Stokesley and Surrounds

The home of Kat Copeland's parents. The whole town is very proud.

Scarey Sis took us for a trip aboard the Moors Bus, which sounds like something out of Harry Potter, but isn't. We were the only people who had to pay - everyone else had a seniors' pass. In fact it was so long since they'd had a paying customer that they didn't know what to charge us. It was a little odd, like something out of Pinocchio or Animal Farm where the unsuspecting characters are driven away to certain doom. We didn't get to certain doom, but we did get to Osmotherley.

We walked/jogged back along the Cleveland Way, having a lovely day out chatting to ramblers and horse-riders whom we encountered. Scarey Sis sounded off about her work and we admired the beautiful countryside; open fields, small woodlands, dry-stone walls, grazing sheep, rolling hills and moors bedecked with heather.

Osmotherley

Roseberry Topping

The Cleveland Way

Scarey Sis

Scarey matches the heather

Him Outdoors' folks came over to visit from Burnley and it was lovely to see them. We had cups of tea and conversation, then giant Yorkshire puddings down the pub.

Malcolm and Barbara Blackhurst

Timmy had got tickets for the match between Burnley and Middlesbrough so he donned his flat cap and we headed to the ground, picking up Buddha in the Bow on the way. Burnley actually played decent football for about half an hour, and then seemed to panic and return to hoof and hope.

Scarey Sis, in Pollyanna fashion, said it was good that we got to see five goals. That's true, I suppose, although both times that Burnley scored, Boro banged one in straight afterwards. It was a shame about the eventual result (although not to BitB, who is a Boro fan and had to sit in the Burnley end with us and try not to smile), but not a bad match all things considered.

Yorkshire Timmy and me

'Supporting' Burnley!

Scary Sis had planned another walk for some scenic photo opportunities but it chucked it down, so we went car-touring and tea-shopping instead.



A rather soggy Roseberry Topping

Although Kat Copeland's parents live in Stokesley and everyone thinks this would be a good spot for the gold postbox (every Olympic gold medal winner gets one in their village), her official town is considered to be Ingelby Barwick (a giant housing estate), so that's where the postbox stands on a non-descript road. We tracked it down (with the sat-nav on Scarey's i-phone) and I posted a letter to Him Outdoors in it.