Road trip

Today, the car variety.  We took Little Dog on tour up and down our local cycling dales.

I've photographed Middlesmoor a couple of times from my bike from the neighbouring hill and been recommended it as a stop-off by my friendly Yorkshire tour guide, Nick.  I've loved the little church which has been lit up both times in the sunlight.  Today it wasn't but it was wonderfully atmospheric up there all the same.  The 25% hill made me not inclined to add it to my list of cycling hills, particularly given it's a dead end!

We really enjoyed a short stroll around the little cobbled lanes and church yard.  The number of young deaths in the nineteenth century was pretty depressing but somehow, a compelling read. 

From here, we headed back down and back up over Trapping Hill where we found a short-eared owl quartering over the heather and a couple of comical starlings perched on the back of a sheep, safari style.  

We had to control our hanger attacks as I refused the busy Jervaulx Abbey Tea Rooms but made it to the delights of the Hamilton's Tea Room garden not so long afterwards.  The clouds showed some signs of lifting at this point and the journey back over Fleet Moss just got better - perfect for a tea and cake stop at Kilnsey, in fact! Little Dog enjoyed the car park perhaps most of all in the day - we're fairly certain it smelt of trout from the fishing lake - she wasn't in a rush to get back in the car, that's for sure.

It's now hoofing it down with thunder rumbling.  Rich has missed out on his evening bike ride but I managed to get the lawn mowed and spotted a Silver Y moth snoozing on one of our new flowers. We've been planting quite a few plants for bees and butterflies so he was a very exciting find in our postage stamp garden.

It's been a grand day.