Richmond N Yorks

7 October 2012

Good grief, has it been so long since I add to this one?  A regular comment on old school reports comes to mind; "Must try harder!"

So here we go then.  Left home at 7am; arrived in Richmond a 10.30am even though we stopped twice on the way up.  The weather was good and dry and didn't start to cool down until we began driving home.  Both trips were problem free; no traffic hold ups and traffic overall was pretty light for a Saturday.  So first stop was to the bank to get some dosh.  Then we walked down to the Castle Inn for a drink - but it was too early.  So off we went for a wobble and looked around the indoor market where Jan bought a new beady necklace thingy.  By the time we had walked around and back to the Castle it was open.

Here it be on the inside ... 

It's been done out completely and looks a lot better.  Over the bar is this ...   

The Castle Inn is where Jan and I first met, but we did like how the pub has been renovated.  You can stop there for £75 a night if want.  We left there after a drink and looking across the road we saw this ...   

That's the Castle Keep. 

We got up to the top hill and sat for a rest on the benches outside the Green Howards Museum.  There on the floor was this plaque ...  

Across the road from us was the Market Cross ... 

yes I know, there is no cross.  If it looks as if it's slanting to the left, it is and not my image.  I noticed it from the other side.  From there we drove down to the River Swale where there are number of waterfalls which look good even if they are a bit small ...

This is how water should look like in a photo; not the soft creamy looking stuff that so many snappers produce.  Here you can see the force behind all that water coming off the Dales! 

We drove along the river to a small car park at the bottom of the town and got these two shots ... 

From there we headed off to Reeth but I only got pub signs from there.  We decided that seeing as I haven't been to Barnard Castle and that Jan hasn't been there for more years than she's known me, that's where we headed ... until we saw a sign for the Tan Hill Inn.

I don't know if you know but the Tan Hill Inn is the highest pub in England and is well worth a visit at some time.  Here's the pub ... 

and across the road, here's the view.  

I'm not very good with landscapes so I don't do too many of them but seeing as were so close we decided to go to Hawes, another place I wanted a look around.  On the way we found this ... 

the upper reaches of the River Swale and this viaduct at Garsdale was a welcome surprise ...  

Hawes is an OK place but we didn't hang around and headed off to Sedbergh ready to pick up the M6 and drive home.  It all sounds a bit flat I suppose but it was a full day and good fun for us both. 

Well, that's a flavour of what we did yesterday.  To see all 56 images, have a look at my flickr stream on ...  http://www.flickr.com/photos/15764683@N00/   Your comments of course will be welcome.

I promise to try to remember to do more on this blog in future ;-)))