My route followed the Cleveland Way. Dozens of crows followed me on my journey. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when I saw jockeys trotting along on their horses in a nearby field, since a closer inspection of my map informed me it was known as the 'Gallops'.

The Cleveland Way contours its way along the North Yorkshire moors. At one point my presence disturbed some birds in a field. This had a domino effect and within seconds hundreds were flying in the air in a spectacular murmuration. The ones I disturbed were Lapwings, but I'm not sure if there were others there too.

Boltby Frest

Boltby Forest is quite an expanse. Woodland routes look so easy, but where theirs forestry, nothing can be taken for granted. I proceeded down Windygill Ridge, that was certainly windy but didn't really resemble a gill or a ridge. My intention was to branch off on a footpath on a direct footpath to the village of Boltby, but that footpath never appeared. I may well have been day-dreaming but I certainly didn't see anything. The consequence of this is that I continued on the bridleway to Ruddings Lane. This actually turned out to be a picturesque stretch of single track road and the quaint village of Kirby Knowles soon appeared. As I sat eating my lunch on a bench I had a commanding view of Kirby Knowles and its castle on the far hill. As I was about to restart my journey four mountain bikers came up to me and had a chat. They were going the same route as me up a steep slope to Birk Bank. They attempted it one-by-one, and each one made the ascent look surprisingly easy. So easy that, on closer inspection I noticed that all bikes had battery power assistance. No such luck for me, and I was quite breathless as I followed after them.

Boltby Frest

The route dropped down from Birk Bank and some field and lane navigation brought me to the village of Boltby. Another quaint North Yorkshire village; is there one of another type? A lane at the other end of the village progresses from tarmac, farm track, to grassy bridleway. At Greendale Farm a women at the farm waved at me with a look of surprise that suggested she had never seen anyone else on the path I was taking before.  A few minutes later I realised why. A poorly defined track degenerated into overgrown ferns, bushes, brambles and nettles. A couple of times, I did come across a couple of footpath posts, but I think that was more by luck than by design.  Eventually I managed to hack my way to the stile into a field. Walking across the field, I met four women walking the other way and they looked at me as though I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards, which at some stage on my recent journey, I'm sure I had been. By the time I'd got to Southwoods Lodge I'd had enough. I had intended walking onwards to Gormire Lake, but decided to take the pathway up the hill back on to the Cleveland Way. If I walked this route again I'd probably by-pas out this difficult section by using the bridleway, that runs parallel further up the hill. I walked southwards along the Cleveland Way to the 'Best View In England'. Two men were stood on the viewing platform in awe at the scene before them. The weather was still a bit dreek. 'The Best View In England'? Well, I'm guessing there might be a few other places in England that might dispute that.