North York Moors

Sleights holiday 1

As my family and several close friends were away on holiday for much of August, I thought I might suffer FOMO! (Fear of Missing Out) So, not to be outdone, I booked myself a week at a small Christian retreat centre, the St Oswald's Community in Sleights, on the Yorkshire east coast, run by some friends of mine. (Some of you may remember I went there in July last year too.) Unbelievably, just like last year, my stay there coincided with a massive heatwave. It's not as if we get many spells of very high temperatures around here, although this year has been pretty exceptional. I don't really cope well with heat, so I was obliged to lounge around, reading and dozing, much of the time. Not that that is a real hardship though I would have liked to be able to do a few longer walks. By midday each day, I found it was too hot and airless for walking. 

Anyway, I get ahead of myself... I took the picture above on my way to the coast. Mindful of the enormous traffic jams I endured last year on the A64 road, this time I took a more northerly route around the top of the North York Moors. A minor detour took me to the NY Moors National Parks Centre at Danby, and through some beautiful heather moorland. I was rather surprised to see it already in full bloom. Heather does flower in August but the purple ling heather, which this is, usually peaks a week or two later, I think.