I had completed filming in
York
and
Scarborough
, so I could now concentrate on the main location during my stay in
Whitby
, the
North York Moors
. Despite driving through once or twice before I didn’t know the North York Moors at all, so it was a new and exciting place for me to visit properly for the first time. I was hoping to make three films in the North York Moors during my four night’s stay in the area, but it rained on the first day I was going to film, so my plans had to change. The obvious place for me to start in the North York Moors was
Heartbeat Country
, so I found a walk that began and ended in
Goathland
, the village used in the TV series.
On Tuesday 8th September I drove to Goathland, but this was the rainy day so although I hung around the village for a couple of hours or so the weather didn’t look set to change. I returned the following day, Wednesday 9th September and the weather was better, so I began shooting my first film of “The Solitary Rambler” in the North York Moors. I parked in Goathland car park on Beck Hole Road and filmed many shots all around the village before starting the walk I had planned to do. I followed the Rail Trail off Beck Hole Road as far as Honey Suckle Cottage where I took a path following the valley of West Beck.
Reaching
Mallyan Spout
I took several shots of the waterfall and then the path became rockier, muddier and more slippery. It was not an easy path and I was very glad when I eventually reached the end of it as I came on to a lane. Crossing the lane here the path became more open as I crossed fields and climbed up in to the more exposed landscape of the North York Moors. Following the track near Hollin House Farm I captured some fantastic shots of the views. Reaching the
Roman Road
on Wheeldale Moor I soon doubled back as I crossed the stepping stones Wheeldale Beck towards Hunt House. From here I followed a footpath across the moors parallel with Hunt House Road until I eventually found myself back in Goathland where I completed the day’s filming
.
As I had traditionally always composed a song to represent an area, e.g. Peak District, Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, I wanted a brand new song for the North York Moors. I actually came up with a tune in my head before I began filming “Good Land of Goathland”, and so, as I had done for the
preceding film
for Scarborough, I recorded myself on camera singing this tune so as not to forget it once I eventually returned home to record the soundtrack. I decided to call my new song “Purple Moors”, so I wrote some lyrics about the characteristics of the North York Moors to go along with the tune I had created. When I eventually recorded the song I used sections of it in various sequences in my video during editing as well as some instrumental arrangements of the song in other scenes
.