York to the Lake District

We are just so unbelievably lucky with the weather! The day started cloudy with just a few drops of rain, but by the time we reached our first stop, the lovely, but small, Aysgarth. Falls, the sky had cleared and we could really appreciate the wonderful landscape we were driving through.

We visited  Jervaulx Abbey, set in the midst of sheep farming area. It was derelict but oh so besutiful, with dozens of wild flowers growing in every crevace of the ruins.  We watched in great amusement as hundreds of ewes and lambs raced to follow a tractor which obviously was carrying some sort of yummy pellets for the sheep. No sheep dogs required to gather those sheep - they definitely followed like sheep!

Our lunch stop was at The Wensleydale Cheese factory and its little neighbouring village. They were very generous with cheese tasting, with over twenty absolutely delicious cheeses to taste. There were just so many different tastes, all fabulous. I ended up buying a cheese with sweet chili flavour, apparently perfect with nachos! It has quite a kick to ir.

The Yorkshire Dales are fantastic. I love the rolling hills, valleys and , above all, the incredible dry stone walls which can be seen on every hillside. How clever to construct so many hundreds of kilometres of walls using the local stone. They stand the test of time, some hundreds of years old.

P
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the locals. It is a brilliant dialect/language. Actually, our driver Andy is from Manchester, so it is great listening to his pronunciation, and grammar on occasions!

The afternoon turned out to be cloudless, but pretty cool in places. Here at Brough Castle, an icy wind blew through the inner castle whilst outside, it was truly pleasant. The sheep did not appear perturbed by the tourists, very unlike NZ sheep who will not let you anywhere near. The lambs were just so cute!

The landscape changed dramatically by late afternoon and our arrival in Keswick. First stop was  the beautiful lake DerwentWater. 

It was such a gorgeous spot that I decided to head back there after I had checked in to my fabulous b and b and sat in the garden with the owner having a cuppa in the sun!

What a perfect evening. I walked a little around the lake, which had seemed idyllic hours before, but now was simply even more breathtakingly beautiful in the late evening light at 8.00 p.m.

I had such a marvelous hour, virtually alone surrounded by such magnificent scenery. I love this time of the day, and my slim look was back in front of this fabulous tree. The tree might be dead, but it was nonetheless an amazing shape.

Apart from a couple of dog walkers and some professional photographers, I was the only human being around at this part of the lake. However, There were plenty of animals around. I watched the lambs frisking and frolliking around and these four lambs having what seemed to be little games together in the absence of their parent! They were so funny to watch.

 What a sensational place this was. The silence was broken only by the baa- ing of the lambs and the loud honking sounds of the many Canada Geese.

By the time I returned to the start of the track, the light had changed dramatically - no photo shop used here!

It is really incredible how different everything can look within a period of a few hours. These boats seemed so much lovelier than they had done before

I spent at least another half an hour at the lakeside, hoping to catch the sunset, but even at 8.30 p.m. I had the feeling it would be a very long wait and I was hungry and worried the restaurants would shut! So I forced myself away, rather reluctantly, from this spectacular sight.

What a wonderful day. How lucky I am to have experienced this lovely place once again (40 years after my previous visit!).