ENGLAND 2000
Day 6
Cotherstone, Durham, England
Tuesday
May 9, 2000
Today dawned foggy, but turned very nice a bit later in the morning. We took our time getting up and ready for the day. Since we didn't have to be anywhere at any particular time today, it was just a nice leisurely vacation morning for us.
After looking over the map of Yorkshire and Durham, we decided to head toward Reeth in the Dales, by way of Swaledale and Wensleydale. It was a very lovely drive south from our cottage, and after a while we arrived at the Buttertubs. This is a natural area of very deep holes in the rock, some say that some of these holes have no bottom! We parked and had them all to ourselves for a while, and then finally some others came along to see this natural wonder and we said our goodbyes to this wonderfully high dale with it's resident sheep. We got back in the car and drove on down to Low Row, and arrived at Muker where we thought we'd get out and browse the few shops that are here. This pretty doorway decorationalong the only street in Muker and then headed out again on the road to Hawes.
Along the way we stopped to get out and stretch our legs a bit, and enjoyed this lovely Dales setting. The day was very warm and sunny, and we were quite happy to have this little nook in the Dales all to ourselves for about an hour. We had forgotten our water bottle, but not to worry -- the water in the river bed here is as clean as can be, and we just bent down and scooped up a lovely cool drink with our hands cupped! It was just us and the sheep and we toyed with the idea of just sitting around this dale all day long!
As we drove on up into the hills, the view of Swaledale down below was magnificent. In fact, there are not enough superlatives to describe this little bit of heaven...just take my word for it..it IS heaven!
We drove into Hawes where it happened to be Market Day, stopped for lunch at an outdoor cafe, and had cheese baguettes (too big to even finish for us!) and then just walked around this lovely market town, taking pix along the way of a couple of English Springer Spaniels who were doing a little shopping here. Margaret and I followed a couple of people and what looked like a Soottish Elk Hound and went off and found Kit Calvert's famous used book shop, and Paul found The Swaledale Museum to look through. Since tomorrow (May 10th) was to be our wedding anniversary, Margaret bought us a little yummy looking cake to have after supper tomorrow night in celebration of 14 years of marriage. That was nice of her!
We drove on through Reeth, and Grinton and back home to Cotherstone at the end of the day. We made lasagna for supper with salad, watched a little telly and then headed for bed. It was a very good and relaxing day out, except for one minor thing...my back was killing me. We had walked quite a bit in Hawes and I was at the point of excrutiating pain when we finally left. All that walking the day before with Don and Jean I'm sure added to it, so as you will see, our day out together on Wednesday was not what we had planned.
But for today, we were a very satisfied and happy threesome!
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