I was hoping to wake up this morning and realise that yesterdays ‘incident’ was all a bad dream, but it wasn’t. The shattered glass, which had embedded itself in the earth surrounding the telegraph pole was a stark reminded of the events the previous evening. I didn’t sleep particularly well as the ‘what if’ syndrome kicked in. ‘What if I’d reversed too far and tipped over the bank’, was one of the scenarios that kept whirring round in my head. According to Brenda, our host, that had happened before!
Breakfast was served at 8am and a very nice breakfast it was too, cereal, yoghurt and a choice of cooked breakfast, after which we ventured into the garage to inspect the damage, hoping it might not be so bad in the clear light of day. Unfortunately, JJ was still missing her back window. It hadn’t miraculously grown back overnight, like a lizards tail, and the two dents in her derrière were still there. With dustpan and brush in hand I started cleaning up the shattered glass from around the telegraph pole. I‘d made an attempt to clear it up last night but couldn’t really see what I was doing however when I went to clear up this morning I was astounded at just how much glass was around. Fingers crossed I think I‘ve managed to clear most of it away. I would also, at this point, like to inform everyone that no harm came to the telegraph pole in the making of this unfortunate incident!
We returned to our room to a) sort out the blog and b) check the map to find a walking route. As if! Maice couldn’t even find where we were on the map, let alone sort out a route for us. Brenda had pointed us to OS Map 19 and given us directions to get to, and walk along the old railway line, which is what Maice was trying to find. It took her over half an hour to actually pinpoint where the B&B was on the map! We were pouring over the map when Brenda, our host walked in to fetch some towels from the airing cupboard. She’d been speaking to husband Derek who’d offered to cover the back window of the car with Lino, sticking it down with duct tape which would hopefully see us through the drive back to Dorset. This would save us hanging around all day on Monday waiting for Autoglass to come and repair the car. As it turned out, Autoglass managed to call me and said they couldn’t come until Wednesday so they’re going to do the replacement in Dorset at Maices house. It may be a bit draughty on the 330 mile drive back home to Dorset but at least we’ll be on our own turf. I still haven’t been able to contact Churchill to advise them of the incident so it’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
After much faffing about we managed to pack our bags and with OS Map 19 firmly in hand we ventured forth to find the start of the route, which we found straight away. The sun, which had been out all morning disappeared behind a blanket of cloud that wasn’t there earlier and we were starting to get a bit chilly. We were only wearing lightweight trousers and a jumper, and it was that cold we could have done with a jacket too. Walking along the track didn’t help as we were surrounded by trees. so we regrouped, had an onion bhaji, purchased the previous evening from Tebay Services and discussed our next move. The map made an appearance, then it disappeared back in the bag again. We’d made a decision. We’d retrace our steps back to the viaduct, turn left and follow the path along the hills and open countryside and make our way to Ravenstonedale, where there are a couple of ‘watering holes’. So that’s what we did and miraculously the sun came out, the clouds disappeared, the sky was blue, the grass was a vibrant green and the scenery was stunning. What a difference the sun makes. It was a lovely walk but we had no idea where we were so we checked the map to see where we were, we studied the map to see where we were, we turned it upside down to see if that helped. In the end we put our logical hats on and decided to follow the river which we hoped would lead us to the pub. And it did, after a few detours of course!
We finally found ourselves in the village of Ravenstonedale where we asked a local, who was working on his roof if he could direct us to the nearest pub. ‘Turn left here and its 200yards across road’ he said. And there it was, The Kings Head. The glass of cold crisp white wine we were looking forward to turned into a bottle of wine, and why not, we were on us holidays after all. We sat outside overlooking the stream and engaged in conversation with a lovely couple on the next table who were telling us about their love for Canada. Maice was well chuffed. Taking every opportunity to ‘plug‘ our website we gave them our web address and who knows, we may have two more members! And more if they tell their family and friends about how wonderful we are, having met us first hand! After they left we ordered a late lunch; fish and chips for Maice and a gorgeous veggie chilli for me, both meals were delicious. We were all set to write a really good review on trip advisor but unfortunately the customer service went downhill when we ordered pudding and coffee. The staff, and owner, clad in white shirt and shades seemed to favour the five ladies on the next table, and the couple, on the opposite table, spending time talking and messing around with them to the point that they forgot our order and when we asked where it was after thirty minutes they said it had gone to the wrong table. Yeh, right. Why not just be honest in stead of telling a bare faced lie! Ah well, not everyone’s perfect……except us of course!
After our glass of wine we were feeling a bit squiffy but were determined to walk back to the B&B……cross country. We had a map and we were sure we knew the way. All we had to do was retrace our steps to the signpost that said Newbiggin on Lune and it would be plain sailing after that. Only we didn’t walk that way did we, we veered off and ended up coming face to face with a barbed wire fence. What to do now? There was only one thing for it, we‘d have to clamber over it one way or another. Maice was the first to give it a go and to be honest, it wasn‘t the most ladylike of efforts but with my assistance she made it over without any damage to herself or her clothing, although it did take a while to hoik her leg clear over the fence. Then it was my turn. It wasn’t a simple task, climbing over a wire fence that moved every time you put your foot on it. Try as she might Maice couldn‘t lift my leg over, so after suffering a couple of rips to my trousers I tried again, on my own. Which I did, very precariously and when I landed on the other side of the fence I turned round only to find Maice hitching up her trousers having had a quick pee! Apparently she was crying so much with laughter at the sight of me climbing the fence It obviously played havoc with her bladder!
After our ordeal with the barbed wire fence we battled on, the sun was shining, well actually, by now, it was starting to set, but we traipsed on until lo-and-behold we came across our B&B. Hey, our navigational skills are certainly improving.
Back in our room we showered, got into our beds and started the blog. The events of the previous evening, the lovely walk today and the lovely bottle of wine had taken its toll. By 9.30pm we were so exhausted we aborted the blog, turned out the lights and slept……..
Zzzzzzz
M&A xx