This view of the Vale of York is from the Cleveland Way on Baysdale Moor. On the far side of the vale the high ground of the Yorkshire Dales can just be seen.

The purple flowers in the foreground are Heather which are just starting to bloom in late July.

We visited the North Yorkshire Moors in late July 2007 staying at Baysdale Abbey near Kildale.

Lealholm is a small attractive village in the valley of the River Esk and the bridge over the river can be seen in this view together with a small piece of the village green on which I am standing. The building immediately on the other side of the bridge is the Board Inn built in the early part of the 18th century.

Lealholm is roughly mid-way between Kildale to the west and Whitby to the east.

The Yorkshire coast is both very picturesque and dramatic with it's high cliffs and, often, rocky foreshore together with a number of small fishing villages, of which Staithes is but one, always to be found in a gap in the cliffs.

Geologically this coast is very much like the dorset coast and with the same sequence of Jurassic rocks. Thes rocks are frequently very fossiliferous and this area is a good place to look for fossils. If you just like stunning scenery then you can't go far wrong here.

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway runs from Pickering to Grosmont, 18 miles, and sometimes on to Whitby on the coast. Trains are usually steam hauled but occasionally diesel is used. Intermediate stations are Levisham, Newton Dale Halt and Goathland.

This picture of 'Sir Nigel Gresley' and train was taken at Grosmont. There are two car parks there both of which charge and, as far as I know, have only a daily rate.