Swaledale

Rain in the night and awoke to a grey damp misty morning

Had breakfast in the pub, washed down with copious quantities of black coffee.

Then a long descent down a bleak single track road into Swaledale, the cloud clinging to the hills

Stopped in Reeth where there was a small market on the village green. Bought some cheeses made in the village, a pasteurised and an unpasteurised ewes milk Wensleydale cheese. I'm surprised that you are allowed to make a Wensleydale cheese in Swaledale, but I guess it's a cheese style.

In all of my many visits to Reeth over the years I have never been to the local museum. So we rectify that. 

It's a lovely little museum, with a lot of information on the local lead mining industry and explaining how the population of the valley crashed at the end of the nineteenth century. There used to be 30 shops in Reeth, now there are maybe half a dozen or so. The lump of galena, or lead ore, was interesting for its sheer weight and density.

We look at our options for where to stay tonight and book ourselves onto a campsite on the outskirts of Harrogate. It's our first pre-booked pitch.

We travel down the Swale to Richmond, a small and ancient town. 

We look round the castle

Despite its age there's a surprising amount of building left, 

intact enough to be able to imagine its use as a centre of power back in the day

We arrive at our camping site just after 6, and ask about local food options. The Traveler's Rest is nearby but final food orders are at 7pm. So we simply park up and go across the fields to the pub. It's busy, we can only get a table outside in the garden, but food in fact stops at 7:30. 

We are able to move inside before our meals arrive, which is good because a) it is getting cool and b) we move to a small conservatory overlooking a valley and surrounding countryside. Red Kites are soaring and climbing in the late evening sky

The food is surprisingly good. I had beef cheeks with mash, carrots and wild mushrooms. The meat was tender and full of flavour

Then back to the van to set it into night time mode, a few glasses of wine, and an attempt to finish the crossword. The setter today is Vlad, and he has the better of us. Maybe look at it again in the morning 

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