Orcaber Farm Camping, Austwick, North Yorks

 

What a wonderful spot last night. Awaking at Semer Water this morning, the lake like glass framed on three sides by the the rolling green hills. Beautiful. Keen not to be too late leaving, we were packed up and on our way by just after nine-thirty. We had waterfalls to visit. First Hardraw Force. England's largest single drop waterfall at a hundred feet.

The waterfall is famed for being the spot in the film Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, when Maid Marian spotted Robin Hood, played by Kevin Costner, bathing under the waterfall. Hence a £4.00 entry fee (cash only) to the site! On our way to the waterfall we encountered a group of off roaders driving Pinzgauers, 4-wheeled, and six-wheeled utility vehicles.

We pulled over to photograph them. The man driving the last vehicle pulled over to chat, informing us that all the vehicles had VW engines. They do like to engage you in conversation here in Yorkshire. The Aysgarth falls were our second waterfall visit. The series of cascading falls amongst woodland make for a pleasant walk.

We sat by the falls to lunch, their steady sound calming. But overhead the skies darkened and by the time we arrived back at Margery large raindrops spotted the ground. Tomorrow we are visiting Malham Cove, and conscious we need to arrive early to secure a parking space, we decided to drive back across the dales to the Orcaber Farm campsite where we stayed on Friday night. Staying here, meant we would be around 45 minutes away from Malham. Having already driven this route we know how challenging the drive is. Angela isn't looking forward to it. But needs must. What worries her more is we're running low on cash. Along the way,  we've paid cash in the bakers, at the ice cream van, in the car parks, some cafes and today's waterfall visit. Don't tell Rachel from accounts!

Semer Water, Countersett, North Yorkshire

Oh what a night! The VW squeezed in next to us was so close we could hear the man snoring! At daybreak we were awoken by voices, our neighbours and many other people, who'd arrived early by car were setting off on the three peaks challenge. 'Some of us are trying to sleep, if you could keep your voices down!'. Despite our early morning alarm call we were in no rush to leave. The views from Margery were stunning, and observing the throngs of walkers kept us entertained. But leave we must Margery. We have many more areas of 'God's own country' to explore.

As we left the station inn, outside Morris men and women entertained, their colourful enthusiasm mesmerised the watching crowd. We'd decided to head over to Semer Water, a thirty minute drive away along long undulating roads that swept across the dales.

Passing through Hawes, a pretty town of independent shops and eateries we decided to stop. Needing a few provisions we bought soft fruits, vegetarian sausage rolls and samosas, fish fingers and salad for our evening meal and carrot cake. Delicious.

The overnight stop at Semer Water is on the edge of a stunning lake with beautiful views. The land is privately owned by a farmer, described on trip advisor as making Basil Fawlty seem nice. The more Angela read about him, the more she wanted to meet him. The reviews were correct. What a miserable old sod! After a while of conversing with him he seemed to mellow, but only for a minute. His pricing structure was interesting. We paid £1.80 for two hours parking, then £9.00 to stay overnight on the foreshore. Bargain! Not perhaps though, for the people with kayaks. They had to pay extra according to the number of seats in their kayak. All a bit random. There are quite a few vans here tonight. Everyone is very friendly, it feels like a little community. And as expected the farmers wife came around to check we'd all paid. According to reviews, she was worse than her husband to deal with, but she seemed pleasant enough to us.

Everyone agreed the spot was amazing and peaceful, except of course the youngsters who arrived at eight thirty, parking up near the road with their engines running and loud music playing. There's seems to be no escaping these morons. Where's a farmer with his shotgun when you need him? Basil Fawlty wouldn't have stood for their intrusion.

Oh, and the fish fingers baps were delicious....

Ribblehead Viaduct, Ribble Valley, North Yorks.

We awoke to a beautiful morning. The sun lit a magical scene. Rolling countryside of lush green fields criss crossed by irregular dry grey limestone walls. We could see for miles, until the landscape slipped away into the distance. We'd enjoyed our time at Orcaber farm, and when a shower passed overhead the rain that fell didn't dampen our spirits. We felt free and settled. Travelling makes you feel like that. Midday arrived and we set off to our next stop less than half an hour down the road to Ribblehead viaduct, which carries the Settle to Carlisle railway across Batty Moss.

It is 400 metres long and 32 metres high, with 24 arches. After lunch we took the circular walk that passed under the arches over the heathland past farms and ruins of the homes used by the workers to build the impressive viaduct back in the mid 19th century. As always we were engaged in conversation by a local man. After some talk of politics we both return to our walks, ours taking us up to Batty Moss signal box before returning to Margery parked at the rear of to the Station Inn with many other campervans.

It was a beautiful afternoon. The sun shone, the dales a watercolour painting. Parking overnight at the pub is allowed if you partake of a meal. Today would have been John's mother's one hundred and first birthday, so naturally we wanted to raise a glass. The pub was noisy and busy. We are in three peaks challenge country. Climbing three peaks in twenty four hours, and there were lots of young people in the area doing just that.

Our stomachs full of excellent food eaten in the company of a local couple who asked where we'd visited and where we were headed. Back at Margery another small VW camper had arrived, parked about a foot away from us. Great! It's going to be an interesting night in the pop tops.

Orcaber Farm Camping, Austwick, North Yorks

We are loving the people of Yorkshire. They are friendly, good humoured and polite. This morning whilst pursuing one of the many second hand shops in Settle the owner joked about the weather when we commented on how we prepared for thunderstorms that didn't materialise, but a warm sun shone instead. His reply, 'the problem here is, the weather doesn't communicate with the weather forecast'. Shortly after, another elderly gentleman commented on Angela's shapely legs. 'I can tell you're a walker'! This morning we originally were going to stop off at the Settle swimming pool to use the showers. But Angela decided the £8.00 our showers would have cost would be better spent on a campsite for tonight. Most in the area are around £28.00 a night, she found one for £20.00 just outside Settle, which suited us well as today we were visiting the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail. The four and a half mile trail boasts some of the most spectacular waterfall and oak woodland scenery in the UK, and we were excited about visiting it. It didn't disappoint. Once again the weather forecast was wrong, and our waterproofs packed in our rucksacks weren't required. The weather was beautiful. As we walked through woodland we could hear the roar of the water as it cascaded fast and furious down from through the limestone landscape.

We stopped a while to watch a dipper as it busied itself around the rocks. High above buzzards circled and amongst the brambles Red Admiral butterflies sat, not bothered by our presence.

The walk along a defined path over rough limestone and up and down a large number of steps was described as strenuous. After our few days walking the south west coast path Angela found it more of a stroll, with a few challenging sections. Along the way we talked with a couple of fellow walkers, two men, one seventy five, the other eighty, both having had knee and hip replacements, the older man also had had a pacemaker fitted four months ago. His friends called him 'scrap yard'! When we last saw them they were struggling a little. Hopefully they made it as far as the strategically parked ice cream van, a welcome sight.

Today has been very enjoyable. A great walk. Fantastic weather. Delicious ice cream, and now a brilliant campsites with amazing facilities. It's right up there in our top five campsites. We have now been in Yorkshire for five days, seen some amazing sights and met some interesting people. What we can't believe is that since our first night here on Sunday, we have driven less than sixty miles, yet seen so much.