I had the opportunity to go for a walk and talk with Mark Richards and David Felton on the North York Moors. It was great to be out once again on the Rosedale Mineral Trail – one of the ‘Easy Access’ walks compiled by the North York Moors National Park.
We walked just a small section on the route that Andy and I took in 2015 when we walked and wheeled our stile free version on the Coast to Coast.
It was lovely to go back to a place that has so many happy memories that Andy and made together, including meeting Peter Duncan, ex- Blue Peter presenter in The Lion Inn, Blakey . For much of the night we sat and giggled at the conversation between Peter and the lady behind the bar, who kept telling him that he must be very, very old as she had watched Blue Peter as a young girl… and now she was old! “And,” she remarked, “You are so short. You look taller on TV and so much younger.” Poor Peter had only popped in for a quiet drink!
It was lovely to catch up with Mark, as we first knew of him when he replied to one of my tweets that I put out asking if anyone could draw us a map, in the style of Wainwright, of our route that we were planning to take across the country. Mark replied and agreed to produce us a pen and ink sketch map. That map now sits in the front pages of the book we wrote about our journey and the route we took. Mark also joined us on a section of the walk, together with David and Heather Pitt as we crossed over from the border of Cumbria and as we took our first steps into Yorkshire.
The Countrystride Podcast celebrates the landscapes, culture, heritage and people of Cumbria and the Lake District and so I was thrilled that David and Mark agreed to venture out of Cumbria and into North Yorkshire.
Once again Mark took pen to paper to sketch a drawing of Tip and me as we looked out onto the stunning landscape of Rosedale.
Please click the link to listen to the recording that we made.
