A Short Tour to Boroughbridge and the Lakes - Part 1

A Short Tour to Boroughbridge and the Lakes - Part 1

Good Morning!  And boy oh boy, hasn't it been a long time since my last post, and during that time Gremlins seem to have invaded my space😕.  I say that because all of my maps (which took a very long time to 'map out') have disappeared 😭 and now, when the links are tapped page 404 appears to tell you that 'the page no longer exists'!  And a rescue mission isn't an option because it would involve hours of work that I can't be bothered to put in, and therefore, from now on I'm just going to put our location as a link to Google Maps in the text of the blog and that will have to do.

I'm also going to change the format for our story because, in times gone by, writing it for every day we're away or travelling has been hugely time consuming and sometimes (often due to poor wifi connections) very frustrating.   Additionally, the main purpose of the blog is to remind us (👵in our old age👴) of what we've been up to, so going forward I'm only going to include our most interesting days and even that will mostly be done in pictures with just a few notes to say where we've been and what we've been doing.

So to get started we travelled up to The Camping and Caravaning Club site at Boroughbridge on 9th May with the specific intention of spending our 💖💑47th Wedding Anniversary💏💕 (which was on the 10th) flying birds🦅 at the Thirsk Birds of Prey Centre.  A while back we'd visited the centre just to watch one of their daily flying exhibitions, and we were so impressed  that we decided that we wanted to get a bit more  up close and personal with the birds so we booked a full days experience for our special day (for me to fly them and for John to take the pics)!

However, when the day arrived we were a bit worried because it was very windy and we wondered if the Experience would go ahead but a quick phone call confirmed that it would and what a magical day it turned out to be!

A very heavy Bald Eagle called Nanook

Maniera - a Peregrine Falcon

Toruk  who is a 10 lb Steller's Sea Eagle with an 8 foot wing span who was just
coming in to land on my arm

Violet - An African White Backed Vulture  

Sassy who looked a bit like a seagull but was actually a Palm Nut Vulture

Pingu - An African Pygmy Falcon - Hand reared and the smallest of the raptor family.
He was tiny and only weighed about 40 grams. 

A Harris Hawk which we took out for a walk (and a fly) in the grounds of Sion Hill Hall

And Zimba - a Mackinders Eagle Owl

There were also loads more birds that we met on the day which included 3 black vultures called Fozzy, Gonzo and Marvin and 3 beautiful Storks called Daz Persil and Fairy - I think maybe there was a bit of a theme going on!

On the 11th May (which was our only other day at Boroughbridge we had to make a bit of a dash of it!  For this trip we'd only brought our rather flimsy small awning with us, and maybe because it had been so windy it came to rather a catastrophic end!  It was an Air awning and unfortunately, soon after we pumped it up the middle tube exploded from it's confinement and ended up sticking out of the roof!

This rendered the awning completely useless because with no support in the middle the rain would have puddled on the roof and eventually caused the whole structure to collapse, and despite the fact that it was only just over a year old it was way beyond repair and therefore had to be scrapped.😡

So, because we wanted the use of an awning for the rest of our trip we decided to make the 180 mile round trip back to our daughter's in Ripley to collect our much more resilient 4 season Kampa awning, which despite being used in all sorts of inclement weather has never let us down.  This trip was accomplished by about 1pm and then we were able to get on with enjoying this part of our tour at the National Trusts Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden which turned out to be another stunning treat. 

The Abbey can trace it's history back to 1132 when a group of 13 monks from York came in search of a quiet devout life  and they were nicknamed the 'white monks' because they wore undyed sheep's wool habits.  However, it didn't stay a small quiet place for long because by the mid 1200's it had become one of the largest and most powerful religious houses, and additionally, one of the leading producers and exporters of wool in the country.  

After we'd picnicked and explored the Abbey ruins we toddled along the walkway (that you can see behind John) into Studley Royal Water Garden where we found mirrored ponds, pretty cascades and several follies, and if we'd had more time we could have also explored The Royal Deer Park and St Mary's Church (which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful in the country) but we decided that rather than rush we'd save those for another visit. 

Can you see the ghost?

Gone Fishing

On May 12th we moved the 100ish miles up into the Lake District and settled in for the next 19 nights on the Braithwaite CCC Site, and we were very lucky cos right from our pitch we have fantastic views of the surrounding hills and there are also lots of lovely walks right from our doorstep!

On the 14th we'd arranged a pub lunch with John's Sister Ange and her husband Kev who also happened to be on holiday in the Lakes but they were on the CCC's other site near Derwent Water.  Therefore, so that we could all enjoy a drink we arranged to meet at The Farmer's Arms in the village of Portinscale which was mid way between the 2 sites. 

Then on the Monday 16th it was time for some more serious walkies!!!  And for that my darling husband chose a walk from our doorstep to The National Trust's Force Crag Mine, then up over a hill called High Moss that led us between Outerside and Scar Crags and into the next valley to make circular route that would take us home.

And initially, although the route was all uphill, it was a gentle slope with a very pretty Beck running beside us so really not challenging at all.  

After about 2 miles we came to the ruins of Force Crag mine which was the last working mineral mine in the Lake District and it was here that lead and zinc had been mined for over 130 years.  It finally closed in 1991 but sadly the pollution from it still needs to be filtered from the water and this is done by 2 clever filtration pools that function without the use of any further chemicals or artificial energy. 

To the side of the mine there were several pretty waterfalls falling from a great height and these fed the little Beck that we'd followed earlier, and at this point we needed to cross it, but with the help of stepping stones this was an easy task!

However, what wasn't quite so easy was the climb that came after it - that required much huffing, puffing and very frequent quick rests for us to conquer it! 💓🫁🫠 , and by the time we got to the top we were extremely hot, bothered and almost exhausted!

As we climbed the mine became a tiny blot in the valley!

But what goes up must come down, so after an hours walk over fairly level but rough ground we eventually started our decent, and it was as we were doing this that we got our first glimpse of Derwent Water nestled far below us. 

In all our walk was only about 6 miles but with all the climbing that was certainly far enough for our first recent attempt at walking in the magnificent hills of the Lake District. 

On Wednesday 18th we opted for something a little less strenuous, and because I'd brought April's  Gardeners' World Mag that offered 2 for 1 entry to lots of gardens throught the country we decided to put it to good use!  The gardens we picked were Levens Hall and The National Trust's Sizergh Castle which were both in very close proximity to each other but about 35 miles away from us.  

However the trip was well worth it!  We'd picked Levens Hall because because it's home to the world's oldest topiary garden which dates back to the 1690s, and when we got there we were able to explore a spectracular array of abstract and geometric shapes which were mainly made up of ancient box and yew trees.   Additionally, beneth them there were multiple pristine beds of very pretty spring flowers that included multy coloured pansies, violas and asters to name but a few.  

And as an added bonus, once we'd explored the garden we were able to nip across the road to Leven's Deer Park where we found herds of both deer and very long horned goats with their young.

It was in this part of the park that we also scoffed our lunch while overlooking The Kent River and while we were eating we spotted two long brown shapes in the water!  John initially thought that they were probably only refections as the water bubbled along but as we walked back towards the exit we spotted what appeared to be a big 🦫 beaver dam  🦫 so I think our sighting was actually quite interesting. 

Next on our agenda was Sizergh Castle where we explored both the gardens and the Castle - however, although the castle had some very beatiful antiques and decorations it's auster interior didn't really float our philistine boats - but the gardens were quite lovely!

Some of the Acers were over 100 years old

We sampled the honey and it was delicious.

On Thursday 19th Cat Bells was our target, and that was going to be another walk directly from the camp site.  

Cat Bells is the bump in the middle of the pic and it stands 1,479 feet high😝

John reliably tells me that the walk from the site to the base of the 'hill' was 1.7 miles, and then the sign at the bottom reckoned we'd only got 1 mile to go to reach the top but all of that was very steeply uphill!

Derwent Water from the top of Cat Bells, I'm not sure who the bloke is though!

Bassenthswaite Lake

Us at the top of Cat Bells in an almost gale force wind

We picnicked at the top overlooking Derwent Water and sheltering from the wind as best we could before setting of down the other side of the hill which required us to traverse down numerous steep steps which taxed our knees more than the upward journey had taxed our lungs 🫁!

Friday 20th May was spent shower dodging 🌧️ 🌧️ ☁️ ☁️ 🌧️ 🌧️, the day started wet then low cloud for a few hours and then more rain!  However, we took full advantage of the dry spell to explore the Green Walkers Route form the near by Whinlatter Pass's Visitor's Centre.  This walk was only about 3 miles but once aging mostly uphill.  The route took us through dark forest to a magnificent view point at Seat How, and on the way we met the Gruffalo. 

And once we reached the top we had another fantastic view of Derwent Water but from a different angle. 

From this vantage point we were looking down on Cat Bells because this summit was at 1,597 feet 😃 but maybe we'd cheated a bit cos we'd started from a higher point!

Anyway, as we're about half way through this tour I'm going to close for now and add the rest in my next post!

Bye for now 😘