Ponden to Gargrave 4/27/25

 

Good morning all.  I am a day late in publishing this.  I was too tired last night to finish it.  Today was a buns of steel workout of 21.3 miles.

The photo above is of the Bronteë homeplace, and the window is where the ghost of Catherine appeared in Wuthering Heights.

So many gates to go through

The first part of the day was all moors.

I got doggie kisses from each of these dogs.  I love doggie kisses, even though I had to wipe the slobber off my face.

That is a trail, believe it or not, in-between those tall grass things.

I had to walk across that tiny little bridge.  If I fell off, it was a long way down.

Nice to see a waterfall, although I was told it is usually much more robust.

I saw this village from above and was so excited that maybe it would

 be a Coke Zero stop.  No such luck, the path turned away from it pretty quick.

One of my favorite things about this walk is the hundreds of babies I have seen.  I have taken so many baby photos of the little ones romping in the fields.  They are unbelievably cute. I didn’t figure you wanted to see a hundred little lambs.

Finally, a Coke Zero stop!  I ordered a pint and enjoyed every sip.  Ice and a real bathroom.  Life is good.

As I was sitting there, I spotted these bars.  Millionaire Shortbread Bars.  OMG!  I only ate about a third of one and tucked the rest away for later.  The bottom layer was a chocolate shortbread, and the middle layer was softer, with maybe a touch of coconut flavoring but no coconut.  The top layer was the richest, most decadent chocolate imaginable.  I would kill for the recipe. It was heaven on a plate - the stuff that dreams are made of.

Up and down, up and down, up and down, etc., describes my day perfectly.  My dogs were barking, whimpering, and screaming by the end of today.  Let me out of these hiking boots.

This sign didn’t thrill me.  Still, I had to cross, but as you can probably tell, I made it safely.

I walked along this river for quite some time.

These are called canal boats and are a skinny version of houseboats.

Finally, my home for the night.  I had a nice room.  I didn’t arrive in time to explore Gargrave, but it was Sunday so I am sure everything was closed.

Dinner was fabulous. On Sundays, restaurants have a “roast" where you can choose from beef, pork loin, or ham. I chose the ham, which came with all the fixings. The center part was a giant popover, and underneath were mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, roasted carrots, and my favorite roasted parsnips. It also had a serving of something similar to cornbread dressing. I ate most of the side items and saved the ham for lunch today.  I left fat, dumb, and happy.  The 2 glasses of wine helped with the dumb part.

This is Sally and Beau, a Dutch Couple.  They are also on a Mac’s Adventure (the company that booked my hotels), and we stayed in all the same places.  He is a television talk show host, and she is a teacher.

So I wish you good night and sweet dreams!