Finding a new church has to be the absolute hardest thing
about moving. Hands down. I have to admit though that the internet has
changed that somewhat. You can tell a
lot about a church by their website.
Good and bad. I’d been doing
online research into the churches of the area for some time. I think I’ve got a pretty good feel for
what’s around and have a list of the churches I’d like to check out.
The first is in Harrogate.
Being in Harrogate is a big drawback.
It will be quite a drive for us from Pateley Bridge. And it’s not in our community, which we would
prefer. But we decided to give it a
try. They meet in a movie theater and
are similar to the past few churches we have attended. They were smaller than I expected from their
website and videos. I suspect they’ve
got a very good tech team making them look good. But it was a good service and the people were
incredible. We met a couple of Americans
who also work on the base. After the
service we went with them to a nearby tea shop for a chat. Wonderful people. We’d have no problem fitting into this
church. It’s just not in our
community. We will need to also visit
the churches nearer to home. And there
is the possibility of getting involved in a Bible Study on base.
After church we headed back to the house to get the dogs out
for some exercise. In the area we are
living there are three reservoirs all built around 1900. Ours is the first and the other two are
farther north. One, Scar House
Reservoir, is known as a good place for mountain biking. We tried to drive up to it earlier in the
week but came to a sign that said it was too rough for a car, so we backed
off. Now we have a better map and a good
idea of which road to take. We headed
north. The farther we went the narrower
the road got. It was beautiful! After some time we finally saw the dam. It looked similar to our dam but was
huge. At the time it was being built an
entire village was established at Scar House.
The ruins of the village are there and set aside as a historical
site. It was a very cool place. The dam was enormous and high. We walked back and forth across it and up the
hill on the far side looking for signs of the mountain bike trail. We aren’t exactly sure where the mountain
biking is, but there were a lot of cars so I’m sure it won’t be hard to
find.
We headed back to the house and dropped the dogs off. I decided it was finally time for me to give
the car a try. It was late Sunday
afternoon and the road wasn’t too busy.
It’s been twenty years since I drove a stick shift and this stick is on
the left hand side. AND I have to drive
on the left hand side of the road.
I started very slowly with just backing up and going forward
in the driveway. The gears seemed pretty
easy to work. Now for the road,
remembering to look to the right and NOT pull into the right lane. So much to think about! For my first drive I made it to the Wath bus
stop. I was going to turn around but
Greg suggested I continue on to The Bridge Inn.
There is a VERY narrow bridge just before The Bridge Inn. I wasn’t sure I was ready for that. But I tried it. Thankfully no one was coming the other way
when I reached the bridge. We decided to
stop at the pub and I tried a glass of the cider. It was pretty good. …not that I needed a drink after
driving. =)
Before closing up for the night we decided to take a quick
walk across the dam. As I’ve said before
there are signs saying ‘authorized personnel only’, but the last tenants told
Greg that they walked across it and no one said anything. So, I figure it couldn’t hurt as long as we
are discrete about when we do it. Greg
hadn’t seen the dam and I thought he really should know what’s there too. It’s very interesting. On the left is the reservoir, with still dark
water, quiet, with lots of water birds all over it. On the right the water spills out into the
River Nidd. It’s a very long drop down a
stony wall and it’s roaring and loud.
The dam itself is a long narrow walk.
The part where the river runs out has arches and turrets that make it
look like a castle. On the other side
where the Nidderdale Way passes there is a gate with a lock. It even has barbed wire wrapped on the
top. So I guess they are serious about
not walking across the dam. We tried to
see through the woods where there might be a trail to Wath but just couldn’t
make it out. When we get our hiking
boots we’re just going to have to go exploring.
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