Have you ever had trouble finding Old Margery in the Dark? As Lyke Wake euphemisms go, 4 out of 10. Decided to exploit the unseasonal weather & crossed overnight on the 27th/28th of February. Suffered a head torch malfunction on the Railway so went via the Lion instead of cutting across South Flat Howe. There’s enough reflected light from Teeside to make walking along the railway without a torch possible even on a moonless night & you can always find the Lion because it’s always lit up at night. Suitably refreshed after indulging in a cup of tea at the Lion, I set off north along the tarmac to pick up my rucksack (containing a spare head torch) left earlier in the day at Old Margery. How dark & misty does it have to be to walk past Old Margery without noticing? Well that’s what happened & didn’t realise my mistake until I got to the dip in the road where the traffic cones are & so turned around & went back to retrieve my belongings. The rest was fairly straight forward but, as is usual, the mild BBC weather forecast for Ossie is definitely not the Wheeldale Moor forecast and there was a hard frost & significant mist from Rosedale head onwards.
Dirger Ian Evans