The Weekend

We stayed so busy this weekend I didn’t take the time to stop and write.  Saturday morning we set out to show Greg the footpath into Pateley that the pups and I had found earlier in the week.  We’ve still not located the trail through the woods from our house to Wath.  Again the walk took around 45 minutes.  Maneuvering the pups through the gates and over rock walls takes at little time. 

In Pateley we wandered around town a bit.  We wanted to see how the pups would handle walking through the narrow streets.  They did well.  We even encountered a few other dogs along the way and they hardly took notice.  Greg said it was a shame that we would have to take the same path straight back to the house and wouldn’t it be good to find a circular trail back home.  We sat down on a bench to look at the Nidderdale Ordnance Survey (map) and found a possible route home using trails just off to the west.  It didn't seem like it would be too much longer than the trail we came in on.  Of course, that wasn't taking into account the hills.

We set off crossing the River Nidd and found a marked footpath through some of the shops that headed us up into the sheep pastures on the edge of town.  First the path took us through the edge of some pastures.  We soon ended up in a pasture where our trail disappeared on us.  We searched and searched the rock wall fence until we found the exit for the footpath in the far corner.  This time it was just a rock step in the wall, making it hard to see from a distance.  Usually as we move through the sheep fields the sheep will either ignore us or run out of our way.  This time one of the sheep lunged toward MacGyver.  I’m still not sure what it was thinking, but when MacGyver lunged back, the sheep took off running. Good thing I had a good tight hand on his leash.  Out of the field we found ourselves on a narrow country lane.

The lane continued up hill.  We thought the trail we were looking for next would turn off the road in just a few hundred feet, but we couldn’t find it.  We continued on and on, up and up.  Eventually a car passed us and stopped to ask if we needed help with the map.  He gave us directions to the next footpath entrance which was just a short distance further.  Through that gate we started across another sheep field, and again lost track of the trail. 

We ended up at a gate to a pasture with cows.  One of the cows was especially interested in River.  Greg allowed River and the cow to sniff each other until River pulled back with a growl.  After walking back and forth and studying the map we finally concluded our only option was into the pasture with the cows.  As we opened the gate it became obvious that the curious cow was still interested in River and we were not sure it was a good interest.  We tried to stay as close to the fence line and as far from the cow as we could but the whole pasture was SO muddy, it was very hard to walk at all.  Greg and River were moving ahead quicker than MacGyver and I when I looked back I saw the cow coming toward us.  I put on my ‘talking firmly to animals voice’ and told him to ‘GIT!’ and he did.  Not sure what I would have done otherwise. 

When we finally got out of the muck of the cow pasture the trail got more pleasant.  We had a couple of fords to cross.  I've had some bad experiences with fords while hiking and wasn't looking forward to what might be ahead.  It turned out that there were excellent bridges across the water.  After the second bridge we were back on the Nidderdale Way, the largest and most popular footpath in the area.  We figured from here on out the path would be well marked.  We found the marker pointing us uphill into another sheep pasture and sure enough, in the middle of the pasture, the path ended.  Again.  We pulled out the map to study it closely.  When I looked back up we were completely surrounded by sheep all staring at us.  These sheep had horns and it was just a little creepy.  We were learning that just going to the nearest gate is usually the best bet for finding a lost trail.  This time the gate appeared to be going into someone yard, but when we got there we found the mark for the Nidderdale Way on the gate. 

From there the trail followed alongside a rock wall through pasture after pasture going straight uphill.   I kept telling myself ‘at least there is oxygen here’, other than that, all the uphill reminded me a lot of hiking in Colorado.  When we got to the top there was a bench.  It was like a hiker rest area.  Beautiful too. 

I was kicking myself for not having my camera.  But we really didn’t set off from the house planning a hike like this!  The sky was bright blue, the fields a gorgeous green with sheep grazing all over.  Unfortunately the sheep were spray painted a Florissant blue.  The farmers here mark their sheep with spray paint on the backs.  Most of the sheep in England are raised for meat rather than their fleece.  Makes me a bit sad.  I’ll have to figure out how to photoshop the sheep in my pictures back to white. 

As we headed down we found ourselves on another country lane.  This one, according to the map, is on the hill just above our house to the west.  We had to find one more footpath straight down the hill.  The only way to do this was to walk through what looked to be people’s yards.  Being the Americans we are we felt a little strange doing this, but it didn’t seem to bother anyone else.  We followed the footpath signs downhill through pastures and past houses and ended up on the road just a few feet from our house.

The entire walk took us just over three hours.  It was a great work out.  And we feel a little more like we understand the footpath system now.  And it was time for a hot bath!

From one extreme to the other, Saturday night was the Navy Ball.  Greg had told me some time ago that there would be lots of social obligations for this job so I came prepared.  In our excess baggage shipment I included two formals, dress shoes and a wrap.  Unfortunately I forgot the dress handbag.  Oh well.  I have to say though, after that long walk, high heels were torture! 

The ball was held at The Old Swan hotel in Harrogate.  As we stepped into the lobby there was a sign saying this was where Agatha Christie showed up when she disappeared for ten days.  I had heard the story but didn’t realize it was here.  I so wished I had my phone with me so I could text Lydia!  She would LOVE this.  Someone told me that they hold murder mystery nights at the hotel in honor of Agatha Christie. 

The ball was nice.  It was a good chance to meet a few people from Greg’s work.  We sat at a table with the Vice Chair of the Yorkshire Council, Burton and his wife Linda.  They were very nice people.  We had a great time chatting with them all through dinner.  The mayor and mayoresse of Pateley Bridge were also at the ball, but sat at a table on the other side of the room.  We also met the Canon of the Ripon Cathedral and his wife, whose names I can’t remember.  I met too many new people too quickly.  And of course, everyone was all dressed up, I may not recognize anyone next time I see them.   It was a great evening, but we headed home early since we had heard such terrible things about driving the country roads at night.

We aren't quite clear on what’s wrong with the country roads at night.  There is hardly any traffic on them. 

Sunday I conquered my next big fear.  I drove on the left hand side of the road, with the left hand stick shift up the steep hill out of Pateley Bridge.  I prayed the whole way that the red van in front of me just wouldn't slow down.  I did NOT want to have to slow to a stop on this hill.  I don’t think I breathed the entire time.  And we made it.  As a matter of fact, I made it all the way to the Base.  Whew.  As far as I was concerned that’s all I really needed to accomplish for the day.

But we did even more!  We drove to the base to pick up some things to start organizing our dressing room.  Since there are not closets in the house we have decided to use one of the bedrooms as a dressing room.  Without closets most of our clothes have been piled in the floor in the middle of the room.  The housing department on base gave us a couple of wardrobes to use but they were just big enough for Greg’s suits.  At the exchange we picked up a clothes rack and a shoe rack.  With those put together we were able to get everything up off the floor.  That will hold us over for a little while, until our household goods shipment arrives with all the rest of our clothes. 

Then we just chilled.  It was nice to relax.  We turned the tiny little couch in our one furnished room so that it looks out the window toward the water and just watched the day.  We read for awhile, took a couple of practice driving tests and just talked.  We don’t often have quiet afternoons like that.

Sunday evening we had been invited over to Norm and Judy’s house for dinner.  They live in a townhouse in Harrogate.  They originally had moved into a converted barn in one of the villages but it turned out to be a bad experience for them, so they have recently moved into town.  They have a very interesting, old, four story townhouse.  We had a great visit and a wonderful dinner.  It was the perfect way to end a nice weekend.