April 20 Kiplin to Seascale
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Sunshine at last. My normal photo from the bedroom window actually had some shadows in it. It was also very still so that I was able to take some nice reflections in the lake.
I spent the morning doing a little gentle work in the office, trying to organise some improvements to the website and indulging in general chatter about nothing in particular.I then bade farewell to Dawn and Lily and headed off along the lanes to Leyburn. This is a beautiful town, with cobbled streets, old buildings and traffic chaos. I had a pleasant enough lunch at the Black Swan, an old pub with interesting small rooms. |
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The road west follows along the valley of the River Ure, with some good views of castles along the way. I stopped at Swinithwaite to take on of Castle Bolton in the distance.
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Hawes is a small town with very narrow streets and not a chance of stopping to take photos. The road then runs into Garsdale, under the famed Settle to Carlisle Railway at Garsdale Head, and into a very pretty valley. A large viewing point marks the location of the Dent Fault and the views across the valley into Sedbergh. I crossed an elderly bridge and drove through town until I reached a forest of windmills and a motorway junction.
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The hills of the Lake District appeared in the distance and the traffic started to become very heavy. Kendal was a nightmare - deficient signing adding to the confusion, Windermere looked good but stopping was impossible, and I finally spotted a car park at Ambleside.
I stopped briefly to use the facilities and to take some photos of the lake and the blossom. The minimum car park charge was £2.20 for 2 hours. As I only wanted to stop for about 3 minutes, I neglected to pay and went on my way before anyone noticed.
The road west rises out of Langdale and crosses the Cumbrian Mountains via the Hardknott and Wrynose Passes.Both reach a height of 393 metres and the former, with a gradient of about 1 in 3 in places, is either the steepest or second steepest in England.I managed to stop at intervals to take photos of the scenery, the hills and the narrow lanes. |
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Luckily the traffic was reasonably light, mainly tourists who drive with care, rather than the locals who hurl their 4WDs over the hill safe in the knowledge that their vehicles are bigger than anyone else's. There were no major alarums and I managed not to drive over the edge.
Over the other side, I sailed down Eskdale, managed not to be flattened by any of the locals, who suddenly became far more numerous, and reached the coast at Seascale, my first view of the sea on this trip.
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After a short rest, John and I walked along the sea front to the local pub & restaurant. There, we joined Jane and two ladies from Timaru, who had just arrived in the UK and were going to borrow John & Jane's camper van for a few weeks in order to tour Scotland. We had a good dinner and then Jane & I walked home while John returned the ladies to the camping ground where the van was parked. |
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