Leaving London and headed for the North Pole and Vancouver.

 

Milking, the old way!!!

 

Katy, the barber!!!

 

Fraenzi's brothers, Lucas (25) left and Marcus (18) right.

 

Fraenzi's Mum, Katy.

 

Fraenzi's Dad, Ernst.

 

Fraenzi.

 

Hightide at Nanoose Bay.

 

Nanoose Bay, camping at the Bible Camp.

 

Beautiful Switzerland.

 

25th. August 2006

I did some grocery shopping in the morning and then hiked the Rawdon Moor or the Billings as it is known locally during the afternoon. On the way back to Les's place I left the trail and hiked over the fields toward the airport and whiled away some time there watching the flights arrive and depart.

26th. August 2006 (Sabbath)

Relaxed most of the day and watched the rugby cup final match on the television.

27th. August 2006
28th. August 2006
29th. August 2006
30th. August 2006

Waiting for my flight to Vancouver tomorrow!!!

The moor with it's sheep grazing.

 

Heading down to the parking lot, the Cow is on the far right

 

The view across the valley from the moor.

 

Ilkley Moor, where hasta bin sin I saw thee, on Ilkley Moor bahttat? (without your hat?)!!!

23rd. August 2006

After yesterdays long drive into the Dales I decided to take the day off and do a little shopping in stead. Only 8 more days and I will be flying out for Vancouver, the terrorism episode seems to have calmed down.

24th. August 2006

Today we went for a drive to Ilkley and it's famous song of the moors!!! After finding a parking spot in the town we started out for the moor. Bob was having some trouble with his leg so him and Les went back to the car and said that they would meet me later at the Cow and Calf (which is a big cliff overlooking a smaller rock) parking lot. I continued to hike up to the moor, until I found a muddy trail right up on the ridge above the valley. I started to hike along it to the Cow and Calf which was about 5 Km. away. The weather was good and I think that it was the best day that I had in England since I arrived back from Switzerland. It took me about 2 hours of hiking before I arrived up on the ridge overlooking the area of the Cow and Calf then I headed down and as I got closer I started to see people and new that I had found the right spot. The trail started to get wider as I got lower and there on my left were the two famous rocks on the famous moor above the famous town of Ilkley, and below that tthere was the parking lot with Les and Bob waiting for me as they munched on Hot Dogs!!!

A better shot of the left peak on which stands the Cross of Jesus.

My home under the overpass in Ripon.

 

The Castle Bolton.

Aysgarth Falls.

 

Lesley and Bob with the Cow and Calf in the background.

 

22nd. August 2006

Today we set out to see another old abbey, Bolton Abbey, but Bob missed the turn off and just kept on going up into the Dales again. Since there was no where to turn or park Bob drove on until we reached the village of Sedbergh in the North Dales close to the City of Richmond. We then travelled through some picturesque and very wild country. Soon we reached the village of Hawes but there was nowhere to park or even stop and had to keep on going, there were cars parked everywhere!!! I wanted to get some pictures of this wild countryside but that was impossible!!! Soon we reached Aysgarth Falls and found a private car park, so we mortgaged the car and stopped for a couple of hours!!! Here we visited the local Parish Church which was old and very interesting. Then I walked on to the falls and finally was able to take a photo. After eating lunch we continued on to Castle Bolton and from there took the road down Wharfdale to Grassington and on to Rawdon. The whole trip took 7 hours of driving with very little chance of seeing any thing. Going for a drive in England means just that, once you climb into your car you don't get out until you reach home again!!!

A prayer service inside the Cloister at Fountains Abbey.

 

Our campsite just below the Pass.

 

The Cross of Jesus is on the left peak, we camped below it.

 

The Cross of Jesus.

 

A Cross of Jesus at about 8000 ft.

 

Fountains Abbey

21st. August 2006

After arriving back in Rawdon, Les informed me that her and Bob had taken two weeks off work out of their vacation time, she said that instead of going away they were going to take day trips around the Yorkshire Dales and see some of the sites. Today they suggested that they were going to an old Abbey dating back to the 11th and 12th. century, it was named Fountains Abbey. We left at 0900 and headed North up into the Dales. The Abbey is situated on thousands of acres and is managed by the National Trust as many of these historical sites are these days, it is well managed and looked after. The Abbey is in such good shape that there was a prayer service going on in the cloisters. After spending a nice day there we had lunch and hit the traffic again heading back to Rawdon!!

The Cross of Jesus on Santis Mountain.

 

My Home away from Home.

 

Rhine Falls

 

18th. August 2006

I went up to the town to get some groceries to last me over the weekend. I had to buy water too as the river was totally poluted. We had thunder, heavy rain again today but everything under the bridge remained dry and warm. A young girl said hello through the tent wall and I said Hi in return, then as she was walking away with her Dad I heard her say "well, Dad, i'll tell tha sumat fur nowt, I wunt be fund sleeping in a tent tonight".

19th. August 2006 (Sabbath)

When I awoke there was a smattering of blue sky poking through the overcast sky, so the storm was receding a little. But I didnt trust it to clear up entirely and I did not want to get my sleeping bag wet so I thought that I would give it another day!!!

20th August 2006

Today things looked much better and so I thought that I might try tro make Pately Bridge in the dales. I packed up and headed out to the bus depot. Looking at the timetables I was amazed to find that there was only one bus a week, on Thursdays, to Pately Bridge. There was a bus for Harrogate, however, so I hopped aboard that one. At least this was in the right direction for Rawdon and Les's place. By the time that we arrived in Harrogate it was raining again so I hopped another bus for the Leeds/Bradford Airport. From there it was just a short hike down to les's place where I arrived about 1300 in the pouring rain!!!



20th. August 2006

16th. August 2006

Finally the day had come to be on my own again on the North Yorkshire Moors hiking hand in hand with my God and following Jesus. My brother, John, dropped me off in a village named Sleights and I began to hike through the Esk valley headed for Thirsk and the West. I headed for a village named Grosmont (pronounced "Growmont) then on to Egton Bridge and finally to Glaisdale, where I had heared that the old steam railway was in operation for the tourists. I thought that I might hitch a ride to Castleton before finding a campsite for the night. I enquired about the train at the station but was told that the train ran from Whitby to Glaisdale and so I was at the wrong end of the route!! However there was a diesel commuter train running in the direction that I wished to go. So I took it to another village named Battersby just beyond Castleton and started hiking again. It was late in the afternoon by the time that I arrived in Battersby and I started to look for somewhere to camp for the night. I headed South through Ingleby Greenhow and found my self in a rolling farming valley with green fields and trees scattered here and there. After about two hours of hiking I found and camped in a field beside a tall hedge on a country road.

17th. August 2002

I slept well!!! In the morning I found that it hadn't rained overnight but I could see that the weather was breaking and there was a very heavy dew which soaked every thing. It was 0600 so I ate breakfast, packed up and started hiking again headed for a village named Chop Gate where I arrived about noon, part of the hike was along the famous Cleveland Way in the Cleveland Hills it was beautiful with the hills above and the valley below as I hiked half way up the side of the Hills. It was a hard climb up a twisting lane untill I reached the road B1257 heading South towards the market town of Helmsley. Since there was more traffic on this road I tried, but failed, to hitch a ride and had to hike all the way to Chop Gate. I called into the pub in Chop Gate to ask them if there was a bus through to Helmsley from here and they answered in the affirmative. The one bus was due in about 30 minutes and so I waited across the road from the pub with hopes of catching it but it arrived late and passed me by!! Now I had to use the old thumb again if I wanted to make it to Helmsley by tonight. God was still with me. I stuck my thumb up and the first car stopped and took me all the way (about 30 Km.) to Helmsley. The weather was getting worse and it started to rain. In Helmsley I enquired in the rain for a bus to Thirsk and was told that there was one in a hour which gave me time to eat and catch it. I arrived in Thirsk with heavy rain and made a decision to move on to Ripon to camp as it was now late afternoon. In Ripon I let everyone alight before blocking the aisle with my two backpacks Etc. and getting off. A man was waiting for me to struggle off the bus when I alighted on the side walk. His name was Peter Sherwood and he had noticed the Canadian Flag on my backpack in the bus. He invited me into the local Public Library beside the bus depot to chat, he was starting a company named, goldenbackpackers.com which was an information web page for backpackers needing assistance with their travels. We chatted for a while and he obtained a local map of the town and showed me some area's that I might camp. After our chat I left him to find a camping spot in the area's that he had indicated as the rain had stopped for a little while but there was still a leaden sky overhead. After about a 10 minute hike I found an overpass crossing the river, it had a dry and dusty area underneath which was ideal for my tent and would keep me out of the incoming storm. After I had erected my tent the storm arrived and it thundered and rained with the wind blowing strongly under the overpass but I was toasty warm in my sleeping bag in the tent!!! As some of my friends reading this blog know that I am a born again Christian and I have been walking and talking to my God for nearly 3 months now, as we walked and talked together. The rain and wind lasted for 3 days and I remained warm and dry in my tent with the overpass shielding me. You draw your own conclusions!!!

13 August 2006

I awoke to the wind blowing and the horizontal rain pattering on the windows!! I walked all around Whitby (my old home town) and saw very little changes from the last time that I had been there in the early eighties. I left Whitby over 50 years ago to sail the high seas and I don't think that any thing had changed since my childhood days. However I took some photo's to renew my memories of the place. All the people that I knew years ago had either died or moved away.

14th August 2006

Thank goodness that it is the last day of the Whitby Regatta tomorrow should be quieter with less people around to block the sidewalks and parked cars every where!! Again it was mainly an exercise day for me and I saw more of my old stomping grounds which brought back memories of years ago.

15th. August 2006

Same as yesterday, I am getting boored!! In the evening I walked up to two old friends of mine from my school days, Chris and Olga Dosser. We spent a pleasant 3 or 4 hours talking about our mutual friends from the old days and took out an old class photo and pointed out those whom had passed away or dissapeared and got all the local slander on those whom were still around!!