Unless otherwise stated, report by Paul Coates and pictures by Keith Bilton.
Photos by Paul Holmes
Thursday 8th May 2008
West Ayton, Ayton Castle, Stonyflat Wood, Spikers Hill, Kimlin Slack, Craddlegrip Wood, West Ayton Moor, Wykeham Forest, Lang Gate, Wrench Green, Everley Arms, Selley Park, Mowthorpe Farm, Thorn Park Farm, Low Road, Raincliffe Woods, Osborne Lodge, Ruston Cliff Wood, River Derwent, Road, West Ayton. (12 miles)
Sunny & warm all day.
Nathan, Chris, Paul, Col, Paul Craggs, Paul Holmes, Stu, Ray, Bob.
Chris, Paul Holmes, Col.
A good run up to West Ayton had us walking by ten to nine. It would have been a bit earlier had we all managed to find the parking spot at the same time. Initially we all made towards Ayton Castle ruins, but the road turned out to be a dead end. So after reversing back out into the lane, 2 of the cars went one way with Col's car inexplicably heading off in the opposite direction.
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Where do we go now? |
Thattaway! |
A suitable parking place was quickly found and we were soon champing at the bit to get started, but still no sign of Col and his passengers Paul Craggs and Bob.
Eventually Col arrived after his tour of West Ayton's hot spots and we were soon on our way.
We had our morning grub stop at Kimlin Slack, an actual place rather than something you would go off sick with. There were complaints about the pickled onions which traditionally Paul Craggs is the keeper of. At the bottom of his plastic pickled onion container were around half a dozen sad looking onions rolling about. They looked more like anemic peas than pickled onions. His lame excuse for the lack of suitable onions were that he'd forgotton to re-fill his container. It was pointed out that he must surely have a reserve supply of onions in that place he has often been told to shove 'em. He plainly hasn't been carrying out our wishes!
On this lovely sunny day there was plenty of birdlife and an abundance of spring flowers to be seen including Early Purple Orchids, Celandine plus many others I could only guess at. I really should take more notice of Bob when he's enthusiastically pointing out these wild flowers.
We did see, and smell, plenty of Garlic. But by then Bob had given up trying to expand my knowledge of the flora and fauna of North Yorkshire.
Early Purple Orchid
The Everley Arms was it's usual welcoming watering hole. The ale was on top form and someone said and/or laughed that it was a shame that Keith 'can't get a swop' Bilton wasn't with us today to enjoy said ales. Still, we enjoyed it on his behalf.
Bob was feeling a bit off colour today as he was recovering from a virus picked up in sub tropical Sligo. He'd even gone off his beer as he only managed the one pint. Mind you he clearly hadn't lost all his faculties as he managed to come out of some devious monetary dealing with Chancellor Craggs a penny to the good! There are few people around who can lay claim to such a boast. Bob then stated that he'd left instructions with Pat that all his maps should be left to the FAC should he shuffle off this mortal coil anytime soon. We were more concerned as to where he kept the FAC money. It was also pointed out that as he was one of the car drivers on our forthcoming annual trip to Kettlewell & the Yorkshire Dales he should'nt be so selfish as to snuff it beforehand.
The steepest climb of the day was up through Raincliffe Woods. We decided to break for our afternoon grub stop not far off the top of this wooded climb. We had found some seating on some conveniently placed logs. All was going well until Paul dropped the official FAC spoon which fell between two of the logs. We tried to retrieve it using a couple of twigs, but to no avail.
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All for a spoon! |
The hallowed object |
We even attempted to lift the log, but it was much too heavy. As this spoon has become an FAC heirloom there was only one thing for it, the logs would have to be rolled out of the way! Between one end of the pile and the log covering the spoon were around a dozen medium sized logs. Amid grunts and groans and imminent danger of a rupture, each log, one after the other, was rolled a few feet down the hill. There was much weeping and wailing and dark mutterings as various members of our group, plus their rucksacks, flasks, sandwiches etc, were shifted from their chosen perches as each log was rolled aside. Eventually the spoon was liberated from it's mossy hiding place. It was suggested that in future if Paul is to handle the spoon then it must be fastened to Bob by a length of string. 
Colin removing a troublesome stone.
The track down through the woods eventually leads to the Forge Valley road and adjacent River Derwent. We did (rashly) consider wading the river but (wisely) decided against it. The nearest crossing point is in West Ayton so we headed for that. An excellent walk which we haven't done for many years, and the weather was perfect.
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