Yorkshire Day 4 - Still walking

 Thursday 9th October 

Cereal with grapefruit and yoghurt, flowed by Bacon, hash brown, grilled tomato, mushrooms and scrambled eggs, followed by toast and jam for breakfast. And then out ready for another walk, Not supposed to be as long as yesterday. Two ladies out of our eight walkers and three walk leaders decided on a quieter day, they also wanted to go looking for birds, especially dippers. Apparently all they found was a skinny dipper which wasn’t a pleasant experience, at first I wondered whether a skinny dipper was just another bird, but no it is not.  But the rest of us were ready to go, starting off the same way, we took a different path once we crossed the road.

And then on to a slightly bleaker looking scenery, not helped by the weather, as a chilly wind, I think the grey skies are not unusual though. Could see little patches of sunlight in the distance.

It certainly still has its beauty though, and the walls are always fantastic. 

One of the aims of the walk is to pass by the Grimwith Reservoir, which you can just see in the distance. 

It is quite interesting walking along as you tend to have conversations with one person for a while, and the you end up walking with someone else and you have a different conversation, All but three of us live in Yorkshire and are very proud of their scenery. One lady Lynne is from Lancashire the neighbouring county, and there is also Darren from Switzerland, everyone is really nice. One of the leaders has been down a few rabbit holes in his time but otherwise all good,

I was rather taken by this barn, it has been restored but is of Viking design, with a heather thatch on it’s steep roof. It is called a Cruck barn, which apparently is not pronounced like truck but more like crook!

From here we climbed upwards through a meadow that can sometimes be very boggy, I think we were lucky on the day as boots didn’t get too dirty. It was time for lunch then, so we stopped at a place called Nursery Knot, and sat precariously on some hard rocks to eat. Egg mashed with tomato and onion in a roll, a small sausage roll, and a flapjack, which is a bit like a muesli bar but homemade, with cranberries and nuts, these ones are extra yummy so obviously lots of butter and brown sugar included.

Whilst we were eating we could hear guns going off, and could see some structures in the distance where they feed the birds, they also use beaters to scare the birds into flight. as we walked on we frightened some grouse, the flew away fairly quickly so I didn’t get a good look. But further on our walk we came across the gentry in their green caps, huddled behind their vehicles drinking champers. They didn’t really acknowledge a group of walkers!

Coming around full circle we headed down towards Parceval Hall, which is in that patch of trees to the right in photo below.

She was posing for me so I had to take her photo, sheep are a lot tamer here, they just stare at you rather than walk or run away.

Down this road, across a field and up a long steep drive to the hall. After a shower and a rest I explored the garden around the hall. Firstly up behind the Hall through the rock garden and ponds 

This is part of the hall, my bedroom was on the first floor with a triangular bay window, which is just to right of centre in this photo, very impressive place to stay. I was lucky enough to have a shower ensuite, otherwise bathrooms are shared, but as we were not a large group, I do not believe there were any queues. My shower however had such a fine spray you could hardly see it, but it was a shower nevertheless! 

The hall dog legs back to the right and from there are more gardens and a small orchard and the view.

The late afternoon sun was hitting the fields in the background

The gardens are more manicured in the front.

I believe this may be the new wing of the Hall above. It is run by the Anglican Church and is a place of retreat, one of the walkers Jenny was chaplain there for a few days, and on the last day there was a gathering of reverends. The gardens are beautiful at the moment but would be glorious in summer, there are lots of seats dotted around for quiet contemplation.

Roast pork, potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli cheese, Yorkshire pudding and gravy for tea, followed by peach flan and ice cream. That was Thursday.