Weekly Blog - W/E 17th July 2021 - A Week in the Yorkshire Dales.

This week was the week of our summer holiday. I didn't mention it in my previous post, as I don't like to advertise the fact that our house is going to be empty, but I'd spent the previous week getting ready to go away, hence all the washing and ironing (and packing).

OH and I headed off with the dog on Sunday afternoon. LB wasn't coming with us this holiday, as she was going away with her friends to Suffolk the following day, after working on the night of the Euro football final. (Luckily, she was able to leave work early before the match actually finished, which was a relief all round, as it would have been a very late finish for her).

We drove up to Yorkshire and made good progress, getting to Reeth in Swaledale by about 6pm. We stopped at a pub there for a drink, before travelling on to the cottage we'd rented a few miles away in Arkengarthdale, in time to watch the football final at 8pm. When we got there, we didn't realise, but the cottage didn't have a TV. Luckily, it did have good WiFi and as I'd brought my laptop we were able to stream the match on that thankfully.

Sadly, England lost, and the behaviour of some fans(?) was very disappointing, in charging into the stadium without tickets, and then the following day, when there was the disgusting online abuse of some of the players. Sometimes, it feels very shameful to be English and this was one of those times.

Anyway, after a great night's sleep, on Monday we settled into the cottage, unpacked properly and got our bearings.  Above is the view from the front door. Unfortunately, our first full day was a very rainy one, so we spent most of it in Richmond picking up some groceries. We had lunch in a cafe and I did a bit of thrifting in a few of the charity shops which was enjoyable.

Later, after spending a lazy few hours back at the cottage, we walked to a nearby pub with the dog and had drinks, before spending a quiet evening in. It was so quiet where we were staying, just sheep and rabbits, beautiful views of the hillsides and very few people indeed. Not completely isolated, as the cottage was nestled alongside a few other cottages, but it was a real antidote to London life. I felt myself properly relaxing very quickly.

On Tuesday, we had arranged to go and visit OH's sister for lunch near Skipton in West Yorkshire. It was a fairly long drive from where we were staying, but it was good to catch up, as we hadn't seen her or her husband for months. The weather was much better too which made all the difference as we could sit out in their garden, which was beautiful.

On the way home we stopped off in Skipton itself for a look around and a bit more thrifting for me. Later in the journey home we stopped at a mobile Fish & Chip van in one of the villages, just for chips, and we sat and ate them on the village green in the sunshine. Sometimes, small spontaneous things really are the most enjoyable.

Wednesday, we decided to take a walk in the afternoon. We picked a short circular walk from the village of Langthwaite, in Arkengarthdale. It was a steep climb at first up small roads, but eventually flattened out into less steep fields and moors and returned us to the village down a gill and along the side of a river. It wasn't a long walk, but was very enjoyable with beautiful scenery. Everywhere in the Yorkshire Dales there is beautiful scenery, it was so restful to the eye and we felt so far removed from everything going on in the world, that we could have been abroad. We hardly saw anyone else on our walk, which surprised us as we thought the Yorkshire Dales would have been mobbed with people.

On Wednesday night we went to a local pub for supper, but to be honest, we didn't enjoy sitting beside other people, despite social distancing, so we didn't repeat the experience for the rest of the week.

Thursday, OH decided to go on a long bike ride, so I got up and took the dog down to Reeth in the car.  From there we did a circular walk along the river Swale and across some stepping stones below Healaugh.

I had to pick up the dog and carry her across and then we returned to Reeth along the opposite side of the river. We walked a bit too far for the dog, so she was a bit tired on the way back and I ended up carrying her for a while, poor baby.  

We stopped off for tea and cake at a lovely cafe in Fremington, which was also a Cycle centre where you can hire bikes to explore the area, before walking the short distance back to Reeth. I attempted to explore the lovely little Community Orchard at Reeth, but the dog was just too tired by then.  I did buy a few plants from the garden though, some hostas, which I'll enjoy planting in the garden at home.

In the afternoon, I sat out in the cottage garden for a while reading until OH got back. He was shattered after his ride and the dog was still not too good, I don't think she was well, as she hadn't eaten all day, so we decided not to do another walk and drove out to Barnard Castle, 10 miles away in Teeside instead. We needed a few bits of food to last for the rest of our stay and of course, I had to check out the thrift shops there as well. Got to be done. I didn't buy much though. By Thursday night, we were missing the TV a little, so we streamed a documentary about Ernest Hemmingway on iPlayer and watched a couple of episodes which was interesting. Not having a TV for the week was actually quite nice though.

The weather was really hot on Thursday and both OH and I caught the sun quite badly, so on Friday, we covered up and headed into Reeth for the weekly market on the village green. There were only a few stalls, but they were an interesting selection selling fish, local cheeses and pastries, fruit and veg, locally crafted products and plants. I ended up buying four plants for the garden. They were so reasonably priced that I couldn't resist. All white flowering shrubs; a verbena, a salvia, a delphinium and an achillea. I could have bought more, but we had limited room in the car.

On Friday afternoon, we drove up to Tan Hill, to the highest pub in Great Britain and walked for an hour on the Pennine Way before stopping off at the pub for a drink. Later, we chilled out back at the cottage, reading and relaxing and enjoying our final afternoon in the Yorkshire Dales. We had such a lovely relaxing holiday.  We hadn't been to the Dales for about 7 years and were reminded how much we loved it.

We left the cottage on Saturday morning. It had been a lovely place to stay. Very comfortable and well equipped and very reasonably priced too. The bed was so comfortable that I slept very well during my stay.

On our way home we stopped off to see OH's other sister in Malton and then stopped off to see his parents near Hull, before reluctantly heading back to London.