gorse, gorse and more gorse and then some bramble too

A surprisingly hot day on the Cleveland Way, surprising as it had been cool and misty to start with.

The path had been reduced to well under a metre in places by huge amounts of gorse, amongst which was bramble, the nightmare scenario. Possibly only bramble and ivy in twisted blackthorn is harder to cut back. We hacked and hacked and chucked and chucked (over the edge into the undergrowth in the cliffs below), I once lost a new glove doing this so am extra careful now.

For once I welcomed the intrusive noise of the strimmer, it made the hot, backbreaking work a little easier. Several groups of walkers went by, all grateful for the clearing that we were doing. For a while as the picture below shows the path was totally blocked, we needed to cut a gap in the hedge to throw the cut stuff through.

Over lunch, on and around a bench with a wonderful view down the coast, well beyond Scarborough, we caught up with weddings, holidays and illnesses. I had brought a box of Mirabelle plums which were passed round and eventually finished.

By 2.30 even the fittest were exhausted and we did a final clear up and headed back to the van and then our cars. A final look back to admire our handiwork made it all worthwhile.

Free outdoor gym, a lovely view and some fun and laughs.