Get Out, Get Active: Exploring the North Yorkshire Moors

The second semester has gone half now, and all the mid-term assignments were just handed in. It cannot be a better time to refresh. I had attended the hike at Malham Cove with Get Out, Get Active (GOGA) once in my first semester. It was an amazing experience and I couldn't wait to do another one.

The journey from Leeds to Great Ayton town where we began the hike, only took around one and half hour. It is a lovely town with a ravine stream in the middle and some nice bars and shops on the side of streets.

There were two routes to choose from, one was a shorter route which headed directly to the top of Roseberry Topping, the longer one took us up to the Captain Cook’s Monument first, then to the top. As I enjoy hiking and am a person willing to embrace a challenge, I decided to take the longer route on this hike.

The weather on the day wasn’t too bad, at least it was sunny even though the wind was a bit crazy. Yet, the ground was still quite muddy and wet since it had been raining for almost a week. The muddy ground increased the challenge on the hike as we need to be aware of each step to avoid bog down in mud and slipped.

We were a bit lost in the beginning of hike, since the guide accidentally went on a wrong path. However, due to this accidental detour, we had an extra walk and were  further exposed to the nature. The way to Captain Cook’s Monument was quite challenging, the steep climb, furious wind, narrow path with stinging bushes on either side and muddy ground all took us extra energy to walk. But for me, the more challenging it was the more I enjoyed in it. Besides, the scenery along the journey was literally so breathtaking that it cannot easily be expressed by words. The spacious fields with the crystal-clear sky released all the stress from me. After reaching the monument, we took a roughly 10 minutes break. The wind at the peak was too strong to take a proper photo. My hair totally covered my face due to the blow. However, the view from the peak was still amazing.

It took us about another hour to go over the hill and to reach the top of Roseberry Topping. The way to the top of Roseberry Topping was relatively relaxed compared to the previous route to the top of Captain Cook’s monument. The boundless and harmonious landscape made me want to build a house and a helicopter pad there - for later, when I'm retired. The moment we reached the top of Roseberry Topping, I felt each obstacle on the way turned into nothing. I was so touched and felt humble by the stunning landscape in front of me, especially when sitting on the edge of the cliff, experiencing the wind blowing over my face and having a bird’s eye view of the town and hills. Me and my flatmate had our homemade sandwiches and salmon rice balls for lunch on the cliff before we started heading back to the town after a 30 minutes’ break. There were a number of lovely sheep and dogs on our way back which made it a wonderful part of the hike.

It was such a marvelous hike. I couldn’t be more grateful to the nice weather and the lovely flatmate who went on the journey with me as well as all friends I met on the trip. This hike also brought me a clear understand on the saying of “the way toward success is usually paved with adversities.” However, as Charles Swindoll had said: “Patience is a bitter plant that produces sweet fruit.”