July 18, Reeth to Aysgarth

Today's walk was hard, long, and mostly not pretty.  Left Reeth at 5:30, arrived Aysgarth at 1:30.  In a way, the route was like yesterday's Walk One only with an added factor difficulty to about 10.  But first an exciting flower whose yellow is the counterpart, so to speak, of yesterday's purple.  

              

It was the brightest and prettiest thing I saw for the five hours  of moor walking.  Let me complain further: the track was mostly rocks, but you could try to walk on a slim grassy shoulder from time to time.  The downhills were terrible: scree.  At one point there was a divine stretch, here memorialized:

Yes, I loved that bit!

A few vistas:

For sure there used to be industry here.  The rent would have been cheap:

Lead mining?

In a few places, the very first bits of heather were in bloom, but its time for glory is about a month from now:

Even up here sheep find what to eat!

A mountain mivah?

Probably not.

This I can do:

But there was one stream crossing that unnerved me.  It was not difficult to cross, it was knowing whether to cross.  (The blue line indicating the route obscured the skinny blue line indicating stream.) A while back, the route had veered off the stony track to a narrow dirt path, which was a welcome relief in one way, but a difficulty in another.  Those paths are often not very clear, and YOU DO NOT WANT TO GET LOST ON THE MOORS!!  Anyway, I could not see a  continuation of the path on either side of the stream, but I decided to cross it, and baruch haShem, it was the right call.  

Eventually, the moors were left behind.  What a relief!  Then it seemed that many people were coming from the opposite direction.  "Gee, a lot of people are out jogging and walking today," I thought.  But, no!  It was an an event a 50 mile course for which, this year, 150 people signed up to complete!  And let me tell, you, they had plenty and I mean plenty of steep ups and downs to navigate.

I am going to bet that a goodly number will not finish.

Bolton Castle is en route, about four miles from Aysgarth, but I did not have the energy to stop in.  It did look promising, though, so I will make that my excursion for tomorrow.  I think it will be more worthwhile than Newcastle castle!

Sign on a stile that leads to a field (as most stiles do):

En route from the castle to Aysgarth, I saw more dead animals on the path than I have ever seen anywhere!  Euuuh.

Aysgarth is famous for its falls.  These are the lower falls:

And these are the middle falls:

They are less than spectacular right now because there has not been any rain for a while.  I have been here before and remember the roar of the water and the dramatic sight, but not this time!

We'll see about he upper falls tomorrow!

Reeth is a sweet little village built around the Green.  From what I can tell, Aysgarth is a big road.  I was not expecting much in the way of amenities, but from my grocery store research, I had learned that there was a shop attached to the gas station:

I was expecting the usual 7/11 sort of affair, but this is a full service grocery store!  That made me very happy!  And I am staying at a simple, but cheerful place that uses Starlink, and has excellent hot water, and a community frig....since there in only one other person here tonight, I won't have to fight for space.  After a very demanding walk, it feels good just to sit!  I should add that the weather was fine, so at least I was lucky in that way!  It might be a good idea to take a break every now and then, but I rarely do.  Some rethinking required there. 

My watch just ent me a message telling me that there had been a change in my average walking heart rate! I am going to pay attention to that?  Apple is also telling me that I am not burning up very many calories.  It consistently gets the distance wrong, but it does have some good features like telling the time and the date!  And, when I reverse the route, it does not stop telling me, "You are headed in the wrong direction.  You are back on the track," which repeats over and over, but the super annoying thing is that even though the track has been edited to go in the reverse direction, the verbal instructions are for the original direction.  I am telling you, you have to be on your toes all the time!

July 17, Reeth, two walks and sightseeing

 Two walks today because neither was long enough to satisfy.  We shall refer to them as Walk One and Walk Two.  Both had a big climb, but Walk One had a bigger climb than Walk Two and a very steep, unpleasant descent involving much scree.  Walk Two, on the other hand, started out very pretty, but, about half way through, had a right-of-way blocked off, which caused difficult rerouting through places a person should not have to venture.  Not fun.

It felt so good to be out of Newcastle!

Is this green, or what!

Not so green, but tasty anyway:

Hay has been made:

A bit hard to see, but a picnic table and benches built around the trunk of a tall tree:

On a hot day, if you happen to be there in the middle of nowhere, it would make a lovely spot for a picnic.

Way up on the ridge, big piles of rocks/stones.  If I really cared, I would try to find out what the story is.  It looks like it belongs in Newcastle.

The low moors (which are not so low, but lower than the high moors) before they are in flower:

But is this thistle not the most vibrant color?

Walk Number One, the end.

Walk Number Two started out very sweetly:

Such a wee gate!

Such a lovely garden:

No wonder no one was in the playground:

The River Swale

as seen from a suspension bridge:

The Swale has flooded many times causing very much damage, but today, as you can see, it was super low:

Un rabaño de ovejas (a flock of sheep):

You just have to click on that shot to enlarge it.  It will make all the difference!

With their shepherd following:

After Walk Two, a decision had to be made:  The ice cream parlour or the tea shop.  Mocha ice cream won out and I was not sorry for the choice!  Delicious!  Thus fortified, I went to see the local museum—by the way, in Reeth, everything is less than a city block from everything else. 

In a nutshell, the museum informed that this area used to be an important source for mining lead until it wasn't.

The most interesting object in the museum—which I could not identify among all the tchatchkes— was a "skirt lifter" patented in Canada in the 1890's for raising the hem of a skirt to avoid its being splashed with mud.  I wonder how much money that guy made on the patent.

Here is a partial list of mystery objects:

Who would have thought that a tool for fixing rubbers on a milking machine (#2) or a burnisher for cleaning and polishing metal (#7), inter alia, would be thus memorialized.

Then there was the Graculus Museum, which is a shop/workroom, where a man with a beard that had two long braided segments makes bizarre stuff out of metal.

On the door to the shop is this sign: 

I thought it was a joke and referred to pieces such as this:

But, no.  Joe, the crow, who is/was actually a rescue bird, lives and screeches in the shop.

Aside from metal and debris all over the place, enough for Alderman dow to be interested, you can imagine the bird poop that was also all over the place.

Back to the hotel, which is quite a nice hotel with unusual decor!

July 16, Newcastle and Reeth plus an almost crisis.

My train to Darlington whence a taxi pick-up to Reeth, was not until 1:27, so there was a lot of time to fill. "For starters, why not walk to Wallsend and back," I thought....Wallsend is about 4 miles from Newcastle; it is where Hadrian's Wall begins or ends depending on your direction.

It took quite some time to figure out how to get down to the quay what with the stairs and the underpasses and all, but eventually I got there.  A short way along, there was a swing sort of thing for the tired:

where they could sit and watch this view:

If one walks instead of sits, one can see the river!

It is possible that this is art:

It is also possible that this is art:

After only about two miles, he route turned away from the quay onto this:

I looked at the map and saw that "this" went on for quite some time, so plan A for the morning was cut short, very short.  I headed back.

Slim pickings, birdies, slim pickings:

But if you are a hungry person, 

you can get a real bargain.

Or maybe signing up for a course in self-defense is more your thing:

I wandered around the city centre until the magic hour of 10:00 when museums and galleries and such open.  So, guess what?  Did you know that Bob Dylan was an artist as in with a paint brush?  This gallery must really value his work because they claim that "His art has been likened to that of Picasso."  And do you know what he paints from mostly?  From life!  Yes!

Now, you may swoon over that painting, and may even wish to purchase it, but I doubt that the first association you make is to Pablo.

This is Bambi.  He seems to be crying from every pore for is mama:

See the letters in gold on the teeth?  They are the artist's initials.  It did not say if this was a self portrait:

After a couple of galleries, I headed off to the Castle because there wasn't much else to do, and, well, you know, castles are supposed to be big deals, even though often they are not, and this is NEWcastle, after all.  

Posted in the castle are a couple of job descriptions from back in the day.  (Remember to click on photos to enlarge.)

...attending to the king while he sat on the toilet...now that is an honour if ever there was one.

A little castle nook:

After you climb 99 steps, you "are rewarded" with a view:

Apparently, from this viewing spot, you can see the seven bridges of Newcastle.  I did not count.

There were other views, too.  Maybe this one is marginally nicer: 

                                

This one is not:

The viewing area is guarded by a few archers:

After the castle, the cathedral:

You can see that these pipes are not decorated like the ones in the Carlisle Cathedral.  What the sound quality is...no idea.

The candles in this area—do not know what it is called—are a nice touch.

A quick stop at the Hatton Gallery at the U of Newcastle to view a bit more art....I actually would have liked to stay longer there, but did not want to risk rushing for the train.

This piece takes a bit of looking to figure it out:

This one, not so much:

The Newcastle Train station is big, crowded, and overwhelming.  Imagine JFK at peak time only way worse. When I arrived on whatever day that was, I had to ask three people how to exit the place!  Anyway, in the confusion of finding the correct seat in the correct car—this was a completely reserved  train—I will not go into the intricacies of how the car and seat work; it is weirder than you might imagine— I LOST MY BATTERY PACK.  I cannot manage without it; the phone has been eating up battery like you wouldn't believe and today I was listening to a book whilst walking to Wallsend and that really drains the battery. What to do!  I Googled where to buy a replacement; that proved to be useless, then thought about using Amazon to get one shipped (if that would even be possible considering where I am), THEN I consulted ChatGPT.  A lifesaver!  Chat informed me that in Darlington, where I was to disembark, there was a commercial establishment that sold such items, and even gave me advice on which brand to buy.   Mientras tanto (In the meantime) about three minutes before my stop, the conductor came by to collect the tickets.  I asked him if he had seen a battery pack.  He had not.  But .........30 seconds, just 30 seconds, before I got off the train, he appeared with it in hand! Was that lucky or what!  

The drive to Reeth was beautiful.  It is great to be out of Newcastle and back in Herriot Country!