Limestone, Yorkshire Puds and Rugby

Three go for a stroll down a country lane

We drove down to Yorkshire to meet our friends Ele and Steve last weekend. The plan, since they live in Bristol, was to meet halfway. Unfortunately for them, it was half-term holidays in England with associated motorway chaos. So our 3 1/4 hr drive was a bit shorter than their 5 1/2 hr drive - unlucky, guys.

I used to work with Ele at PDP, and was pleased to find when I arrived at Dalesbridge that she is as mental as ever, despite having a chest infection. Her mum's family is from around that area so she knew the cool places to go.

The accomodation was bunkhouse-style (4 bunk beds) and reminded us of school camps! Lots of fun (if a little noisy from the neighbours and the plumbing - nothing the earplugs couldn't fix).

On Saturday we went for a bit of a stroll. The weather was beautiful for October and a great day for exploring some traditional English landscapes and local geological features.

Gordale Scar is a sharp gorge with a waterfall. Scrambling up through the gorge was more challenging than we'd expected (English hillwalking, anyone?) and particularly sterling efforts were made by Ele (breathing difficulties) and Sylvia (still only one serviceable arm).

Another characteristic of that area is limestone pavements. According to Steve, a great way of crossing boggy ground. It was disturbing how many of the big bits of rock actually moved though, and made quite a noise banging against one another. At one point we were making a bit of a racket - Sylvia pun - "We could start a rock band".

Cool drystone walls too - as you can see in the photo.

The rugby world cup final on Saturday night was great fun, Sylv and I were the only ones there supporting South Africa. Ele and Steve are quite into their rugby and I'm sure that if Steve had been the video match official then England would have got that try ;-)

Sylvia and I were constantly amused by place names like "Gayclops" (a gay guy with one eye?) and "Giggleswick". But on Sunday we had lunch with Ele's Mum and Gran at Giggleswick and had a great time (and great meal). Ele got a hard time from the staff for not liking carrots and swede ("Oh look, the girl who doesn't like carrots and swede finished them all. Or did you give them to someone else?") and her coughing ("Cough it up! It could be a gold watch"). But it was a yummy and traditional Yorkshire Sunday roast, with Yorkshire puds and all. I had to ask Neil why he had never cooked Yorkshire puds in all the time I lived with him, and he responded that maybe it was because we didn't have proper pud tins - apparently most of the flavour comes from never washing them.

I was feeling greedy so had a cheese selection for dessert, I hadn't expected so much though! Must have been several hundred grams of cheese, including some local varieties (Wensleydale, and Stilton from a bit further afield). Fortunately I had some help to eat it all so didn't suffer from cheese dreams.

A very narrow (historic) bridge in Yorkshire

The afternoon found us feeling lazy and sleepy, so we took it easy on the drive back to Edinburgh, stopping off for a couple of hours in the Lake District on the way home.

Thanks Ele and Steve for a great weekend :-)