quite right. As we headed out of town and along the river bank the crowds disappeared and we were soon on our own apart from occasional groups of walkers.

It was a sunny day and the river Wharfe looked beautiful - wide in some parts, then a patch of rapids and then calm clear and wide again. We stopped for a drink and butties on a bankside and watched a family with their lovely black lab who was chasing and fetching a tennis ball in the river.

A very varied walk as we then passed through woodland and then back into open fields with their typical dry stone walls and field shelters. Just as when we walk on the North Downs, we soon realised that the area's name gives a clue as to the terrain - most definitely a walk up hill and down dale! A bit puffed but not too bad - Miss Nohills would have been impressed! (or possibly not . . . )

A quick lesson from Pete on recognising the difference between swallows and swifts (loads of them around) and then we headed back to the pretty town. Having bought Sunday papers we then left to drive back to their house in Easingwold (via some more stunning scenery, very All Creatures Great and Small) for a well earned glass - sorry, bottle -of wine and a slob with the papers!

Day 2: We headed back out to Rievaulx Abbey in Ryedale for another circular walk. The abbey is possibly more lovely than Fountains and certainly better preserved. Once again it stands in a glorious setting nestling in a wooded valley with a few farmhouses surrounding it - as most places in the Dales, it is completely unspoilt. Once again we set off alongside the river Rye and once again came across very few other walkers. However, we did come across the inevitable postman! Great excitement on Mrs P's part which took some explaining to the others! By this time Val was getting into the swing of Raras walking as she then came across the find of the walk - a miniature horseshoe found in a field. Much speculation as to what it was intended for - a pig perhaps?! The photo on the left was taken while we tried to balance the horseshoe on the village sign - it wouldn't - so Val gamely crouched behind the stone and held the shoe up - you can just see her fingers!! How sad we all are. We then passed through a farmyard where a local ee-bah-gum farmhand warned us to stand to one side as the cows were on the way - just as well Chris wasn't there as they soon came charging down the lane complete with calves and a large bull bringing up the rear!

Once again there were rather a lot of long hills to haul ourselves up but the views were quite wonderful when we reached the top. We ended up by the river once again and headed back towards the abbey - time for a quick look and then once again set off home for more well earned alcoholic refreshments - lovely!

Day 3: We decided to do some city walking so went into York armed with one of Pete and Val's books - the Snickleways of old York. It's like speaking a different language up there sometimes! Snickleways and ginnels apparently are their version of what we know down here as twittens - old narrow passageways between buildings, and being York there are hundreds of them. We only had time for a handful which took us about 2 hours, but it was great to see other parts of York that most tourists never get to see. After this relaxing day - yes, you guessed right, we headed once more back to their pad for more drinkies. How civilised!

So, Capt P, yours truly and what's left of our 2 livers are now back home and Mrs P hopes to see you all on Tuesday!

TTFN

Oaks Park - Carshalton

The London Fruit Loop

Tuesday: 26th July

Walkers: Farty, T.B., Windy, Registrara, Lil and Clat - a group of 6, which just fitted in nicely at the circular picnic tables. However, our other members were very missed - aaaaaaaaah

Distance: 5 1/2 miles

Madd-eyed as well!

Find of the Walk: a crucified teddy bear and Hannibal Reflector

What a grey day - the odd patch of sun did try and struggle through, but it was quite warm and then quite cold - i shall proceed.

OaksPark, Carshalton This is an unexpected oasis in the middle of suburbia. Easy to miss if you are batting along the roads, and well worth investigating if you've not been. Plenty of parking spaces, a respectable cafe, loos, views, and arty places (closed today unfortunately)

Downwards to begin the loop, with views in the distance of Croydon and London areas - we later spotted Crystal Palace towers,the Ikea towers for the shoppers among us, and later on, we even got an eye-full of Canary Wharfe. A tree-lined walk then led us towards Bushells farm shop, where the owners were cooking up the steak and kidney to pop into their delicious pies. We went upwards then, and passed some rather quaint wooden houses, kept in good condition, and we discovered from T.B., that these were given to folk after the war. We noticed how advanced the hedgerow fruit is, and Wind commented that she had some lovely brambles at home - stop there i think.

Are they really slow?

The track was narrow, and we had to keep heading for the verge as many cars and vans traversed these parts. The ones containing kids were heading for the Heritage Fish Farm, and a lot of them were getting lost - T.B. pointed them in the right direction, and we verged some more. Past the Plymouth Brethren school with its shuttered windows and on towards some more unexpected leafiness and easy walking.

Road crossing here is rather dodgy as they are very busy with fast cars, but we have discovered a hidden talent in Lil. She only has to raise her hand to wave, and the traffic comes to a complete standstill - marvellous, and we herded ourselves across these frantic byways.

We frequently found trees laden with fruit. Tiny plums -like a lot of little bottoms dangling about, and in colours of red, green, purple and orange. They had quite a nice taste, but a certain wooliness about them, so we didn't pick. We found mushroom piles which looked liked the medical version, and glorious wild flowers growing in abundance - what a treasure trove we were in.

The Clockhouse Estate next - the kids are on school holidays, and i shall say no more, but the sight of shuttered shop windows and graffiti did not really match the paragraph above. i shall stop there again..........

Into another green area, with a gipsy encampment near by and then, like having cataracts removed, we came to the open and wonderful vista of the lavender fields. It was still grey above, but the ground positively popped with colour - and quite a few Japanese folk
who had flocked to this place.

We had a good rummage around and a few purchases were made before we returned to the car park, and sorted ourselves out for the picnic. Unfortunately the text 'bring a picnic' had led Windy to suppose it had to feed everyone. A massive cool-box appeared, and enough food to feed Oaks Park followed. We noticed an archaelogical dig going on - apparently they were looking for an old cock pit. Here, you have a chance to snigger/titter, or try and work out why they were digging for a section of an aeroplane - ha ha ha ha.

A goodly amount of chat ensued, and a visit to the caf to get the coffees in. After this lot, we then trotted round the Park a bit, and then decided to call it a day.

We are hoping to walk in the Horsham/Warnham area next week, in the hopes that Sally can join us. She has had her op., and we wish her a speedy recovery.

Au revoir for now x

Tanhouse Farm - Newdigate

Does My Ass Look Big In This? - title kindly supplied by Registrara

Tuesday 12 July

Walkers: Farty, T.B.(which now also means The Baker), 12 legs, Windy, Registrara, Lil and Clat.

Mrs P is preparing for a very early start and a girlie shopping/drink fest with Polly Possibly et la filles, en France. Sally is occupied with imminent q.r.s., and Hoots has another appt with the solicitor. One fine day we shall get a full turn-out and we can amend the RahRas web page group photograph.

Find of the walk: a sign telling us to expect kangaroos in 25km.
Distance: 6 1/2 miles - nice.

For our faithful blog followers you will note that we were not at the lav. fields - they are not ready and we shall visit them once they are in full flush - ha ha ha ha ha.

It was a grey day as we assembled in a field adjacent to this farm, and its marvellous shop which sells food and drink. No wines or spirits are sold, but we are allowed to bring our own - so we did. However, pre-walk we had coffees and teas served by a very friendly woman, and then off we went, in an easterly direction.

Master Baker loaf!

T.B. has been on a bread-making course, and regaled us with his day of kneading things, and watching things rise, all with the help of a shower cap. He brought some of his handywork along, and we were impressed with the shape and texture - well done that man. Clat and Lil did regalia about their recent trip to Torquay with parents, and Farty did even more with tales of her visit to her sister near Ross-on-Wye. Still, it's nice to be back together again and to catch up on everyone's news.

Very soon we came to Ockley Lodge where two gorgeous little donkeys lived. One had a wonky ear, and the other wanted to be cuddled all the time. However, Josephine and Minnie caused a lot of unwanted interest, and Sue nearly had her ass butted by one of them. Then we were surrounded by lots of yapping little dogs, one of which, a fox terrier, nipped at poor Chris. We made it to safety and continued to Home Farm (not the one from the Archers), and through woods, fields and more woods until we eventually came out at Charlwood.

The inevitable loss of route occurred, due to lack of signage, and some which we found in a ditch, but it wasn't a huge delay, and it did result in Chris walking through a field which contained cows - well done that woman!

We came to a fork - we turned left, eventually reaching Beggarhouse Lane after a little more misplacementness, and the intervention of a tractor driver who asked us if we were lost. We were not, cos we had just sorted out where we had gone wrong. Quite a lot of track walking then followed, and we noted the changes that had occurred since we last did that route.

Another fork - we turned left again, and southwards followed by westwards, and more donkey action before finally arriving at the farm. Here we ate glorious home-reared and cooked meats and fritttattttattatattas with a good selection of salads. This was followed by home-reared cake and beverages, to round off a good meal.

So, the lav awaits - we shall let you know when the constipation is over. In the meantime, we hope for some sunny weather to bring it on, and here endeth this week's blog!

Forest Row Java and Jazz: The Sussex branch of the RARAS go walkabout

Venue: Forest Row 'Java and Jazz'

Walkers: 12 legs minus 8, Windy Nohills and Mrs Provincial. Farty visiting sister, Clat and Lil taking their'olds' to Torquay (hope you've survived OK!), Sal and Hootsmon no doubt flying and Registrara working? TB what was your excuse?!

Weather: Very warm with clear blue skies. Rain coming in from the west later, but we avoided it.

Distance: 5 miles

Time taken: 3 hours including a couple of quickish pit stops

Find of the walk: Blue checked shirt which we considered keeping for TB, but spied a burn hole so thought Farty wouldn't thank us for the mending that it would require. We did find another candidate for the find of the walk . . . suffice it to say that Windy thought for a minute it was a poor little dead mouse then realised that she should have gone to Specsavers . . . I shall say no more.

This walk takes one through the countryside near Forest Row and follows 2 long distance paths, the Vanguard Way and the High Weald landscape Trial, returning along the Forest Way which utilises the track bed of the former Tunbridge Wells to East Grinstead railway, one of the many victims of the Beeching cuts in the 1960s

We convened in the free car park and headed straight for . . . a cup of coffee at Java and Jazz in the High Street! What a lovely relaxed start! We noticed some of the somewhat whacky residents of Forest Row en route - the village lies on ley lines and also the Greenwich meridien and is favoured by the Scientologists who have their UK headquarters not far away at Saint Hill. Once at the cafe/bar/restaurant we settled into their comfy sofas and soon 4 legs and Mrs P were deep in conversation catching up on the goss from the Airtours reunion which had been held the previous weekend. Miss Nohills, being for once outnumbered, donned her white gloves, grabbed the paper TB style, and fell into a stupor until we finished the 'who was doing what and with whom'!

Suitably refreshed we set off, ably led by Chris armed with her torn out page from a local magazine which described the walk. We first walked along the track we had taken on a previous walk in the winter. Last time it had been an uphill struggle against a raging torrent but fortunately for us this time the track was dry, but very rutted. We passed through some woodland and then joined Cansiron Lane where we stopped briefly to say hello to a couple of fine horses.

Before setting off across the field at the top of the lane we stopped briefly for a swig of water (the day was proving to be hot) and a photo opportunity. We slightly missed the track across the field but soon realised our mistake and found the path out which lead into some pretty woodland (quite a relief as the field we were comtemplating entering had lots of cows - Chris quite rightly was having none of that!)

The woodland is called Paupersdale Wood and this is where we found the shirt. There was another other item of clothing with it which we decided not to investigate but we did wonder how on earth these clothes get left behind - best not to speculate! There might even be a body out there somewhere . . .

After the wood the instructions did say to take care as the track we were looking for wasn't very well marked. We decided to do some investigation of some other possible walks from this point - and there are a few - but decided to stick with our original plan - !! We joined a track very close to the camping and fishing site that we have passed on a couple of other walks and this time it looked to be fully booked. It's a beautiful spot and very quiet - the only sound to interrupt the peace was the occasional aircraft high overhead.

The path passed by a strip of woodland with some tree stumps that resembled some pretty strange shapes and once again Miss Nohills, not having gone to Specsavers, thought one looked just like a wild boar - so that'll match the pike then! (eh, what? Piccie ed)

We saw a lovely line of trees in the distance that had obviously been planted as part of an estate - they were a pale colour and Chris felt they were a salix of some sort. We need to investigate further - Farty and Clat, where are you when we need you?!

The path passed through a beautiful garden at Lower Parrock where we stopped to admire their kitchen garden which was full of all sort of lovely fruits. Some must have escaped, as before we entered their land we found some raspberries growing in the hedgerow which we picked and enjoyed.

We crossed the stream on their drive and then turned right and on to the Forest Way. The instructions warned to watch out for cyclists creeping up on you - and they did, at one point nearly giving Chris and Mrs P a heart attack!

We were soon approaching Forest Row and came across a group of young people with learning/physical disabilities. We all did a double take as the last pair walked passed as we realised it was Angie Macullum who (pretended?) didn't recognise us. Have we all changed that much?! She certainly hadn't changed at all by the looks of things.

As we turned off the track to walk back to the car park we crossed a bridge and the next thing we knew Sue was on the parallel bars stretching her hamstring! We then all decided to join in in various poses - the bridge has now been renamed as the Stretching Bridge!

We decided to go back to Java and Jazz for lunch - it was 2.45 by now and knew that we definitely didn't want to go back to the Chequers after our last experience there - and after having a mild panic thinking they didn't serve alcohol we discovered they did serve beer and cocktails - phew! We decided not to sit outside as the weather was really hot and humid by now so stayed inside in the relative cool. 4 legs and Miss Nohills had quesadillas and Mrs P the hommous platter - we all agreed that the food was great and the service very good (a lovely young man!).

We sauntered back to the cars via some of the shops, including the hardware/ironmongers/outdoor clothing shop - recommended by 4 legs. A lovely relaxing end to a very laid back day!

Next week - sorry not sure, is it the Lavender? Please await joining instuctions!(Yes, should be the Lavender)

The Sussex Oak - Warnham

We Adder in Warnham

Tuesday 28 June

Walkers: Farty, T.B., 12 Legs, Windy, Registrara, Lil and Clat. Sally is having a new bathroom fitted, and collecting her new mini (car, not dog) today. Trish is still abroad, and Hoots possibly, is too.

Find of the walk: an adder, but a squished one.

Distance: forgot to say that last week it was 6 miles, and this week it was 4 and then whatever the others did.

The weather was threatening - the forecast of heavy thunderstorms had not materialised thus far, so we got on with the task in hand. Assembled in this quite picturesque village pub car park, we exchanged the usual pleasantries and sticky kisses (due to the heat), before setting off in a south-easterly direction.

Through crop-filled fields and on towards the path surrounding Warnham Court and its deer fields. Both sexes were evident, and some gorgeous sets of antlers were on parade from the magnificent stags. Watch out for autumn as the noise of their roars and the clashing of their mantlepieces is a sound and a sight to behold. Kate Humble you need to be here.
We followed what used to be the old Horsham Road, which is now a quiet country lane, where we found the adder. He was a lovely snake in his time, and that's not often you put those two words together, either. Moving on............
Now here is where we went into lostness once more. The signage was clear at the start (it always is), and then dis-appeared. We approached the grounds of a farm and were immediately spotted by a young wench with a wheelbarrow full of muck. We asked her if we were in the right place - we were not, and even though we could see the road we needed to be in, we had to retrace our steps. Some of the gang went the prohibited way, and others did a complete reversal.

During this manoeuvre we found some hidden signs, and decided this would be the route for another walk altogether. It is really lovely countryside round here, and Farty has discovered even more rich seams of walkage.

Back on the road (Robin Hood Lane) and over it, we entered the grounds of the deer park itself. These gorgeous bambis paused, posed and then proceeded off with T.B. in attendance, his zoom lens in tow. Lil found the remnants of an antler - only a small piece , which was surprisingly hefty, so these stags have a lot to cart round on their heads. The ominous sounds of heavy rumbling pervaded the air, which meant the forecast storms were on their way.

Once out of these grounds we came to Bailing Hill, where Clat and her hips, plus Lil and Reg bade farewell to the others and headed back to the pub. A lovely village walk for us three ensued, past pretty little gardens and chocolate-box cottages - what a ridiculous expression. We noticed a pub called The Greets - more chocolate, and then found ourselves in the main street once again. The village butcher here is very popular as he has lovely meat, well hung and tasty - the meat, not the butcher.

By now the rumblings were getting louder and more frequent. We three changed and charged into the pub and had a drink before saying our good-byes.

The others got back before the heavens opened, and texted to say the food was fabulous - this is their opportunity to add their bit ..........................
Well, we're not very good bloggers! We've added some photos with some captions & we're afraid left a lot to the imagination: made it back to the pub just before the heavens opened!
Flax Farm

Windy & Clat find a retirement home!

What a poser!

 Right, next Tuesday 5 July there is NO WALK. However, the following Tuesday, 12th we are meeting at Oaks Park for a walk, possibly a picnic, and a trip round the lavender fields. Enjoy xxx