Stamps, pies and a Topping day out....April 15th(North Yorks Moors)
  The weather forecast for the whole of the north of England promises rain everywhere, but it will arrive at the latest on the North Yorks Moors so we are repeating a walk last done in May 2015, The Cook, the Pies and the Topping.
 A two car job with six gadgies in the team, Dave, Brian, Harry, Ben, John Ha. and me, hoping to enjoy my first walk for a few weeks.
We met in Stamps Cafe in Great Ayton, a fine tea shop close to Petches Pie Shop, meat and pastry heaven. After breakfast and pie buying we drove on to the car park at Newton under Roseberry.

                            Probably the best pie shop in the world.

                          Dave, outside Stamps Cafe, looking for a toilet probably

                       One of the many bikes out along the route of the Tour de Yorkshire which takes place on May 1st
 To reach this pretty spot from Newcastle take the A19 south, turn on to the A174  and then the A172 to Great Ayton. Newton is a little further on towards Guisborough.
The walk is covered by OS OL 26 North Yorks Moors, Western Area  and the car park is at GRNZ570127.
The walk:
MUD WARNING
  The car park has class, costs £4.50 for a full day but does have toilets.

                                    This week's car park.
  At the north end of the car park is a gate, the start of the walk. Turn right and walk up the very muddy Roseberry Lane to a gate into the woods. From here the path to the top of Roseberry is very steep, the worst way to start a walk, but it is well paved for much of the route to the summit. Probably as well, it's a very popular walk and would be even muddier without the stone path which meanders to the trig point on the top which has been thoughtfully graffited by Shaz and Duane.

                 Kathy and Sue, this is for you.
                      Brian, Dave, Ben, me, John Ha. (Harry is busy taking the picture )

                                               Thanks Shaz, education works.

                                        Roseberry Topping from muddy Roseberry Lane
             On the top we talked to a couple of ladies from Holland, they took a photograph of us.
From the top of Roseberry one of several paths leads almost due east and this is the one we took downhill, another paved path too.
At the bottom of the hill we took the Cleveland Way footpath, easily recognised by the markers, and after a short distance headed south east on a moorland mud track. Churned up by a million pairs of boots and several hundred thousand mountain bikes plus a few quad bikes, the path at this time of the year is tricky. To the south we could see the monument to Captain Cook, the man who led the way to Australia. On previous occasions we have made the detour to the monument but gave it a miss today.

                     It's an easy walk, just follow the sign posts.

                     Cook's monument in the distance. The only Yorkshire captain to go to Australia and not get a game.
At High Intake plantation the footpath turns northeast over Great Ayton Moor. There are some Iron Age enclosures in the area, the muddy footpath curves almost in a semi circle to Percy Cross where it turns north east again.

                                       

                              Near Percy Cross

                          Down in the valley on an overcast day.
  When the path reached Highcliff Wood the grumbling got louder and we made a Herbie Stop. Mrs A excelled herself with savoury tarts made with cheese pastry and topped with Feta Cheese. Other offerings included Ben's ginger biscuits, Yorkshire flapjacks, Chocolate covered biscuits and mini Easter eggs which had come from Czechia. Tea and sandwiches too. (From England)

                                   Herbie Spot
Lunch over we took the path south east past Highcliffe Farm across Black Nab and Hutton Moor until we rejoined the Cleveland Way. At the point where we met the earlier route we took a path that led us round the north side of Roseberry Topping and back to the still muddy Roseberry Lane and the car park. We arrived at the car park at the same time as the promised rain, a well timed walk.
Changed we headed back up the A19 and through the Tyne Tunnel (£1.60) and on to the Cannon Inn at Earsdon which had several hand pulled beers, Geordie Boy, Sunset Blonde and another blonde.  The one I tried was fine but I declined the second like a good chap, but really because I would have to drive later on.

Matrix MMXVI    M
                                                        steps                               miles
Nakosite                                         23812                              9.01
LIDL3D                                         22342                              8.7
Dave's Nak                                    19272                               8.51
  "        3D                                      20697                              8.9
  "        LIDLUSB                          19425                              9.58
etrx                                                                                        8.6
Bria'GPS                                                                               8.5
 Ben's bragometer                                                                 8.7

                                Roseberry Topping

Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2016

May the Force(s) be with you.......April  8th (North Pennines)
    I have missed the gadgie walk again as the gadgette and I went to Greater Manchester to visit family but Brian has recorded the day's events....

May The Force(s) Be With You.

Today we are in Teesdale.  The Bolgmeister is still unavailable but there are a magnificent seven gadgies donning their boots today.  The 3 Johns, Dave, Harry, Ben and Brian.

The start of the walk is at the Bowlees Visitor Centre and car park (for which there is a voluntary charge).  The visitor centre is in a renovated chapel and provides pleasant surroundings and an excellent bacon sandwich.

Car Parking

Walk straight out of the centre to the main road and follow the sign post down to the river.  You are immediately at the very attractive Low Force waterfalls.

Low Force

We cross the bridge and turn right, now following the Pennine Way.  The path follows the river and at one point passes through a large stand of Juniper bushes.  There were a couple of kayakers at the water’s edge struggling with their craft in the strong flowing current.

It is about 1.5 miles upstream to High Force waterfall.  It may not be quite the highest waterfall in England but it does have the largest volume of water falling over an unbroken drop when in full spate.

High Force

It is also popular with gadgie snappers .

On leaving High Force we were asked to clean and disinfect our boots to help combat the spread of some deadly killer tree disease which we duly did.  The feel of the landscape is now more remote; until about 0.5 miles past the waterfall you come upon this blot on the landscape.

It’s an eyesore but people do have to work.

The route continues along the Pennine Way but now much more undulating. There are wide views of the valley and now the almost continuous sight and sound of Lapwings performing their aerial acrobatics.  We pass Cronkley and come to a bridge across the river where it is decided that, behind a sheltering wall, to call a Herbie spot.

Herbie Spot

Today’s feast includes; banana and ginger cake from the oven of Mrs Hall, Ben’s ginger biscuits, Mrs A’s cheese scones, carrot cake and a chocolate bar.  From our lunch spot we can see oyster catchers, grey lag geese.

After lunch we cross the bridge and turn immediately left and along the river bank.  As with most river banks this year the signs of erosion are obvious.

A real photographer in action

At the next bridge we turn inland, following the sign for Langdon Beck YHA.  It is a short distance to the main road, which we cross and up towards Underhearth.  A steady but muddy climb leads us to some caves, which Dave and Ben explore.

The path is now at a higher level and quite muddy in places.  We go through the farms of Wool Pit Hill, where lambing was obviously in full swing, High Berk Head and Scar End.

These lambs were no more than a few minutes old.

John C now employed his GPS tracking device to guide us over the couple of miles to the Flushlemere Beck, into the woodland and back to the car park.

There was a short spur, for those who wished, to see Gibsons Cave and the waterfalls.  So here are the photos for those who didn’t

The waterfall

Inside the cave

Looking out through the waterfall

We stopped for Harry’s birthday beer round at the The Punch Bowl in Edmundbyers.  Sadly Harry (and John C) was driving so overdosed on coffee.  The rest of us had Wainwrights and Bombardier – very nice.

The walk was judged to be about 10.5 miles with 1150ft of ascent.

(Next week “Walking with Fairies” with Norman “Two Sheds” Johnsen)

Looks like a good gadgie day. It was also my birthday but they won't let me get away with it next week.
Dave has sent his pedometer readings:

MATRIX MMXVI  L
                                                                        steps                                  miles
LIDL3D                                                        24867                                   11.19
LIDLUSB                                                     23934                                   10.95
NAKOSITE                                                  23611                                   10.8
Walk of 11 miles I reckon

While I was away......................(Northumberland coast)
the gadgies enjoyed the usual Friday walk out. Brian has written it up.

Beaches, Beers, Bus and BIRDS

Today’s walk was from Craster to Seahouses, in that direction because of the forecast of a stiff southerly breeze.  It sometimes seems just a short period between doing the same walk, but a trawl back through records suggest the last time we did this one was 22/05/15.  Besides, our youngest and recently inducted gadgie said he was very partial to a coastal walk.

There were five of us out today; John Ha, John Ham, Dave, Ben and Brian therefore we were all able to fit comfortably into Brian’s car for the journey up to Craster.

We made a visit to the ever popular Shoreline Café in Craster for early morning refreshments which included a substantial bacon sandwich and cheese scone. Then we were off.  The weather was overcast but bright and no real threat of either sun or rain.  It still being the school Easter holidays there were lots of people out and about, many of them heading to the nearby Dunstanburgh Castle.

Today was a good day for bird spotting and we soon identified both kittiwakes and guillemots on the cliffs beside the castle and a pair of stonechats by the path.

Guillemot

Kittiwake

Stonechat

At this time of year the colours of the plumage are particularly vibrant.

We chose to follow the path over the dunes instead of along the beach which resulted in a particularly rewarding view back to the castle.

We continued mostly along the Northumberland Coastal Path to arrive at the bird hide at Newton Pool.  There wasn’t a lot to be seen on the pool apart from, what for all of us were, the first swallows of the season. However a couple of hundred yards further on there is a shallow “scrape” (probably just a permanently flooded field which revealed a much greater number of ducks, geese and waders.

There were: mallard, teal, shoveler, wigeon, shelduck, canada and greylag geese, redshank and bar tailed godwit. A scope would probably have revealed even more.

Shoveler Bar tailed godwit

By now it was lunchtime and we Herbied in the square at Low Newton, well sheltered from the now increasing breeze.  As a welcome back to Brian, Dave produced porky pies and Brian reciprocated with Mrs A’s cheese scones.  Ben contributed his ever popular ginger snaps, John Ha a new line non fat oatie biscuit and John Ham a chocolate digestive bar.

We lunched well as always then continued round the point to the aptly named Football Hole which is where both Newcastle United and Sunderland seem to be at the moment.  Nevertheless the birds and beasts kept on coming.  Three or four groups of gannets flew past heading south and a seal popped its head above the water.  The white on a gannet always seems brighter than that of any other bird, as if sunlight is always shining on it.

Ringed plover

Gannet

We then came down onto the long sandy stretch of Beadnell Bay.  About half way along the bay the Long Nanny burn spills out onto the sand and down to the sea. It is here that, just a little later in the year, a stretch is cordoned off to provide safe haven for nesting arctic terns, ringed plover and, in particular, the little tern.

At low tide the burn widens enough to be able to cross it but with some careful footwork.  John Ha and Brian decided it was a low enough tide and made their way to the water.  A father, mother, and aunt (probably) and four children were in the process of crossing.  Dad was coming back and forth carrying the small children over.  On the far side (about 30yards) the children gathered to watch 2 gadgies cross, anticipating them getting wet feet, wet legs or being swept away altogether.  The gadgies performed admirably and seemed immediately to acquire hero status with the children.

They borrowed our binoculars to look at each other, checked how far they had come on the GPS and were disappointed that taking three steps forward didn’t register an extra mile on their journey.

The reunited gadgies arrived in Beadnell to see even more birds in the quaintly named Lady’s Hole and Nacker Hole!  On view here were redshank, turnstone,  eider duck and male and female red breasted mergansers. Attractive birds – lousy choice of coiffurist.

                                                           Red breasted Merganser ........male

and female

Seahouses was now in sight and thoughts were turning to beer.  We crossed the sand to the golf course and on to the Olde Ship Inn where we got our usual welcome.  There was a good range of beers available:  Farne Island Bitter, Tyneside Blonde;  Ruddles County etc.

The Travelsure bus arrived right on time and delivered us safely back to the car at Craster.

This was another grand day out for the gadgies.  It was agreed that it was a walk of 10.5 miles.

Where the river bends and taking the waters. March  (Czechia)

  I have forsaken the Friday walk with the gadgies for a couple of weeks and have gone on what has become an annual trip to the coal town of Bilina in Bohemia, Czech republic, arriving on the evening of Sunday March 20th, having supper with Helena and Pavel and settling in to my room in the Bezovka Pension, the town's answer to Fawlty Towers. This years room had two single beds and three coat hooks, but no cupboard or wardrobe. I carefully arranged my clean shirts and socks on the spare bed.

Home for a few days, note the neat pile of shirts

Bezovka, bar, restaurant, pension and two lane bowling alley

                                              The road to Bezovka.
   My visit, this must be about the tenth, is a game of two halves. Part of the time I spend in the local "Gymnasium" or grammar school, talking to the pupils about life in the UK and the rest of the time I am taken off to some interesting part of the region by my hosts Helena and Pavel Patkove.
  The school bit;
This year I spent five days in school. They were the bread, this years trip to Loket, was the filling.
On the Monday Tuesday and Wednesday of the first week I talked to 9 classes, ranging in age from 11 to 19, and they all study English, plus two classes of adults who were on a Social Services course.  I do not know why they do English but they do.
 I have a wonderful power point presentation which has improved over the years. Mostly for young people but with some additional information for adults. (Copies available on request; SAE plus £10)
 The pupils were great. Their English varied but who am I to criticise. The older ones, sixth formers, were interested to know what I thought about the coming British referendum on the EU. In return for my views they made it clear they were very much in favour of being in the EU but had reservations about the Euro. (The country uses Czech Crowns; approx 33 to the £)
The adults were more interested in British working conditions, pensions, average wages and so on.
In the second week I went to school on the Tuesday and Thursday to talk to more classes. In one, a group of eleven year olds, the English was of a very high standard. A girl told me that "Last Wednesday I made a cake for my friend. He wanted it in the shape of a fire chief's truck"
I took French at school but could not have come out with a sentence like that at the age of eleven. She got out her phone and showed me a picture of the cake. It was brilliant.

                                           Social Services students. The two men are soldiers

                                     Bilina Gymnasium

 They would all be better students wearing a uniform, and the teacher should have a tie on.
  I have written about Bilina before but to save you trawling through past blogs:
Bilina is a town of about 16000 souls near Teplice in North Bohemia, and not too far from the German border. Its main industry is coal mining. The mine is opencast, has an amazing number of machines for extracting the coal, sending it to be washed and feeding it into the power station.
The town has an attractive square, used as a car park, an early 20th century town hall and an interesting looking church. The town is dominated by a lump of rock called Boden which is visible from just about everywhere and is a pleasant climb. There is a factory that bottles the local spa water, an ice hockey stadium and a sports area complete with pool.

The blot on the townscape. The old brewery with 1695 over the door. Apparently listed so it can't be demolished.

                                      Church and Boden. The mountain is volcanic but not in the sense of Etna or Popacatepetl. It is a basalt extrusion forced through the rock some millions of years ago.

                                              Bilina Castle and town square car park

                                                       Town Hall

                       Spa building, renovated and awaiting an occupier

                                           Ice Hockey stadium.

                                                  The power station, taken from the same spot I use every year

                        You can not escape Boden.
After school on Tuesday the head teacher, Mirka, took Helena, Pavel and me on a trip. First we visited the small town of Budyn which has a small castle, unfortunately it was closed but the little gallery in it was open. The best part was a display of hand painted Easter eggs, mostly done by children. The designs were intricate and if you know your eggs you can tell by the design which part of the Czech Republic they are from.

 Decorated Easter eggs in Budyn. The two bottom ones are by a 12 year old on the left and a 13 year old on the right. Far too nice to eat.

                                                 Budyn Castle.
We then went on to the town of Trebenice which specialises in garnet jewellery but also has one of the best cafes in the world.  Not only tea or coffee, but the ultimate in chocolate experience. We each had a small bowl of warm, melted chocolate and a selection of spices. A spoonful of chocolate and a dash of chilli powder was wonderful, I could have stayed for hours.

                                                  Trebenice high street.

                                 Chocolate heaven, don't look so worried.

                                Add this to your list of places to visit.
 It was Easter weekend. On Thursday Helena, Pavel and I caught a train to Chobov and changed to a single diesel carriage that took us to Loket.
Loket is built rather like Durham Castle and Cathedral on a peninsula almost surrounded by the River Ochre. It has a large castle high above the river and a very pretty main street and square. The town was frequently visited by Charles IV (1316-78) the first ruler of Bohemia to become Holy Roman Emperor.   The word loket means "elbow" and the town was given this name because of the bend in the river. (oh that's why!) An armoured elbow is on the coat of arms which fluttered proudly on several flags that marked the 700th year since Charles was born.

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                                                               Loket arms
We stayed in the Pension Ulrika, named after a young lady who caught the eye of Goethe who gave his name to the pension next door. Signing in was different, not just a quick look at your passport but a detailed form, name and address, date of birth and other things.

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                          Loket main street. Ulrika is on the right by the statue.
We walked round the town and along the river bank. The Hotel Franz Ferdinand had a fine beer garden with some proverbs painted on the wall;

"One swallow is enough to tell you it is good beer, but it is better to check..........."

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy"
Some may remember Ben Franklin for flying kites in thunderstorms and, in spite of his admiration of Britain, being one of the founding fathers. One of my favourite Americans.
Next day we caught the single diesel coach to Nove Sedlo and a train to Cheb. (Pronounced XKEB I think)
This seemed to be a town of two halves, the new by the railway station and the old a short walk away. Another beautiful square with medieval buildings carefully restored after a WW2 bombing raid. The old church was closed, the art gallery was open and interesting, the museum has a varied collection of exhibits, the oldest dated bell in the Czech Republic, baroque rifles, statues and a beautifully embroidered ancient altar cloth. It also had an Easter trail of bunnies for children to follow!

                      Cheb square The Block. We had lunch in the restaurant in the building on the left. It was the biggest dinner I have seen for a long time but I didn't want to let the UK down and ate the lot.

                                      Helena measures the alley between the two buildings.
Next day we toured the castle in Loket.  For older Britons it looks a bit like Colditz. The highlight for me was the torture chambers, much more gruesome than the London Dungeon. A fine display of a rack, an iron maiden, stocks, water boarding and a lovely device that slowly lowered the victim onto a chair with a seat laced with nasty looking and upward pointing spikes.
The rest of the castle is well worth a visit too!

                         Panoramic view of Loket

                                   Loket Castle at night

                                                     And by day

                           

 Ceramic stove in Pension Ulrika dining room

                                                        And a piece of Loket art
Later that day Blanca, the Patkove's daughter, and her husband Marian arrived. In the evening we played Pelmanism, the young ones won, easily.
Easter Sunday we set off for the town of Becov nad Teplou, which has a castle. The castle contains the Reluicary of Saint Maurus, an ancient gold covered box containing, possibly, the bones of Saint Maurus. The reliquary was in the possession of the Beaufort family from Belgium who owned the castle in Becov. Apparently they collaborated with the Nazis and, not surprisingly, fled the town in 1945. Before they left they buried the treasure and it was discovered in 1985 after some research, cleaned up and put on display. The tour of the castle led through several rooms with exhibitions describing the history of the box until finally, accompanied by a recording of a male voice choir, we were led to the final room to see the reliquary itself. Remarkable work of art but I was brought up a Protestant.

                    Photography was not permitted, picture from the internet. After the crown jewels this is said to be the most important Czech historical object.
On to Marienske Lazne (Marienbad in German days). One of several Czech spa towns this one was, with Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad) a favourite with the aristocracy and royal houses of Europe. A fine statue of Edward VII with Emperor Franz Ferdinand stands near the huge hotels built for the wealthy. Certainly some beautiful buildings now used partly by the state partly privately for rest and recuperation. I sampled several spa waters, one was pleasant the others contained too much sulphur for me and I doubted their restorative properties.

                                  Russian Orthodox Church in Marienske Lazne

                 Some of the spa buildings in Marienske Lazne
The following day(Easter Monday) we all headed back in Marian's car to Bilina, stopping on the way at a village called Kravlovski Porici (I think). We visited an interesting series of buildings called Statek Bernard which had started as a farm but expanded to a craft centre and little zoo with goats and sheep. Although a holiday most things were closed but on the staircase going to the restaurant was a fine display of hand meat mincers.

Meat and toast grinders

                                  Statek Bernard
The Czechs have a few Easter traditions. Decorated eggs are on display in windows and in gardens. Boys carry a willow wand decorated with ribbons. They lightly whip girls and are rewarded with a chocolate, or a drink if you are older. I saw very few boys out today, shame, it looks fun.
Back to school on Tuesday but on Wednesday we took the day off and headed for Prague by train. Walking to the station in the morning gave me the opportunity to see the artworks in Bilina:

                                      Stone carvings in Bilina

                                              The Railway Station

                                               Station decoration, a reminder of the importance of the                                                                                            local coal industry

                                                             Easter decorations
 We had planned to visit the Strakhov Monastery in Prague. So had the president of China and so it was closed to us mere mortals. It had a heavy police presence, as had the rest of the city because there was a number of protesters out, mainly demanding freedom for Tibet. I suppose if you have struggled for your own freedom you are only too pleased to help others.

                     A few of the protesters outside the monastery
Instead we walked a few hundred yards downhill and visited the Prague Loreta, another church building. The galleries exhibited paintings with a mainly religious theme. There were also a number of richly decorated processional orestories, bishops hats and crowns for statues of Mary, plus a wax impression of the right foot of St.Anne

                                                inside the Loreta

                                                  Prague Castle, mostly closed

                                        You can not visit Prague without crossing the Charle's Bridge

                           and then turning to admire the classic Prague view

                                      Wenceslas Square
          We wandered slowly round the old town, had lunch, shopped in Wenceslas Square which has one of the best book shops in the world, The Palace of Books. Mainly in Czech naturally but large sections in English, German, French, Italian and Russian.
After spending Thursday morning in school talking to some wonderful children we were taken by Helena's brother Merrek and his wife Hanka on the highlight of the week, the great Beer and Hop museum in Zatec. Unfortunately it was closed! But I got to see a large barrel and a small hop field before a pleasant walk through the grounds of Krasny Dvur(The castle was closed)

                           Useful on the next gadgie week away

                                        World's smallest hop field

                                 So that's where he went

                       Krasny Dvur  (Beautiful Fort)
Back in Bilina that evening we finished off the trip with a game of ten pin bowling in Bezovka. Last year I won, this year I was abysmal. Still it was fun.

                         Merka the head teacher strikes out

                                     Pavel prepares an off spinner
And next day I came home after another exciting, interesting time in the Czech Republic. Such lovely people.
Before I left for the republic I read a Brief History of the Czech People by Petr Cornej and Jiri Pokorny. Exactly what it  said, a brief but factual account of the life and times of the Czechs. It made me realise how lucky we are to live on our island. Nobody has invaded us successfully for a thousand years and apart from a little occasional trouble with the Scots Welsh and Irish we get on with our neighbours. No land borders (OK Routemaster spotters, there is the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic) Central European countries have for centuries been carved up, ruled by different powers, lost bits of territory, gained little bits and have had whole populations uprooted. lets hope it's all sorted now.