England 8 - Yorkshire Dales

road to Swaledale

over the pass to Keld

our B&B

the excellent Butt House

did not lack essentials

backyard

 moors above town

gimme that camera

Yorkshire really is incredible

morning walk

sheep : greenskeepers

walls maintained by the national park

with occasionally baffling intention

roads are just paved bridlepaths 

highest pub in Great Britain

grated Wensleydale sandwich, tomato soup and cheese scone

cairn above Buttertubs Pass, along the first stage of 2014 Tour de France

 

Little Shunner's Fell

and Great Shunner's Fell

England 7 - Cotswolds

 the Cotswolds present a gentle landscape

stone villages, affluent once from the woolen trade and now again from 2nd home buyers

little walled lanes where sheep were herded to the markets

innumerable B&B's, ours from the 16th cent with its own weird little English proprietors

our cool garret

 you can walk everywhere on public rights-of-way, following the old herding lanes

 among hedgerow brambles, blackberries still hold sway

there were reedy watercourses with swans

wattle fences

and a few larger cottages 

footpaths follow the pastures 

some ruminates bigger than others

there were even badgers

the (cloyingly) quaint Lower Slaughter 

its little mill.

the English climate is swell for roses

great oaks everywhere

and ancient yews in the churchyards

they take their yards very seriously

this yew was 1300 years old

we walked all day,

skipped the buttie and the cannonball

but were happy with fish and chips and the cottage pie