Who is Tom Scott Burns ?
Tom's memorial plaque at Tripsdale
8th August 2013
Retirement is great and so is walking. For the last year or so Clive and I have walked every week on the North Yorkshire Moors, whatever the weather; throughout last year's awful summer and dreadful winter and this year's sunshine and summer heat. The one constant of our weekly hike is that we choose a walk from one of two books, 'The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills' or 'The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills', by Tom Scott Burns. These are just two of several very informative books he wrote about the North Yorks area. Sadly Tom died in 2011 and Clive and I believe his excellently researched walks should live on and continue to be enjoyed. TSB lived near me and was born in the same year as myself, but even though I bought his book (signed by him on 18th November 1993) and even though I must have often followed in his footsteps, we never did meet.
Clive also has a copy and around the beginning of 2012 we decided to work our way through all the walks. Now, having completed each trail two or three times, we feel we have properly come to appreciate Tom Scott Burns through his marvellous descriptions of the hills and their flora and fauna.
Today, Thursday 8th August 2013, Clive and I walked through Tripsdale and saw for the first time the bronze memorial plaque to Tom Scott Burns, which is fixed to Low Cable Stones. It was a lovely sunny day and as we sat drinking our coffee beneath the plaque it occurred to me that I might start a blog which could be a place to upload my walking photos each week, perhaps with a few notes about the day's walk. Just a simple blog that Clive and I could refer to and which would be a convenient way of remembering our walks in the Cleveland Hills. Of course if anyone else should come across it and perhaps enjoy the photos of our lovely hills then they (you?) are most welcome.
What could be a more appropriate way to start the blog than with today's walk to find the memorial plaque to Tom Scott Burns?
