North York Moors by Bicycle?

The students arrive tomorrow, so Ruth and I figured we would take our Saturday on Friday.  We've not been able to find second hand bikes yet, so we located a shop that rents them in Malton, 20 miles up the rail line to Scarborough, and planned a trip north from there which included pubs, moors and standing stones.

It was an easy trip to Malton, and another in a string of lovely days weather-wise, but the bicycling was not to be.  A group got in before us and hired all but one mountain bike.  So we had a wander around the beautiful town and then settled on a walk down the Derwent river to Kirkham, where there's a ruin of a medieval abbey.

The path was mostly on the "Centenary Way," which weaves in and out of the Yorkshire Wolds.  We strayed from it to only avoid a herd of sharp-horned cows and arrived safely but quite tired at Kirkham Abbey, 6 miles down the Way, about two hours after starting out.  

The quiet was delicious.