Yorkshire Dales: Day Five

Last week we were on holiday in the Yorkshire Dales. There was signal but it was minimal and patchy so when it come to blogging it was a bit impossible. I made notes so I could share of our adventures once we were back.

Day Five (Friday)
Following yesterday’s crazy long walk we decided we’d have a sort of chilled day.

Well sort of chilled. Chris decided a drive round the countryside would work.

We started in Hawes with a quick visit to the chemist as Our Sidekick needed some lip balm. It was really cool while I was in there. Another customer came in and she must have been a local or a regular because the lady behind the counter called her by name. Now to me that’s the cool thing about living in a village. Yes I go to the Post Office in Renhold or specific cafes in town and people know me but I can go in other places in town and people don’t know me.

From Hawes we took the B6255 and then the B6479 towards Horton-in-Ribblesdale.

Our Sidekick got really excited when he thought it was the one from Harry Potter. I couldn’t check them but when I did check it turns out it’s not the one from HP although it looks like it. (The one in Harry Potter is Glenfinnan Viaduct near Fort William).

We headed around the local area stopping off at interesting places like Malham Cove – we were going to get out the car and go to have a proper look but it was really busy and we could kind of see it from a distance from the road.

In Kettlewell, I spotted these and some other bits of yarnbombing and got a bit excited. They were all group in colours for example these two were mainly green and red. On a bench in the middle of the village they were all pink. I’m not sure if the yarn bombing was for something specific but the village do have a wool and ale festival in May. They also have the Scarecrow festival coming up in August – would have been interesting to see it but we were there too early. We stopped for a coffee at Zarina’s Tearoom. It was really lovely and the staff were super friendly – although it seemed to be a tourist spot I can imagine that in off season all the locals pile in there for a cuppa lol. Although it was tearoom it really felt like we were in her living room or kitchen rather than being in a shop. I believe we were served by Zarina who was lovely and welcoming. When we asked for a high chair, Zarina explained that they did have one but it was a fabric one that you tie on the chair. We said that was fine and she brought it to us promptly. Jaxon was wiggling around in it so in the end I took him out of the chair and let him explore a little. The service was so friendly even the other customers were lovely and welcoming. One gentleman was there with his daughter who was a similar age to our son, they stopped and said hello. When four older gentlemen arrived they were welcomed in like old friends. It was lovely! I had a scone and it was served warm with butter, cream and jam! Chris loved the range of gluten free choices and at one point asked if we could get one of each option. I guess if we’re in the area again we will definitely be stopping. Maybe I’ll have to see if Zarina would do us a take away portion of something too! I posted a review on the FB page when we got back to the campsite and genuinely couldn’t believe that out of all the reviews on there 1 person voted a 2 whereas everyone else had voted a 4 or 5. Oh well each to their own – you can’t keep everyone happy. 

All in all it was good fun to have a look around the local area, the country roads were making me feel queasy though so I think in future we might need more walk around stops rather than spending that long in the car (how strange is this – prior to having Jaxon I would have been fine!).

It was a lovely drive and it was really good weather too – it wasn’t too hot or too cold and it was dry so if we wanted to stop and look at the scenery and things like that then we could. The wind was getting up but we figured it was because there were no buildings to shelter us. Also because we were in the car Jaxon could then nap when he wanted rather than fighting it.

When we got back to the campsite, Jaxon’s end of our tent had collapsed due to the wind. Chris worked on putting it back up and securing the guide ropes some more. We had dinner and Jaxon went to bed as normal. Between being tired and just cold we headed to bed around 9:30. I really couldn’t sleep and so laid there reading or watching the tent ripple in the wind. (haha if ripple is even the right word!) The wind got up even more to the point that it woke Jaxon and he was quite scared by it. In the end I made the choice that he’d come and sleep in between Chris and I in our side. I moved around some blankets and bits to make sure that Jaxon was insulated from the cold floor. Unfortunately Chris was already asleep by this point so I was struggling to get Jaxon and I back in the slot where I had been lying. I slept really bad between trying to get comfortable, trying to block out the wind and generally trying to sleep on a camp bed.