Whitby to Malham

Today was a travel day. One of the guides left me to the bus stop nearest Larpool House, which would have been a long walk with a heavy suitcase. I waited for an hour for the bus to Scarborough. None came. I flagged down a taxi and spent the next 35 minutes listening to a young man talk about the mysteries of electricity. A sample: the sum of the dimensions of the pyramids is equal to the speed of light. What does that even mean? This started by talking about his electric car and from there we went to the properties of mercury, the power of magnets, the wasted potential of lightning, on and on. He said electric cars are a con b/c we don't need lithium batteries. Solid state batteries have been around for a long time and are just fine. What was I to do but agree with his every word?

The interesting thing is I'm reading a book by Anthony Doerr in which the universal action of electrons and magnets features. There is so much I don't understand about the universe.

Another expensive taxi ride meant I caught the train to York, changed for a train to Leeds, which slowed a few times. Missed the train to Whitby, caught the next one 30 minutes later, so was 30 minutes early for my taxi transfer to Newfield Hall in Malham, home for the next four nights.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Maybe wasted on traveling. On the upside, I have gotten too much sun during the past two days of hiking, despite cloudy days, so I wouldn't have wanted to be out in full sun all day. Newfield Hall in Malham is magnificent. The entrance is on the side of the building.

The long side of the building faces this view:

My room:

There are about 40 guests, I'd say half at least are Dutch. Touring companies in the Netherlands sell HF Holidays and they are very popular with the Dutch, who are strong hikers, despite living in a flat country.

Here is the central hall:

And the window on the stairs:

During the walk talk, we were warned (accurately) of bad weather tomorrow. So I opted for the intermediate walk, 9 miles. The longer walk, 12 miles, would go high on ridges that I didn't fancy in high wind and driving rain.

8 July