More Yorkshire Delights

The County of Yorkshire is only a few miles south of us, down the old Roman road , through Piercebridge, the site of a Roman Fort, and across the River Tees.
We sallied forth this morning because a) the weather was wonderful, b) we had a picnic to eat and c) we had a walk from the local paper to try out. A bloke called Mark Reid does a map and description every week in The Northern Echo and he was recommended by Ivy who we often walk with on the DCC guided walks. Well done Mark! It was a ripper. It was only 4 miles but it was beautiful and rich in history so here goes......
A long time ago before the Romans came this way and built the road on their way to Hadrian's Wall, the area was inhabited by some Iron Age tribes who have been grouped together and called The Brigantes. Celtic tribes who mined lead, traded with Romans and others and farmed the area. They had a large fort at Stanwick protected by deep ditches and earthworks. We walked that way today and on our way had to cross the graveyard at St John the Baptist at Stanwick.

Then we walked across the fields and round the meadows, avoiding the bullocks and admiring the wildlife and birdsong. This little Red Admiral was obviously on its last wings because it stayed still long enough for me to photograph it.

We followed the lines of iron age earthworks and ditches and admired the rumpled ground hiding the remains of an iron age settlement.

The earthworks were quite impressive in some parts. They would have been an impediment to any invader of the time.

The picnic was delicious, the weather stayed wonderful, we only got lost once, the cows left us alone and we returned home via Archer's Jersey Ice Cream parlour, which is attached to their farmhouse.

I had vanilla and DJ had black cherry and we brought a tub of Vanilla home. All the icecream comes from this little girlie's mother and aunties! Hasn't she got lovely earrings?

Still lovely weather outside so a bit of hedge trimming is underway.

Cheers Gillian