Vacation Day 3

August 2, 2010
I have felt all day like this is Tuesday, but it’s not; it’s Monday. :- )
We looked through a book in our cottage about the Yorkshire villages, and decided to go visit some of them. So after a lovely breakfast of cold cereal we headed out. First stop, Reeth; just half a mile from our cottage, it is a cute little place with a parking area, TIC, and several shops. We went to the bakery first, having heard that the bread is good. But we were disappointed to find they didn’t have any of the lovely pastries we were hoping for, so we walked on. We met Keith from Reeth, an elderly man who invited the children out to the Wesleyan chapel for a sing and “nosh” on Wednesday afternoon, if it wouldn’t spoil our plans for the day.
The children played tag on the village green; we checked out the post office shop and then went over to a gift shop that only sells local products. We bought a hand knitted doll that turns inside out to change dress color, for Ella for her birthday. Bob and I sampled chocolate lip balm and non-alcoholic ginger wine (it was good but strong).

Then back to the bus where we had peanut butter crackers and hoped for more food at the next village. Muker was the next stop; they also had a parking lot. It was supposed to be pay and display, but the machine wasn’t working. We walked across the one lane bridge with no sidewalk up to the shops. There were 2 or 3 gift shops (we bought a little something for the gifts) and a teeny grocery/ice cream shop where we got a bunch of bananas and some cookies.

After that we drove on to Keld, which has a public footpath down to a waterfall on the River Swale. It was a bit of a hike, but well worth it. The waterfall was small but very pretty, and we were able to walk over and around it. Elijah went on my back in a baby wrap, and fell asleep on the way back.

From Keld we turned north on an unnamed road which loops around back to Reeth. It was a lonely road; we met maybe 3 other cars the whole way, and a good thing, too, as it was very narrow and had very few wide spots to pull over. The very first stretch had a sign indicating the grade was 1:4. One wide spot on the road, right at the crest of the mountain, was the site of an Inn – the highest inn in the UK, according to the sign out front. We stopped just beyond the inn and took some pictures of the scenery.

We made it home in one piece and decided to walk up to the Bridge Inn for dinner. The food was good, but most of us were still hungry afterwards. Thankfully the rain shower that started just after we arrived cleared up just as we finished our food, and we walked back home. Then we got back in the bus, and drove to Richmond again for more snacks and desserts at the Coop. We aren’t too thrilled with this store (the toilets close for the day at 5pm, though the store is open until 10), but it’s the only real grocery around, and with no internet I can’t order a Tesco delivery. Oh, well, it’s not that bad.

BTW, I forgot to mention that yesterday I noticed we’d lost the oil cap, so we are getting some “blow-by”, but not enough to cause trouble. It’s just a little stinky.
Anyway, it’s 10pm now so I am getting tired. Tomorrow is another day.