Valentines Day started with a hearty breakfast of muesli, yogurt, prunes, melon and orange,

followed by scrambled egg, toast, bacon, tomatoes and pineapple, followed by more toast and jam.

We then headed off to the beautiful North York Moors National park for a hike.

We chose a 5 mile walk which took us down to Lake Gormire and through Garbutt,  an ancient woodland.  This was a challenging walk, in part due to the ice still on the paths at the start of the walk,

and then the slippery mud on the steep descent from the top of the escarpment down to the lake.  This photo does not show quite how steep this section of the walk was – it was a difficult descent but great for a lower body work out!

We had seen the lake from the top of the ridge and were curious about the stripes on it.

When we got down close, it was the ice, that had frozen in ripples across the lake.  Quite beautiful.

Having got down to the lake, we walked in a loop over the undulating countryside.  James managed to add a little detour so our 5 mile walk became at least 6 miles.

Baaaa.

We walked through a farm (I HATE, HATE, HATE walking through fields of cows or horses),

and began our ascent back to the top of the escarpment.

Love these gnarly trees.

Up at the top we rejoined the Cleveland Way which was still covered in snow.  I was very glad of my new down filled coat which is light for walking in and kept me very warm.

Someone deserved a load of snowballs.  Why? Just because he did  :-).

We were glad to see the lake again as it meant we were nearly back at the visitor centre.

Stunning scenery along this walk – shame the weather wasn’t brighter as we could see for miles.

That was a great walk.  Beautiful scenery, challenging terrain and great company.  We got back too late to eat in the cafe which had closed 😦 .  But it was time to collect Lara from her University 🙂 .  Here she is in her kitchen.

After a quick change in the hotel we went to Yarm for dinner.  All the restaurants were doing special Valentines Day dinners so we were lucky to be given a table in The Brasserie .

We sat amongst the red balloons and young romantics and I enjoyed a supper of Halloumi with honeyed figs and salad,

followed by steak, enormous chips and salad.

In our excitement I didn’t manage a photo of dessert which was a sharing plate of fruit dipped in chocolate, champagne sorbet, creme brûlée and sticky toffee pudding.  Yum.   We all deserved a decadent dinner after a long walk, especially since we had missed lunch which was stupid.

That may not have been everyones idea of a perfect Valentines Day but it was good for me.  I loved the walk and having supper with all my family was the perfect ending to a lovely day.  I hope you enjoyed some time with your loved ones.