Yorkshire & Lake District

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After an exhausting weekend in the Cotswolds we drove north to Skipton in Yorkshire the main purpose being to visit Adrian (Desnée’s nephew) and his partner Debbie.

It was the Spring Bank holiday weekend coming up and so it was quite difficult to find availability at the camp sites.  We wanted to be near Skipton and chose Tarn House site.  We had some misgivings about this site as they had demanded payment up front and no refunds to be given.  When we arrived the rain was blowing horizontally and we were placed on to a very small, uneven, hard standing pitch in front of a disused building. The entire site was swamped with statics which were not very nicely arranged and there appeared to be only a very few touring pitches, many of which had dowdy, seasonal caravans occupying them.  If we had a choice we would have moved on but we had no choice so we stayed put.  As it turned out it was not too bad but it is not a site we would ever recommend to anyone.  Next time we will go for the Seat House Caravan Club CL site near Gargrave, which looks really lovely.

 

En route to Skipton, George made the mistake of pointing out to Desnée the Boundary Mill Factory Outlet shopping mall in Colne.  Our first morning was spent by George sitting in the Factory Outlet café reading his book and Desnée busy ‘shopping’. Hey, it was raining!

 

Next day was sunny and we were off to Malham Cove. We had both been there individually many, many years ago and it was interesting to see how much it had been modified for tourism since we were last there. Steps up to the top now rather than a steep slippery path and all the footpaths nicely hogged—right posh!

We climbed to the top of the cove and then walked across to Janets Foss (lower left) on our way back to Malham village.

 

We also enjoyed a walk around the back of Skipton Castle and through Skipton Woods. (No photos as it was a wet day)

 

We met up with Adrian and Debbie (Debs) at their lovely home in Gargrave and enjoyed a stroll along the Leeds and Liverpool canal.

The canal was really busy with holiday narrow boats which were negotiating the flight of locks which lift them over the Pennines. We walked from Gargrave to East Marton and stopped at the Cross Keys for a pint of Copper Dragon, local ale.  Very fine ale indeed!

One of the lovely Yorkshire cottages

The following day was May bank holiday and we took a ride out to Wensleydale and a short stop at Hawes for tea.   The roads were busy with gypsy, horse drawn caravans and carts making their way to Appleby for the annual Horse Fair.  Whilst it was romantic to see them all it was also distressing to see how they camped upon and took over village greens and open spaces.  It must be a nightmare time for the rural villages along their route.

 

After Hawes we drove to Aysgarth Falls.  Here the River Ure tumbles over a series of three falls and each of them are very pretty, particularly in the late afternoon sunshine.

The falls in Hawes village

Aysgarth Falls

 

Top left—Upper Falls

Above—Middle Falls

Left—Lower Falls

On our way home we came across the Morris dancers at Kettlewell in Wharfedale.

 

Well, we just had to stop and try another pint of Copper Dragon!

Time to say ‘Goodbye’ to Yorkshire until out next visit and turn Priscilla north westwards and to Cumbria.  The road across to the M6 was still busy with gypsy carts making their way to Appleby.

 

We were heading for Glenridding at the southern end of Ullswater where we were meeting up with our friends, Keith and Fran, at Gillside camping.