Last year was a quiet year for me, on both this blog and for getting out into the great outdoors. In 2016 I did more walking, running, kayaking and cycling than any other year. But in 2017 I managed to give myself a different kind of adventure. In April we decided, me feeling itchy for ‘something new’ to move 90 miles up the road from Nottinghamshire to Harrogate.
This meant swapping my home town (Eastwood) for my wife’s (Harrogate). Swapping a job I loved (as an Access Officer for British Canoeing) for a new challenge in the civil service (in a completely new field, not doing anything by halves!) And, most shocking of all swapping my beloved Peak District for the Yorkshire Dales!
So, 2018 is now my year for exploring my new surroundings a bit more, and I’m very excited about it!
I haven’t got out in a canoe/kayak yet. But it’s next on the list. I need to find some like-minded souls up here, just in case I end up paddling in rather than on the water!
I found my first trig point up here. I wasn’t even trying. Just driving home, in the dusk, when stuck in traffic I noticed it outside my driver’s window. It’s hardly glamorous, stuck in the central reservation of a city center dual carriage way (it doesn’t even appear to be at the top of the hill!). But a trigs a trig, and that’s that one bagged!
I’ve also bagged my first couple of hills – only small ones, but perfectly formed. Round Hill and Beamsley Beacon sit on the very edge of both the Yorkshire Dales National Park and Nidderdale AONB, giving great views across both. (I also found my second trig – sightly more glamorously located!)
There’s going to be plenty there to keep me occupied!
Pecsaetan 