Miles today = 145
Miles so far = 1905
Where are we? - Northallerton, North Yorkshire
Another complete change of plan, for reasons that will become apparent tomorrow. We have headed north, through the Peaks, up to the fabulous Yorkshire Sculpture Park, near Wakefield and then on to Mount Grace Priory, before settling in to the market county town of North Yorkshire.
All started in a bit of rain and drizzle, down a back road covered in moss and gravel - that got a thumbs up for my direction finding! Then onto Chapel-en-le-Frith where we breakfasted in a cafe that was opened in 1950 and hasn’t been updated since. The language of the owner was essentially unrecognisable, but through a mixture of sign language, good humour and good luck, we ended up with a great breakfast for about a quid. Unfortunately we had to ask for toilet paper so she knew why we were absent in turns afterwards. This was followed by a surreal conversation with a traffic warden who discussed his recent purchase of brand new Audi A3 with random stranger while standing alongside our bikes - mind you, given the accent they could have been talking about putting a man on moon. I think we had found ourselves in an episode of League of Gentlemen.
We had certainly found ourselves in a parallel universe as my direction finding went completely off kilter, and we managed to ride about 20 miles to go the 8 miles to Castleton, and still missed it! Some great roads though! And then the pice de resistance… the magnificent Mortimer Lane! An unnumbered road from Ladybower Reservoir to somewhere near Penistone. What a brilliant road - well paved, windy, and virtually no traffic on it. And at the end of it (well nearly) the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, where we spent a well earned 2 hour rest amongst the Henry Moores, Damien Hirsts and Barbara Hepworth, amongst others. Anyone who has never been - make it a must go, next time you are anywhere on the M1 near Wakefield.
I was inspired by the words of aviator and feminist Amelia Earhart, made into sculpture by Hilary Jack: NO BORDERS, JUST HORIZONS, ONLY FREEDOMS. A thought for todays frenzied Brexit and Trump inspired nonsense. We were all migrants once, time to embrace our fellow humans and stop the petty nationalism and xenophobia. Just my twopenneth! You've heard it all before!
Finally a sprint up the M1, to get past Leeds to the equally fantastic Mount Grace Priory, a 14th century Carthusian monastery, in which monks lived in virtual isolation for most of the day but in “cells” that turned out to be detached houses with garden. With all food provided and comfort guaranteed, they were free to devote their time to worship. Sounded like a pretty good deal - part from the not being able to talk to anyone for most of every day!
Anyway, another brilliant place and if you happen to be on the A19 near Northallerton, its worth the quarter mile detour for a couple of hours of blissful contemplation. Oh, and it has a fantastic garden, designed by Chris Beardshaw, a Chelsea winner, no less. Nareesa could have done it too, but they didn’t ask her ;-)
So I will leave you with some pictures of the day...
