24 June: Cook memorial, Nunington, Helmsley; Fountains Abbey and Masham

Touring NW Yorkshire including Masham (so Frances may well be driving back to Ingleby).

24 June started with a bit of birding around the Manor. This added 2 species to the trip list and was all the birding that was done today.

After breakfast we headed off to visit the Captain Cook Memorial on top of the Moors. After a few misunderstandings of the map we scaled the initial part of the Cleveland Way (it was rather steep through a farm) and turned off on a track (also part of the Way) through a forest. I noticed some local was sitting at the intersection and once we had turned, he nicked off: was he watching us or am I just parnoid? This was pleasant walking. After a couple of kms we ascended once again to the memorial positioned on the edge of the moors.

The plaque really boosted Cook as a paragon of everything. Interestingly the only other country which got a mention was the Friendly Isles which is I think Fiji. A small quarry was nearby, indicating that the stone was not carried a great distance. Being on the edge of the Moor the view was pretty good. It was also rather exposed to the increasingly strong wind and gave one a closer look at the approaching cloud. We retreated.

We headed South towards Helmsley on a small and scenic road. This was far less busy than it had been on the Sunday. At some point we stopped to check out the Church of St Hilda, in honour of Frances' Mum. I think Durham had some some information about her (the Saint, not the Mum) but left off the 'a': I will check when we get back to internet contact.

On,on, and a descent to look at Rievaulx Abbey from the road. The village here was very pleasant with another old church and our first thatched house. Back up a steep hill (hoping we don't meet a tour bus coming down) and on to Helmsley. We sorted out the parking situation, where the warden, a jobsworth if ever I saw one, was engrossed in the racing pages of his newspaper. We spent quite a bit of time in the excellent church with great murals (inter alia listing all the vicars since 1129).

The Castle seemed to be a charged entry ruin, so we just peered over the wall and left. Getting back to the car, the jobsworth was no longer evident: I presume that he was either in the pub or, having made his selections, in the betting shop investing his day's take.

The reason we had come to this area was to visit Nunnington Hall, a National trust property. I rated it as OK, but rather run down. There were heaps of people there and I suspect we made a reduction in the average age! There was a nice display of photographs by a female singer who was performing there in the evening (and seemed to be a big deal, but I had never heard of her - and cannot now remember her name). The entry hall featured an array of endangered species mounted on the wall – I suppose that is why they are now endangered! The gardens were very interesting especially in the way the orchard was allowed to remain natural (apart from the fruit trees). They also featured some industria size compost bins, in a part of the garden accessible by backhoe.

There were other places to go so off to Ripon and Fountains Abbey. This included a descent of Sutton Bank (the Western edge of the Moors here) with all sorts of injunctions against taking caravans down it: it is always a good thing to ban caravans from anywhere but this road didn't seem unduly alarming.

Getting through Ripon was a challenge since it seemed to be the town that roadsigns forgot. (We did see a sign to the 'Dog Sanctuary at Catton.) However we got to Fountains Abbey (another National Trust site) eventually. It was a huge place and rather well set out. It was interesting that while the lawns were manicured, weeds were growing in the ruins which were the reason for the whole thing. Perhaps there is a NT rule that weeds make it look like a real ruin? A small church we found near the end of the walk – about 4 km if we hadn't wimped into the shuttle bus - was very elaborately decorated inside. A herd of deer were grazing nearby and provided many photo opportunities.

We then did a blat to Masham to visit breweries. Make that singular since Theakstons shut at 4:30. Ban Old Peculiar Ale! I certainly think it is peculiar for a beer outlet to close at that time. The Black Sheep Brewery was still open so I had a couple of halves of excellent beer (but not Riggwelter as we had too far to drive).

I might as well have had another few ales since the next village seems to have been where the sign-post ignorers practised their craft. We eventually found our way back to Stokesley where we had a meal and a couple more ales in the Spread Eagle . Quite a few people in the pub, many of them old ladies (ie females who looked about our age). They seemed to be in two classes: those who were drinking spirits and those who were drinking tea.

That is it for this day.