2013 Euro Vacation: UK - Yorkshire Dales

Wensleydale

From Ambleside via Hadrian’s Wall, we reached the cheesy Yorkshire dale of Wensleydale. As we had no booking and it is summer here, it took us a few attempts to find somewhere to stay, but eventually we found the very pleasant small hotel/B&B named Stow House in Aysgarth, with an excellent pub nearby, the Aysgarth Falls Inn, selling good food and Black Sheep ales. We walked down to the local falls on the Ure river which runs through the Wensleydale, and visited the main nearby town, Hawes, where they have a Visitor Centre, featuring lots of Wensleydale cheese, as well as the other famous Yorkshire exports, Wallace and Gromit, and Sean the Sheep.

We drove over to nearby Settle, on the famous Settle to Carlisle railway, so I could photograph one of the line’s main features, the Ribblehead Viaduct. We had travelled on this rail line a couple of years go, but it is not possible to photograph the viaduct very well from the train, and this is a not to be missed trainspotting site.

On our way to our next stop in Liverpool, we detoured to Masham, the home of the Black Sheep Brewery, started by the grandson of the original Theakston, after Theakston's Brewery was sold to one of the large brewing companies some years ago. Added a Black Sheep t-shirt to the collection.

Along the way to Liverpool we passed through Haworth, so paid a visit to the old Parsonage where the Bronte girls grew up, and the church where their Dad was the parson, and where they're buried. There is a souvenir shop of course, so we managed to add a few fridge magnets to the collection. The parsonage and its location were not as bleak as Penny had expected. In fact, there are some nice pubs right alongside the church which would have been very useful in whiling away the hours, rather than staying at home writing turgid novels, but that's just my Philistine, male view.