The sun sets, the moon rises, the moon sets, the sun rises and a few hours later He comes out and start loading me up...so a quick start this morning was what last night was all about. But NO!! He disappears back into the house and I'm left on the cusp again! About 5.00pm both Him'n'Her come out, get on board (with Her in the driver's seat, naturally) and we're off heading south down the A1.
An incident-free hour-and-a-half later and we arrive at Craken House Caravan and Camping Site near Leyburn. Marjorie shows us the lower caravan filed and tells us to pick one of the last remaining three pitches - I opt for the one nearest the small pond so Him'n'Her can watch the ducks dabbling and cows drinking. This is a lovely little site and I'll definitely be bringing them here again, even though the facilities are not in the luxury category - but they did agree that the showers were the best they'd had on any site so far...plentiful hot water and free.
We had wonderful views of the surrounding countryside, including being able to see Middleham Castle, which just added to the loveliness of the site.
After a nice bowl of chilli, Him'n'Her go off for a short walk and arrive back in time to see a red moon rise with me. Yes, that's right, the moon was red...well orangeish once the camera had done its business ;-)
After that it was off to bed for us all, and a good night's rest was had, despite the occasional blustery gust and a few showers, and we woke bright and early on Saturday to a blue sky and those lovely views.
After breakfast they left me watching the duck-pond whilst they went for a wander to Middleham, round the side of the castle and then cross some fields and down to the River Cover. They then followed the river downstream through woods alive with bluebells, wild garlic and orchids and seeing the rive rflow over some wonderful bedding planes before crossing the river on some fantastic stepping stones.
Shortly after this they stopped in the slightly up-market Blue Lion Hotel, East Witton, for a pint of mucky beer. They commented that the beer was good, ( although a bit pricey by their standards) and the pub was full of wonderful furniture including big curved benches, large tables and a huge roaring fire.
After only one pint (are they not well?) they carried on walking and a mile or so later crossed the Cover Bridge and stopped at the Cover Bridge Inn for more mucky beer (obviously not, not well ;->). This was, apparently, a lovely little pub with 7 real ales and another roaring open fire.
From the inn it was back to Middleham and a very late lunch in a - no, not a pub, but a very nice cafe - the Castle Keep Tea Rooms, after having got caught in a torrential shower five minutes after leaving the pub. They also spent some time looking at the the architecture on view in the town.
Sunday morning they are up bright and early again, have breakfast and leave me watching the cows and ducks while they go off and explore Leyburn - which was largely shut! She did, however, score a bargain in a gift shop and bought a lovely glass paperweight.
On the way back home, I decided that they needed to have a look around Richmond and especially to wander away from the town centre and down to the river, before I got them back home a little after 4 o'clock that afternoon.
Yet another fandabbydosy weekend for me, and I think Him'n'Her enjoyed it as well.
Apparently photos will follow when H's uploaded them, whatever that means.
Looks like He's finally got round to it...see His photos of Leyburn here.
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