Last evening ended with an owl singing us a lullaby and this morning dawn chorus at 5.30
We set off and met Rod & Viv at Rievaulx Abbey, a Cistercian Abbey from the 1120’s, partially destroyed as were so many during Henry’s reign just a few hundred years later. You can certainly understand why they chose the site in a lovely little valley with a timeless little village
From there we set off to Helmsley, initially alongside a lovely river (very shy trout) then up and over the hills to Helmsley. I found it delightful albeit fairly touristy, and we had very generously filled ham, and beef sandwiches and Rod and I had a delicious half of Helmsley beer each
The return journey saw us complete the 10 mile round trip and many vertical feet too! We collectively named (sometimes accurately) many fauna and flora along the way
Although sunny warm all day we finished the day with a bottle of Helmsley “Striding the Riding” (recommended) and a pork pie and retreated from the evening chill into the van for the night.
