We point our trusty red Kia south towards our destination, the village of Grassington.
This picturesque village is also where a number of the scenes from the current BBC rendition of All Creatures Great & Small have been filmed. The Stripey Badger Bookshop shows up in the films as G.F. Endleby Groceries. After a walk about the streets and wandering into and out of a few shops in the intermittent light rain, we stepped into the Love Brownie Shop for a spot of tea and a bite of brownie.
These were exceedingly chocolatey, moist and delectable. We opted for a trio - double chocolate, fudge caramel and sherry chocolate. All delicious. We poured our milk and sugar into the cups, added the hot tea, and sat in contentment, watching the rain chase the other tourists off the streets and back to their vehicles. A welcome stop in a probably not so typical village. Almost Disneyland like in its charm.
Leaving Grassington, we headed back in a slightly northerly direction to a National Trust site known as Brimham Rocks, on the road to Ripon. This is an incredible collection of eye-catching rock formations sculpted by 320 million years of ice, wind and continental movement. There is a small ice cream truck parked near the parking lot, and a set of restrooms and a snack bar some 700 yards further up the hillside, but otherwise it is all walking paths and huge stone formations for children and the adventurous to climb over, upon and around. Needless to say, we walked some, made use of the restroom facilities (one of an old man’s most important rules-never pass a bathroom location) and watching the kids clamor around.
We walked back to the car park and back onto the byways towards home. Dinner this evening was cheese, crackers, a dirty martini and wine.
Tuesday was a stay at home kind of day. We started with a full English, sans baked beans, and then settled in for some laundry and some reading. Amazingly, the day just scurried by. We cooked a pair of cheeseburgers for dinner along with a small salad. Quiet and relaxing, almost like we were on vacation. There was some guilt however at doing nothing when we have invested all this time and money in being in the Yorkshire Dales, but, what the heck, we still have two weeks to go!
Wednesday we were up and out. We left the cottage around 10:30 and headed north. Our destination today was Hadrian’s Wall near Hexham in Northumberland.
Our first stop was Eggleston Abbey ruins just south of the town of Barnard’s Castle, along the River Tees. The Abbey, started in 1190, was constantly in financial difficulty, at one point almost being reduced in importance from an Abbey to a Priory. It survived, but barely, until the dissolutions of the Monasteries in 1536 by Henry VIII. The building and its holdings became the property of the Crown and were sold off, as were other monasteries, to support the rule of Henry VIII and provide funds for the various wars. The ruins today are but a mere shadow of the original structure, hinting at its grandeur.
Onward north towards Housesteads Fort, a National Trust property, and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is on Hadrian’s Wall and is the Roman Empire’s best-preserved outpost in Northern Europe. We parked and paid for our spot and then entered the visitor’s center, checking out what was on offer. We then began the 1/2 mile walk, uphill, towards the fort and the wall.
The fort is set high on a dramatic escarpment and is amazing in its layout. The Romans placed these forts along the wall as a barracks for its military for protection of this northernmost frontier of the Empire from the potential invaders from the north - the Scottish hordes! According to information in the museum, these forts followed a standard plan throughout the Empire, like standardized housing. They were sized to accommodate a certain number of troops and officers and included everything they needed, baths, housing, toilets, kitchens and all the necessities of life.
Hadrian’s Wall was started in 122 AD and was completed some 15 years later. It stretches from Newcastle-upon-Tyne westward across the entire British island. It is much higher on the Scottish side than on the English side, allowing for easy defense by the Roman troops. The current Scottish border is much further north, on the other side of Northumberland, but this is still an impressive accomplishment.
We were able to walk along the top of the wall for a small section. It is some six feet wide at this point and was an easy walk. A national walking path follows the wall across the country and is a favorite of long distance walkers. Our one mile round trip didn’t qualify, but was still enjoyable and, due to the hill we had to climb to get to the wall, plenty of exercise for the two of us. We then motored south heading home after a long day of travel. Our way up north and back was stymied at times by roadwork detours, another round of orange cone fever evidently a worldwide pandemic to plague tourists and travelers everywhere. We were back shortly after 5:30. Time for another cheese and cracker dinner.
Thursday morning we had another large breakfast and then headed into Leyburn to restock our provisions. We stopped for a fill up of petrol and also to the favorite local grocery store, Campbell’s of Leyburn. This is an amazing store, with a deli and butcher shop to rival the best, and upstairs a wine and liquor shop with more wine than we have ever seen. It puts Spirit World in Omaha to shame, and in a small Yorkshire village with an estimated population of 2,500 to boot! We dropped our groceries back at the cottage and then headed south towards the village of Hawes, where we had dinner reservations. We took a different track over the moors this time - one Deb says we are never traveling again!
By the time we reached the top of the fells, some 1560 feet above sea level, the road had deteriorated not two narrow asphalt or gravel tracks over the hills. Deb was delegated to get out and open two different gates for us to pass through. The steepness of the drop offs, and the lack of guardrails was unsettling to the passenger and a great challenge to the driver.
We finally descended into the Wensleydale area, along the river Ure. One of our goals was to find the small lake of Semerwater, which figures prominently in the first Harry Grimm novel. We found it, and managed to also find our way back to the main highway along some ever smaller one lane roads- England’s roads are phenomenal. You rarely see a stop sign or a set of stoplights. Almost every intersection is either just a “Give Way” (Yield) sign, or a roundabout.
Back into Hawes, we drove through to the neighboring village of Hardraw for our reservation at the Red Dragon Inn. Behind the Inn is a tea shop and a ticketed entrance to a walk up to see Hard Force. Force is the term used for waterfalls, and this is the highest single stream waterfall in England, at over 100 feet.
As it has been relatively dry here this summer, it is not the thundering torrent that we have heard is common in the spring, but still respectfully impressive. It was an easy walk up and back in the light rain. Our spirits were not dampened in the least. We strolled back to the pub, a bit early for our reservation but ready to eat. We enjoyed a pint of Theakston’s Best Bitter, a red wine with soda, and a taste of a fruit Cider. We both enjoyed a steak and ale pie, one with mashed potatoes, and one with chips. Both were accompanied by extremely fresh peas. The pie was one of the best we have tried and the mashed potatoes were scrumptious.
Satiated, we headed back up over Buttertubs Pass towards home. This is a better road than the one we took to get here but still steep and narrow. It didn’t help that it was still drizzling and the clouds descended over the fells, putting us into a fog of sorts in spots. Slow going but still enjoyable. We returned by about 7:15 and settled in for a little television and reading, another great day.
Friday we were up and out by 10:30. Our destination today being Bolton Abbey and eventually the town of Skipton. Bolton Abbey is a town on the river Wharfe in the Wharfedale area and takes its name from the nearby Bolton Priory. The priory was originally established in 1140 on land donated by Lady Mary de Romille of Skipton Castle. The priory sits directly on the river Wharfe, which runs though its front lawn. The Romille line died out and in 1340 Edward II gave the estate to Robert Clifton. In 1748, Baroness Clifton married William Cavendish, and thereafter the 33,000 acre estate has belonged to the Dukes of Devonshire. The 11th Duke of Devonshire turned the estate over to the Chatsworth Settlement Trust to manage and it is now open to the public. The grounds are magnificent and the ruins are stunning. There is a public right of way that crosses the River Wharfe at the foot of the lawn of the Priory. It is a set of stepping stones set in the water that the public is always allowed to cross towards the other side of the river. There is a sign noting that 14 of the stones are currently missing due to several large trees downed in a storm that rushed down river in a surge, wiping out the stones. Replacement stones are in process of being quarried but are not yet in place. That did not stop people from walking across the stones, at some points wading in the water to get to the next. There is also a more recent footbridge, which we more mature sightseers, used to get across.
We left Bolton Abbey, and drove back through Skipton, our destination to be the Keelham Farm Shop. Abigail had found this website which purported to sell all things local to Yorkshire. She was right, but they must have a great marketing department. This was basically a Whole Foods grocery store with everything geared towards Yorkshire produce. It was interesting and we did pick up a Victoria Cake to go with our Wensleydale Cheese and also finally some nice thick lamb chops. It is interesting that, with sheep everywhere, there is so little lamb on offer at the supermarkets. When we have found it, it has been fairly expensive. We paid these four thickly cut chops for only £11 so considered it a bargain. They should brown up nicely in the one oversized skillet on our cooktop Saturday night.
It being a chilly and damp day, we returned to Burnside set a fire in the wood stove in our lounge and settled in for our dirty Martini, Gin & Tonic, and our dinner of a fresh salad and some steak and ale pies we had purchased Thursday from the Two Dales Bakery in the Village of Reeth. An excellent meal, the best tasting pies yet and a warming fire to enjoy our cocktails and read our books long into the night. A great week in the Dales.
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