Crossing the Bridge
A full minibus set off to Masham for today's trip led by Eric and Brian. It was nice to see Robert back with us today. The sun had been shining in Bradford, but the further north we travelled, the cloudier and foggier it got. By the time we arrived at Masham to meet up with three other participants, it was raining lightly.When we got off the bus, we were somewhat taken aback at how cold it was too. Maybe we'd been spoilt by the recent lovely sunshine! We started by spending a little time exploring the church and churchyard before following the Masham leaves walk, a 3 mile route through fields, woods and along river banks. En route, we saw several leaf sculptures that have been formed from paving slabs of locally quarried limestone reclaimed from the former railway station platform. Light rain continued for much of the morning. We sat and had lunch on some felled trees, before continuing onwards. Eric had forewarned us about the "bottomless bridge", but we weren't quite sure what he meant. We soon saw it for ourselves and it was interesting to see how differently people negotiated it. Initially, people were crossing it by straddling the bridge whilst holding on to the hand rails. Those following on behind found a more elegant way, by shuffling along the outside of the bridge whilst hanging on to the rail! (see gallery). Forty flowering plants/ferns were noted including yellow star of bethlehem, hairy woodrush and moschatel. Thirty nine birds were recorded, including curlew, oystercatcher, dipper, black cap and song thrush. An unusual cauliflower like growth was seen on a tree - we thought it was a kind of fungus, but I googled it and have identified it as a slime mould, Enteridium lycoperdon. After the walk, most of the group headed for a local tea shop, glad to get warm and have refreshments.The rain had now stopped and the sun was trying its best to poke through, but it remained rather cold.We piled back into the mini-bus and headed for the Constable Burton Hall Gardens, where we enjoyed a stroll around the garden trail. Numerous lovely plants were seen, but most abundant and spectacular was the wonderful display of daffodils of various kinds.Despite the cold and damp conditions, it had been another lovely day out.
Sue