No complaints about the weather forecast today, we were promised rain and that's exactly what we got. We awoke to a damp morning, but not actually raining so fingers were crossed, but by about 9am the grey skies couldn't hold in their load any longer and the heavens opened. So what should we do today - we had planned to go up Pen-Y-Ghent, but "we'll save that until tomorrow" was the update I gave to Donna when she asked what I had planned for the day.
Tuesday is farmers market day in Settle, so a short visit into the square once the rain had eased was on the cards, followed by a tour of the Dales in the car - stopping in towns and villages if the rain held off. Saying that, as I type the start of this blog at 10:15am listening to the rain getting heavier - I'm not sure if we'll actually get out of the car on our 'tour'
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| Beautiful weather on the road to Hawes |
Well we left the cottage about 11:30am to venture into the square, purchasing some cheese and some lovely home-made cakes. If I'm being honest it's not much of a farmers market - a few local produce stalls then quite a few run of the mill market stalls. My personal success though was the purchase of another shirt from Castleberg Outdoors. We had seen a Fjallraven shirt in the shop yesterday for £56 down from £70. However it was advertised on the website as £40 in the sale, so I tried it on and then asked them in the shop if I could have it for the online price, and they did. A good result, and great service from the shop.
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| Great to see this veg shop displaying it's goods in the traditional way |
So back to the car and ready for the 'off' I'd planned to head across the Dales to Richmond - a drive of 50 miles. The route I had in mind was via Hawes and Leyburn on the way there, and back via Reeth and Muker - plus the Buttertubs Pass on the way back. We'd never been to Richmond but I always remember Julia Bradbury talking highly of it on the Coast to Coast TV programme so decided it might be worth the drive.
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| A lovely little antique/reclamation/nick-nack shop in Richmond |
The heavens had really opened and the drive through the Dales whilst still a pleasant drive, didn't show off the scenery as we've seen it on sunny days. We weren't in any rush, in fact our round trip averaged 28mph so tractors were looking to overtake us...lol It was a day where it was more important to lock the car in 4WD than race around country lanes - how did the story of the tortoise and the hare end?
We pulled up in Richmond just before 2pm, and as it was still raining heavily chose just to put 2hrs parking in the meter. Donna wasn't feeling that well after the slow drive twisting and turning around the winding roads - she gets a little travel sick so needed some fresh air and a drink. We went into a small quaint cafe for some lunch - it was just what Donna needed, and she was soon back to her entertaining self.
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| Last of the Summer Wine characters in Billerby |
The streets were looking a little grey, but overall we were very impressed with Richmond - a beautiful town which will for us warrant a full day there some time in the future. We walked around the main square, taking a quick peak through the gates at the castle and seeking out some of the narrow cobbled backstreets. On our route we passed this lovely little shop that sold antiques, reclaimed garden wares, and some local 'nick nacks' - the shop just seemed to go on and one, loads of small rooms full of goods with that smell that you remember from visiting your grandparents when you were young. Well worth a visit if you venture there - we came away having spent £26 on a rack for putting potted plants on the wall - I'm sure Donna would know what it's actually called and just laugh at my description.
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| Stocks on show on the village green in Bainbridge |
As 4pm got nearer, we took the short walk back to the car for the long drive back through the gloom to Settle. Ok the weather wasn't the best to say the least, but we enjoyed our afternoon trip to Richmond never the less. Hopefully a little drier tomorrow so we can get out walking before our Thursday visit to the Great Yorkshire Show.
More photos can be found
here.
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