Somewhere new - three days in Yorkshire

Now that the latest lockdown is lifting and we can take holidays again, I'm not making last year's mistake of waiting too long. So, despite my reservations about being away from the safety of home, with the presumed Easter holiday rush over, we booked an AirBnB and headed off for a few days to somewhere new  - the Yorkshire Dales, near Malham. My resolution for this year is about finding new things to do and new places to visit, so it was an excellent choice of location.

The weather had taken a bit of a downturn after the glorious sunshine of the previous week. It was certainly cooler, with occasional spots of rain, but at least we didn't wait till the Bank Holiday weekend, which was just atrocious!

I walked a lot, for me at least - going from my normal 3-5000 a day to over 17000. It's more than I've done in months, and I soon realised how unaccustomed to it I've become, and also how out of the habit of wearing heavy hiking boots I've become (maybe it's time to swap sturdy leather for something lighter) Even so I walked round the RHS Harlow Carr garden in Harrogate, from Malham to the famous Cove and back, then out to Janet's Foss, along the banks of the Skirfare from our AirBnB near Hawkswick to the pretty village of Arncliffe, and to see the waterfalls at Aysgarth and Grassington. Every single one a new experience. I think (hope) I've come home feeling fitter, even if a bit achey, and resolved to keep improving my stamina.

I'm going to be putting up individual posts with LOTS of photographs, so here's just a few - sunset in the Skirfare, Malham Cove, Aysgarth Falls, and blue skies reflected in the still mill ponds at Linton Falls, Grassington.

Obviously in a couple of days, you can only visit an extremely limited number of places and I've come home with a long list of things to do another time - not least of which is a visit to Bolton Abbey and The (actual full size) Strid which is the inspiration behind the garden feature of the same name at Chatsworth. I also want to explore further west, around Ingleton, north to Wensleydale and Richmond, and east to the coast and North York Moors. Add in all the other places I'd like to go and it could be a busy summer! Sometimes I wonder if a campervan would be a good investment for all the short breaks I'd like to take, but then I realise I enjoy the comfort and space of a small cottage with a full-sized comfy bed.