We were due to walk part of the coastal section of the Cleveland Way this week. We looked forward to taking over from where we’d left off last year, and to having a windswept, scenic and invigorating walk along the cliffs edging the North Sea. Covid-19 put a stop to that. So – you can either read here about last year’s walk, or – as we did – admire these herring gulls on their lofty look-out posts in Staithes. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll be able to read about the postponed walk later this year.
… atop a hedge. Another of the scarecrow posse in North Stainley celebrating the work of everyone working to keep us safe and healthy.
Here’s a supermarket delivery driver. Give him a clap!
This tree was so keen to be included in Top Squares that it’s gone to the trouble of growing itself a topknot. I think it deserves its fifteen minutes of fame.
‘Look for converging lines’, instructs Jude. They’re there to add depth and distance, so she wants to see what we can find as illustrations. So I went to Cádiz, I went to Brussels, I went to Yorkshire – of course. And finally I went to London.
About once a month, I re-blog a post from our years in France. Hunting for a Top Theme for Becky, I came upon this one.
April 19th, 2010
Whenever we think we’re beginning to know the areas near home quite well, something comes along to surprise us.
Take Couiza, for instance, a town in the Aude that has been the centre point for quite a few of our walks. It can offer, within easy reach of the town, a typical Audois landscape which is almost Tuscan, with rolling hills, vineyards and cypresses. Or craggy, scrubby garrigue, almost Spanish looking. Or there’s le Domaine de l’Eau Salée, where the streams are pink with salt washed from the earth, and have been exploited by man for centuries.
Yesterday, however, we went with le Rando del’Aubo to Terre Rouge, an area near Couiza which astonished us with the rich red colour of the earth which dominated the landscape.
It supports a rich variety of plant life which is just springing into flower: Tiny daffodils, less than 3 inches high, bright yellow potentilla, grape hyacinths. Bluish grasses bind the dry and sometimes sandy earth, and the air is rich with the strong scent of various wild thymes and lavender.
This red earth is all-encompassing. And then suddenly, it stops. And we’re back again among more pallid yellowish soils, enjoying views of the distant Pyrenees, and the mountain which dominates this part of the world, Bugarach.
The walk was on the hottest day of the year so far, with clear, vivid blue sky. We shed jumpers, long trousers, and our pasty winter skin turned the colour of that red earth. There was a wide shallow stream at the village where our walk began and ended, and a few of us enjoyed a paddle. I greatly contributed to the end-of-day bonhomie by toppling in…….
If you’re a Brontë fan, particularly of you’re a Wuthering Heights fan, you’ll know all about bleak, cold and windy Top Withens, where Catherine Earnshaw, love interest of tortured anti-hero Heathcliff is said to have lived.
The last time I was there it was a sunny and cheerful day, perfect for striding out on the moors.
But even on a day like that, Top Withens still looks starkly austere. Enclosing it in a square makes it less so, so I include the original photo too.
A few days ago, I showed you our top food tip for this time of year – wild garlic. The local sheep disagree. For them, nothing beats a mangelwurzel, and this sheep here is jealously guarding her pile of them. This time, I have no recipes to share, top or otherwise. Sorry.
The other day we got this postcard in the post. It’s from a friend, deciding against constant Social Media communication in favour of something a little more personal. It’s a lovely idea which I plan on copying. There’s just one problem. We can’t read the signature, and we don’t recognise the handwriting – who does any more in these days of emails?
Who is our Mystery Friend?*
* Clue. We don’t think it’s Jonah. Or the whale.
Scarecrows are appearing all over our village. Not to scare any crows, but to say ‘Thank you’. Thank you to all NHS and care workers, to shopkeepers and assistants, to delivery drivers … to everyone in the front line, helping us, and helping patients. Here’s one, chosen because it’s atop the fence, making sure that all of us who pass by take notice, and are grateful.
Could the Top Conker in next autumn’s playground conker fights be growing, deep within these tightly furled buds? Maybe. We shall never know.
From Pyrenees to Pennines 
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